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It’s often said that the best teams in any sport find ways to win games, no matter how tough or ugly those wins are.
Applying that logic, the Sussex Central High School football team may just have set itself up to be considered one of the best teams in the state last week as it took a ton of penalties and allowed quite a few big plays, but somehow walked out of Legends Stadium at Cape Henlopen High School on Oct. 21 with a 35-28 victory.
The win helped the Golden Knights improve to 5-2, 4-0 on the season, putting themselves in control of their own destiny through the final three games of the season to win the Henlopen North and earn an automatic berth to the state tournament.
Even though Central took a victory from Cape, Head Coach John Wells said there are quite a few things his team still needs to improve upon before it can start thinking about a conference title.
The Knights got four rushing touchdowns from senior running back DeShawn Sheppard, plus another from senior back Brandon Lewis, but extended Cape drives that featured a number of big plays kept the Central offense off the field for long stretches of time and saw the team enter the fourth quarter down 28-21, before coming back to win the game late.
“I think it’s a wake-up call because you can’t overlook anyone,” Wells said. “I’m not happy with some of the mistakes we made early.”
The coach added, however, that it was promising to see his team’s resolve late in the game and that the display of mental toughness out of his players could go far down the stretch.
“To see them respond after mistakes, that’s a true sing of their character,” Wells said. “But we’re only going to enjoy it for 48 hours because we have a tough Smyrna team, a tough Tech team and a tough IR team ahead. It doesn’t get any easier.”
It all starts next week at Smyrna High School (4-3, 1-2), a markedly improved team in 2011 that is capable of pulling off an upset any week this year.
Sheppard, for one, said the Cape game should serve as a reminder to he and his teammates that every minute of each game needs to be approached the same, no matter the opponent.
“We have to play [Smyrna] hard, just like we played tonight,” he said.
And to continue on the strong, four-game, in-conference winning streak it currently finds itself on, Central will need to continue producing major totals out of the backfield.
“I have a whole barn full of horses,” Wells said. “I feel like I’ve got two-all state guys back there.”
It’s often said that the best teams in any sport find ways to win games, no matter how tough or ugly those wins are.
Applying that logic, the Sussex Central High School football team may just have set itself up to be considered one of the best teams in the state last week as it took a ton of penalties and allowed quite a few big plays, but somehow walked out of Legends Stadium at Cape Henlopen High School on Oct. 21 with a 35-28 victory.
The win helped the Golden Knights improve to 5-2, 4-0 on the season, putting themselves in control of their own destiny through the final three games of the season to win the Henlopen North and earn an automatic berth to the state tournament.
Even though Central took a victory from Cape, Head Coach John Wells said there are quite a few things his team still needs to improve upon before it can start thinking about a conference title.
The Knights got four rushing touchdowns from senior running back DeShawn Sheppard, plus another from senior back Brandon Lewis, but extended Cape drives that featured a number of big plays kept the Central offense off the field for long stretches of time and saw the team enter the fourth quarter down 28-21, before coming back to win the game late.
“I think it’s a wake-up call because you can’t overlook anyone,” Wells said. “I’m not happy with some of the mistakes we made early.”
The coach added, however, that it was promising to see his team’s resolve late in the game and that the display of mental toughness out of his players could go far down the stretch.
“To see them respond after mistakes, that’s a true sing of their character,” Wells said. “But we’re only going to enjoy it for 48 hours because we have a tough Smyrna team, a tough Tech team and a tough IR team ahead. It doesn’t get any easier.”
It all starts next week at Smyrna High School (4-3, 1-2), a markedly improved team in 2011 that is capable of pulling off an upset any week this year.
Sheppard, for one, said the Cape game should serve as a reminder to he and his teammates that every minute of each game needs to be approached the same, no matter the opponent.
“We have to play [Smyrna] hard, just like we played tonight,” he said.
And to continue on the strong, four-game, in-conference winning streak it currently finds itself on, Central will need to continue producing major totals out of the backfield.
“I have a whole barn full of horses,” Wells said. “I feel like I’ve got two-all state guys back there.”
