Indian River running back Hayden Hall is lifted off his feet while hit from behind by Stephen Decatur’s Amar-ian Manuel during the first half on Friday night in Berlin.
Indian River’s #32 Bryce Johnson, #63 Austin Grise, and #80 Dennis Norwood gang tackle Stephen Decatur tight end Luke Mergott.
Indian River running back Hayden Hall is lifted off his feet while hit from behind by Stephen Decatur’s Amar-ian Manuel during the first half on Friday night in Berlin.
Determine what must improve, then put the motion pictures away after absorbing what went right and what turned out wrong.
That’s what Indian River High School head football coach Phillip Townsend and his coaching staff did after performing their post-mortem of last Friday night’s season-opener, a forgettable 42-0 loss to open their 2022 season at Stephen Decatur (2-0-0) in Berlin, Md.
The Indians (0-1-0) may be coming off a season in which they made the DIAA playoffs for the first time since 2013, but after losing 11 key seniors to graduation, they are, in reality, a young collection of emerging football talent.
That means they had to endure this type of lesson against a more talented team in order to learn and improve in time for this Friday night’s District 1A opener at Odessa High.
“This game allowed us to see how we could compete against a very good and explosive team,” said Townsend. “We will learn from our mistakes and get back to work. Many of our players are young with very little varsity game experience. We will only get better each week.”
The Indians were facing a Stephen Decatur team resembling a well-oiled machine on both sides of the ball in the first half of last week’s game.
Decatur took an 8-0 lead late in the opening quarter on junior quarterback Brycen Coleman’s 31-yard TD pass to sophomore wide receiver Davin Chandler and a 2-point conversion jaunt by senior Luke Mergott.
Coleman quickly added a pair of 29-yard 6-pointers on quarterback keepers before connecting with senior wide receiver Logan Badshaw on a 46-yard scoring toss that gave the Seahawks a 27-0 intermission lead.
Decatur finished the scoring in the fourth quarter on sophomore quarterback Nathan Tapley’s four-yard scoring run and a 19-yard interception return for a touchdown by senior linebacker Dagen Risser.
The Green & Gold offense showed signs of life and threatened to score in the third period. They reached the Seahawks’ 6-yard line before turning the ball over on downs.
The IR attack was held to 40 yards of total offense, with senior running back Hayden Hall’s 48 rushing yards on 12 carries leading the Indians’ ground game. Sophomore quarterback Trey Hill, making his first varsity start, finished with 9 yards passing after completing four of 14 attempts. Freshman signal caller Dylan Grise also got some reps. Senior tight end Chance Hocker led the receivers with 12 yards on his only catch of the night.
Indian River’s #32 Bryce Johnson, #63 Austin Grise, and #80 Dennis Norwood gang tackle Stephen Decatur tight end Luke Mergott.
“I thought Trey Hill did a good job managing the offense and the huddle to get everyone set up correctly,” said Townsend. “He did well managing the offense for his first-ever varsity start. He will only get better with game experience, and will start next week’s game at Odessa.”
Defensively, senior defensive back Donovan Roos led Indian River with six tackles and blocked an extra-point attempt. Hall contributed five tackles, and senior Dennis Norwood added four stops, while sophomore defensive back Jayvon Chandler broke up a Seahawks’ pass attempt.
“Donovan Roos played with a lot of heart and passion on defense,” said Townsend. “And our center, Austin Grise, did not have one bad snap.”
Next up, the Odessa Ducks
The race for the post-season begins this Friday night, when the Indians visit their Division 1A, District 2 rivals in Odessa for a 7:30 p.m. opening kickoff. The Ducks (0-1-0), in their second season as a varsity squad, dropped their opener last week at Wilmington McKean, 28-14.
“We don’t plan any major changes for our game at Odessa,” said Townsend. “We just have to improve at what we do. We must limit the number of mistakes we make and limit the number of penalties on both sides of the ball.”
Indian River defeated the visiting Ducks 31-0 last year. Odessa finished the season with a 3-7-0 record, including an opening-round 49-0 loss to eventual DIAA Division 1A champion Laurel.
“They are a young team with athletes who are well-coached,” said Townsend. “They are still trying to work things out, and this game is important for both of us, because it is a district game.”
Mike is a veteran sports journalist, covering generations of student-athletes in Pennsylvania, Texas and Delaware. He moved to the area in 2018 with his wife, Colleen. His passion for people and sports enables him to honor young athletes’ achievements.
Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items.
The Coastal Point is a local newspaper published each Friday and distributed in the Bethany Beach, South Bethany, Fenwick Island, Ocean View, Millville, Dagsboro, Frankford, Selbyville, Millsboro, Long Neck and Georgetown, Delaware areas.