The fourth-seeded Wilmington Friends School Quakers (11-0) rallied from a 20-6 halftime deficit to stun the fifth-seeded Howard High School of Technology Wildcats (9-2) 26-20 in the first round of the Division II state football tournament on Saturday afternoon at Tower Hill. With the victory, the Quakers advance to play top-seeded Milford (8-2) next weekend at Milford.

Friends coach Bob Tattersall said the win was as satisfying as any of the 246 he has racked up in his career at Friends.

“It’s as satisfying as any because of the make-up of the team,” he said. “Our senior leadership is unbelievable. These kids have worked so hard and they never play down to anybody. There was only one team on our schedule where I thought we were superior. Every other team absolutely could have played with us, even if the scores indicate otherwise.”

Senior halfback Ryan Procaccini was the biggest of the Quakers many heroes, rushing for a game-high 127 yards and scoring three touchdowns, including the game-winner on a 1-yard run with 15 seconds left to play.

“Our guys never gave up and they never do,” Procaccini said. “We were able to battle back. The beauty about our team is that different players step up, and if someone makes a mistake, no one is going to yell at you when you go back to the huddle. They just pick you up and it's great having teammates like that.”

Howard opened the game with a 17-play, 80-yard drive that consumed 8:47. The drive ended with senior receiver Kwame Mims catching a 7-yard touchdown pass from junior quarterback Chris Green. Senior tailback C.J. Wade then ran the ball in on the ensuing two-point conversion attempt for an 8-0 lead.

Friends responded by turning the ball over on their first two possessions, giving the Wildcats the ball at the Quakers 21 and 17 yard lines, respectively. The Friends defense denied Howard after the first turnover when Will Graves, John Chappell and Eric Kelley combined to stop Wade at the 2-yard line on fourth-and-goal. But Howard converted their second opportunity when junior receiver Jordan Hunter-Laws scored on a 10-yard run to push the Wildcats lead to 14-0.

Friends trimmed the deficit to 14-6 with 4:17 left in the second quarter on a 4-yard touchdown pass from Baczkowski to Procaccini, but Howard came right back with a nine-play, 70-yard drive. Hunter-Laws capped the march with a 17-yard scoring run with 1:22 left before halftime, giving the Wildcats a 20-6 lead.

After being out-gained 199 yards to 68 in the first half, the Quakers turned things around by piling up 216 yards in the second half, while holding Howard to 136.

“We’ve always been a really strong second half team. I think a lot of that has to do with our conditioning,” Chappell, who starts at linebacker and offensive guard, said. “We went into the locker room down by two scores against Red Lion [eventually winning 28-26], so this wasn’t anything new for us. We just believed we could come back and win.”

The Quakers began their rally by taking the opening kickoff of the second half and mounting a 7-play, 59-yard drive. Procaccini accounted for 39 yards on six carries, eventually scoring on a 1-yard run to pull the Quakers within 20-12.

Howard drove to the Quakers 40-yard line early in the fourth quarter only to turn the ball over on downs when Green was stopped short of the first down marker on a quarterback sneak on fourth-and-two. Friends took advantage, driving 59-yards in five plays. Baczkowski sparked the drive by connecting on passes of 29 yards to Bryan Radacosky-Pentoney and 22 yards to Procaccini, setting up his own 5-yard scoring run. Backzkowski then passed to Kelley for two-points on the conversion, tying the score at 20-20 with 9:07 left in the fourth quarter.

The Quakers defense forced Howard to punt on their next two possessions, and after the second they took over with the ball at their own 18-yard line with 3:27 remaining. The Quakers methodically drove down the field, taking 13-plays to cover 82 yards. The key play came on fourth-and-five at the Wildcats 32-yard line when Baczkowski found Grant Walczak for a 10-yard gain. On the next play, Procaccini took a handoff to the right before cutting back to his left for a spectacular 13-yard gain to the 9-yard line.

Baczkowski then carried the ball for 8 yards, setting up Procaccini’s 1-yard scoring run that gave Friends their first lead of the game with 15 seconds remaining.

On the ensuing kickoff, Howard pitched the ball to three different players, eventually reaching their own 45-yard line before an illegal forward pitch penalty put an end to the proceedings.

“That was a real classic for us,” Tattersall said. “A whole lot of things went wrong early but this has been the character of this team all year. They’ve always rebounded. We hung in there and hung in there and found a couple of things to do [that worked]. We met their challenge.”

Howard coach Dan Ritter said he expected a tough game coming in, even though the Wildcats were heavily favored.

“They’re always in the right position and they play very disciplined,” he said of the Quakers. “My hats off to both the team and the coaches – they deserved it.”