Smyrna uses big second half to fly past Cape 46-20
In a tale of two halves, Smyrna football (4-4) went to the air to emerge victorious over visiting Cape (5-3) 46-20 Oct. 25.
“I thought we had a really good plan coming in; we felt really good about it,” Cape coach Mike Frederick said. “We had a good week of practice, and that's usually a good sign when it comes to how your team's going to play Friday.”
Frederick thought the Vikings’ plan to run through the middle did not work out as well as they hoped. Things started positively for Cape, with the Vikings scoring first on a 57-yard touchdown pass from Jameson Tingle to Brendan Staggs. Smyrna took the lead when Kahmaj Kearney scored a 20-yard rushing touchdown and followed it up with a successful run on the two-point try.
Cape responded with another Tingle touchdown pass, this time 27 yards to Dell Richards. Smyrna duplicated its initial response when Eric Dorsey III got on the end of a 51-yard pass from Drew Marks. Kearney converted the two-point try by passing to Wendell Smallwood. The Eagles took the 16-14 lead into the half.
Marks added two more touchdown passes in the third, one to Kearney and another to Phoenix Henriquez, to put the Vikings down two scores, 30-14. Cape was able to stop the second two-point try of the third quarter.
“We’ve got to be able to get some turnovers – we didn't get those – and we’ve got to be able to stop the two-pointers,” Frederick said. “When you play Smyrna, you’re gonna have to score 35 or 40 points, because their offense is pretty dynamic.”
Smyrna added another eight points on Kearney runs for the touchdown and subsequent two-point try to open the fourth with a 38-14 advantage. Cape answered with a long pass from Tingle to Staggs and punched it in when Tingle found Richards again for a touchdown. The Vikings were unsuccessful on their two-point try, keeping Smyrna’s advantage at three scores, 38-20.
Marks threw his fourth touchdown of the game, second to Henriquez to ice the game 46-20 after Kearney ran in for another two points. Smryna controlled the ball for the final 10 minutes and 20 seconds of the game.
“[Smryna] was making plays,” Frederick said. “Maybe their guys were beating our guys, or the plan coming in wasn't as good. I kind of felt like I let our guys down today. I take responsibility for it.”
Cape will look to pick itself up on Senior Night at 7 p.m., Friday, Nov. 1, against a 2-4 Dover squad that won nine games last year.
“We gotta think about Dover and try to go 1-0 this week,” Frederick said. “Win the play, win the drive, win the series, win the quarter, win the game and then finish out the season.”
Game Notes
Jameson Tingle’s 11 completions went for 185 yards and three of them were for touchdowns.
Brendan Staggs caught four passes, one for a touchdown, and finished with 125 yards receiving.
Dell Richards’ two touchdowns were part of a four-catch, 47-yard performance. He also had 10 tackles on defense.
Zane Coulbourne led the team in tackles with 12
