BERLIN- Stephen Decatur’s varsity football team last week notched its first win of the season after five defeats, holding on against host North Caroline, 31-26, after a see-saw battle.
The Seahawks had lost five straight to start the season, but had played well for the most part and a handful of miscues and misplays had proven to be their undoing in many of them. For example, the Seahawks lost to Indian River by a touchdown in the season opener, played unbeaten and Bayside Conference leader Queen Anne’s close for the better part of three quarters and fell to Easton, 34-33, two weeks ago in overtime.
Through it all, Decatur kept plugging away and played tough with the understanding they would soon put an entire game together and get into the win column. That game finally came last Friday against host North Caroline.
North Caroline scored first on an early rushing touchdown to take a 7-0 lead, but the Seahawks answered right back and scored a touchdown of their own to tie the game at 7-7 at the end of the first quarter. The two teams played a scoreless second until North Caroline got back on the board with less than a minute remaining in the half to take a 14-7 lead into intermission.
In the third quarter, Decatur returned a punt for the touchdown, but the extra point failed and the Seahawks still trailed 14-13. Decatur scored another touchdown with less than a minute left in the third but couldn’t connect on the two point conversion and extended its lead to 19-14.
In the fourth quarter, North Caroline took the lead, 20-19, on a rushing touchdown with about nine minutes remaining in the game. Decatur answered quickly with a touchdown of its own to reclaim the lead at 25-20. The Seahawks added another score to extend its lead to 31-20 with time running down and it appeared the team was going to get off the snide and get into the win column. North Caroline added a late touchdown, but the damage had been done and the Seahawks prevailed for their first win of the season.
Now 1-5 on the year, the Seahawks have dispensed with the tough run of games against strong Bayside North opponents and have an opportunity to improve on their record. Decatur played Wicomico last night in a game played too late to be included in this edition. The Seahawks will finish up the season with Bennett next week, followed by the traditional season finale against county rival Snow Hill.