The past six to seven years have been an upward climb for Selbyville’s Midget Pop Warner team. They’ve made the playoffs four of the past six years but never advanced. And for many of the Indians players, this season was their final chance to earn a playoff win and possibly move onto the state championship.
Coastal Point • ERNIE TURPIN: Robert Pleasanton II drives past the line of scrimmage, avoiding a near tackle during the Delaware Pop Warner State Championship game against Harrington.
“We were all nervous,” said offensive lineman/linebacker Rocky Whitley IV, “but we’ve worked so long and hard that we just told ourselves to forget about the hype, media and crowd, and play our hearts out.”
Lower Sussex avenged their only regular-season loss by defeating Woodbridge 20-7 to get into the Delaware Pop Warner State Championship game against Harrington.
The Indians then lambasted Harrington in a 25-0 shutout effort for the state championship title.
“This was a great win because they all pulled together as a team,” said Head Coach Jerry Kraft.
The Indians dominated the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball and Kraft proved that both, his first and second units (offense and defense) were interchangeable.
Neither team’s passing games yielded anything substantial, so both teams were forced to grind it out on the ground. Indian River, led by Tony Satchell’s 124 yards on only six carries and two touchdowns, out-rushed Harrington 259 to 41 on only nine additional carries.
Kraft enlisted six other backs to distribute the workload and they did so dutifully. Satchell’s other half, Elijah Foreman, notched 40 yards on five carries, scored on a two-point conversion and had a 60-yard punt return for a touchdown (called back because of a holding penalty).
Up 13-0 at the half on Satchell’s two first half touchdowns, Kraft pulled his starters for his second offensive unit and they proved their capabilities against a first-team state-championship contender.
They marched 71 yards on 10 plays to score their third touchdown on a 5-yard scamper by Robert Pleastanton II. Pleasanton ran for 34 yards, Brandon Marvel earned 33 hard yards up the middle of Harrington’s first team defense, and backup quarterback Timothy Wood busted out a 13-yard naked boot to put them in scoring position.
“These guys are good enough to play against first-team defenses and they’ve moved the ball well when given the chance. But I think once they saw the starters do well then they followed their lead,” said Kraft.
Selbyville’s success on the ground can be linked directly to the play of the offensive line. They gashed wide-open holes for their running backs on their way to gain eight runs over 15 yards.
“(The offensive line) did a great job,” said Satchell. “(The Harrington defense) were hitting hard, but the line blocked. And once I got the ball, all I could think was, ‘Get a touchdown.’”
Coastal Point • ERNIE TURPIN: Laurren Parramore puts pressure on Harrington’s quarterback.
Credit for wins or losses almost always falls on the shoulders of the skill players. But in this instance Kraft recognized just how important his offensive line is to the team’s success.
“You can have really good running backs, wide receivers or quarterback, but nothing works if you don’t have a good offensive line,” said Kraft. “I can never say enough about our offensive and defensive lines, but they’re our heart and soul.”
Every player that competes in any type of championship game has to step up their production or bounce back from disappointing performances, and cornerback Ryan Trager accomplished just that this year.
Woodbridge attacked Trager in the passing game and though he earned three tackles and one defended pass he was beat twice by opposing receivers. Harrington coaches were in attendance at that game and surely thought that they could have similar success as Woodbridge when taking on Selbyville in the state championship game.
If so, they thought wrong, because Trager came back stronger, despite biting on a run fake on Harrington’s first pass play. The wide-open receiver and under-thrown ball gave Trager another chance to redeem himself. From that point, he defended four passes, returned an interception 33 yards for their game-sealing, fourth and final touchdown, and recorded three tackles.
Trager’s biggest play came on 4th-and-goal at the Selbyville 9-yard line when he hammered Harrington running back Zamare Bull just short of the first down to end the half and prevent a critical touchdown.
“I know (the Harrington coaches) saw me get beat a couple times against Woodbridge, so I figured they would come after me,” said Trager. “I made sure I made any plays that came my way.”
Kraft noted that he was sure Harrington would try to throw so he made sure his defensive backs had plenty of repetitions in practice leading up to the big game.
“We made sure we worked the defensive backs in practice, in case Harrington decided to throw,” said Kraft.
Harrington did throw but did not complete many passes — only three completions to be exact. And when the Indians weren’t intercepting or batting away passes, they were sacking the quarterback.
Whitley led his team with two of their six sacks and their defense limited Harrington to a paltry 3-16 passing for only 25 yards and an interception for a touchdown.
“It feels great to finally win the trophy,” said Whitley. “We played harder and stayed one step ahead of them (Harrington), and for those of us that are leaving (to IRHS) we want to help Indian River’s program.”