St. Charles football picks up win over Great Mills

Spartans pull away in second half for win

The St. Charles Spar- tans football team trav- eled to Great Mills to take on the Hornets on Friday night in a Southern Mary- land Athletic Conference Potomac Division contest and came up with a 24-7 win to knock the Hornets out of any playoff contention.

The Spartans (3-6, 2-3 SMAC Potomac) led 6-0 lead at the half and ex- panded on their lead as the game went along.

“During the first quar- ter both teams seemed to be feeling each other out,” St. Charles head coach Avery Williams said. “During the second quarter our defense was able to create some turn- overs and our offense was able to capitalize by effec- tively moving the chains with our run game.”

Senior Jeffrey Hughes had 16 carries for 128 yards and two touchdowns to lead the Spar- tans on the ground. Senior Alpha Barry added 89 yards with one touchdown and junior Christian Wood had two carries for 11 yards and a touchdown.

“The momentum that we gained during the second quarter carried us the rest of the night,” Williams said. “We also had excellent special teams play. Our special forces created two key turnovers which lead to scoring drives”

Junior Teyon Petway led the Spartans with eight solo tackles and junior Miles Gravely added one sack.

“It was a total team effort and we played well within all phases,” Williams said. “This week versus Leon- ardtown, I hope to see my guys continue to improve technique-wise and main- tain the momentum that they have gained over the past few weeks by playing fundamentally sound foot- ball in all phases of the game.”

The Raiders, who will be playing its senior night game at 6 p.m. Friday against the visiting Spar- tans, lost 37-0 to Chopti- con in Week 9.

Great Mills (3-6, 3-2) wraps up the season at home versus the Braves at 6 p.m. Friday.

“I have mixed feelings,” Great Mills head coach Tyrone Bell said in an email Tuesday morning. “On one hand we had some guys that were ball- ing out and on the other hand we had some guys I think got lost in the moment. We did not play a clean game on Offense. Constant first and second and long because of penalties. It was uncharacteristic of the foundation we are building on.

“We still have things to play for, a win versus the Chopticon makes us county champs and true bragging rights for St. Mary’s County. We will be down in numbers due to some serious injuries, but the game doesn’t spot you seven points for that. We need to come ready to play and send our seniors out on a high note.”