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.”

    Going into Friday’s game, Brown would like to see his offense continue to build on last week’s performance, but what he is really looking for is a more consistent effort from his defense.

    Against Delcastle, the Senators showed flashes of being able to play a shut-down, smash-mouth defense, but had drives where they were on their heels.

    “We had guys in the right position,” Brown said. “But they weren’t wrapping up and making tackles. But we had a lot of young kids out there in that type of atmosphere for the first time.

    “You go from playing for Central Middle School to being out there on Friday night for varsity, and that’s a big jump. At that point it’s about getting used to the speed of the game.”

    Brown said as good as the Sens were in Week No. 1, the opposition should be expecting even more in the weeks to come.

    “We’re going to come out next week better than we were [Friday],” he said. “Hopefully next week we’ll be able to put together the same performance, but a little better.”

Email Brian Citino at brian.citino@doverpost.com

UP NEXT
WHO: Dover High School at Glasgow
WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 18, at Glasgow Stadium
RECORDS: Dover, 0-0, 1-0; Glasgow, 0-0, 0-1