One play into Sept. 11’s football game between Dover High School and Delcastle Technical School, the Senators proved this year’s offense is something opponents should fear.
Junior quarterback Kamal Abrams dropped back into the pocket and fired a touchdown pass to junior wide receiver Eric Sumlin, and the offensive showcase began for Dover.
The Senators (0-0, 1-0) would add on 47 more points to beat Delcastle (0-0, 0-1) in the season opener, 54-20, with Sumlin accounting for 24 of those points on three TD receptions and one fumble recovery on a punt for a score.
Junior running back Pierre Foreman rushed for three touchdowns, while Abrams threw for three of his own. Freshman running back Donovan Cain capped off the scoring, picking up every inch of an 81-yard scoring drive.
Head Coach Carlton Brown planned on featuring a multi-pronged attack all season in his spread offense.
“We’re a balanced team,” Brown said. “We can run it, we can throw it. We exploited what they gave us.”
Going into the game, traditional football logic would have had the Senators running the ball to gain most of their yardage due to the wet and rainy weather conditions.
Brown, however, did not want to break away from the game plan and opted to feature the aerial attack.
“Our quarterback knows that conditions don’t matter,” he said. “That’s part of our game. We have to be prepared for any conditions that come out.”
Sumlin, who had an interception on top of his four scores, said Brown surprised even him with the choice to throw as much as the team did.
“I guess he just had trust in Kamal and trust in me that we were going to be able to do what we did,” he said.
Brown said the Senators are going to have to put last week’s performance behind them quickly this week, as the team prepares to take on Glasgow High School at 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 18, on the road.
The Dragons (0-0, 0-1) are coming off a crushing defeat against Pencader Charter, 56-0, but are a northern power that Brown said should never be taken for granted.
The way Glasgow runs its offense, he said, makes it tough for opposing teams to prepare for the team as well as adds difficulty to finding a defensive focus.
“They run a multitude of offenses,” Brown said. “So you really can’t key in on anything. They switch it up. They’ll run some spread, some I-formation, and a few other things. To counter that, we just want to be able to control the front line.”
