Derry football tears through Southmoreland

By: HSSN Staff
Friday, September 15, 2017 | 10:57 PM

Derry scored two touchdowns in a 10-second span early in the second quarter Friday en route to a 48-7 defeat of host Southmoreland.

Few would expect a turning point in a Class 3A Interstate game decided by 41 points, but Derry's second-quarter spurt was exactly that, Derry coach Tim Sweeney said.

“We seem to have good karma here,” said Sweeney, recalling a similar Derry winning outburst several years ago.

After Colton Nemcheck gave the Trojans a 6-0 lead midway through the opening quarter Friday, Onreey Stewart scored on an 18-yard run with 10 minutes, 57 seconds left in the second quarter. Ten seconds later, Dom DeLuca recovered a Southmoreland fumble in the end zone for a 20-0 lead.

“When you score that quickly in a close game, the momentum swings in your favor,” Sweeney said, adding DeLuca's touchdown came on his birthday. DeLuca added an 11-yard touchdown run in the second quarter, when Derry scored five offensive touchdowns in 12 plays.

Those scoring drives were lasted four, two, three, one and two plays.

In a dominant first half, Derry piled up 227 yards on the ground to minus-10 for the Scotties.

Southmoreland (0-3, 0-2) has been outscored this season 144-21.

“We had a good, physical week of practice and the kids are positive, but nothing is going our way,” Southmoreland coach Mark Adams said. “We have a young team, and when something goes wrong, they drop their heads.

“We have a ton of freshmen, and we are making young players' mistakes and when something goes wrong they are afraid of making more mistakes. We played a solid first quarter, but Derry's quick touchdowns in the second quarter were our undoing. Despite what happened, our kids are still positive regarding the remainder of the season. At halftime I asked them to close out a give a strong second half, and they responded.”

Derry led 48-0 at the half.

For Southmoreland, quarterback Jaden Datz, who scored the Scotties' lone touchdown midway through the third quarter, spent the first half eluding the Derry rush.

“Jaden had no time, and our backs had nowhere to run and our defense was unable to stop Derry,” Adams said. “For us now, it's a case of one play at a time. Despite our record, I'm excited about our future here. For Southmoreland, the best is yet to come.”

For Derry (3-1, 2-1), conference champions a year ago, it was a team effort on both sides of the ball. Nemcheck rushed for a game-high 106 yards on six carries and scored from 3, 3, and 39 yards. He was followed by Stewart's 77 yards rushing on nine attempts, all in the first half. Stewart scored on runs of 18 and 24 yards.

‘We were a little sluggish at first, but our offense had good field position and got it going in the second quarter,” Sweeney said.

Les Harvath is a freelance writer.

Tags: Southmoreland