Southmoreland football opens strong, trounces Valley
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Friday, August 22, 2025 | 10:27 PM
Southmoreland players take the field before their game against Valley on Friday.
Valley captains head to midfield before their game against Southmoreland on Friday.
Valley and Southmoreland players stand for the coin toss before their game Friday.
Southmoreland captains head to midfield before their game against Valley on Friday.
Southmoreland took no time to get settled into the season, defeating Valley, 40-0, in Week Zero action Friday at Valley.
New quarterback, new coach but no problem.
Dawson Wolfe completed 8 out of 14 passes for 111 yards and two touchdowns. He also tallied rushing 28 rushing yards and a touchdown.
His leading target was Gabe Kubasky, who caught four passes for 43 yards and two touchdowns. He was happy to be back.
“It felt great,” Kubasky said. “I was hurt last year, so the first game back feels great. Dawson was throwing me great balls, and we have a great connection. Hopefully we can continue with the connection we had today.”
Mikal Darnell caught three passes for 41 yards.
“It’s awesome throwing to Kal and Kubasky,” Wolfe said. “I know if I throw it up, they’ll catch it.”
The defense forced two safeties. The Scotties held them to 14 passing yards and minus-44 rushing yards for minus-30 total yards.
“We have new coaches, and we put in work every day,” Wolfe said. “We do pursuit. The coaches said if we get a doughnut, we get doughnuts tomorrow so I’m excited about that.”
Jackson Mickens did it all, sacking Brendon Knuckles and then recovering the fumble at the Valley 2 to start the game.
Mickens then punched in a 2-yard touchdown and a 2-point conversion on runs out of the shotgun to give the Scotties an early 8-0 lead.
Knuckles scrambled for what would have been the Vikings’ first first-down conversion, but he was drilled on a hit, jarring the ball loose and into the hands of Southmoreland’s Harrison Bechtold later in the first quarter. Bechtold took it to inside the Valley 20.
The Scotties capitalized with a Wolfe 8-yard touchdown pass to Kubasky, extending their lead to 15-0.
Southmoreland opened the second quarter with an Averyon Darnell 9-yard touchdown run. Liam Smith hit the extra point to go up 22-0.
After an injury timeout, the Scotties mustered another touchdown on a Wolfe touchdown pass to Kubasky for 21 yards, making it 29-0.
Mickens set up another score at the end of the half with a 23-yard run to the 1. Wolfe ran it in on a blast play up the middle to take a 36-0 lead into halftime.
A fumbled snap in the end zone led to a safety, giving Southmoreland a 38-0 lead.
The Scotties tacked on another safety with Bechtold sacking Skyler Lincoln in the end zone.
“We’re 1-0 now,” Kubasky said. “Let’s keep moving.”
Tags: Southmoreland, Valley
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