SBA’s big second half nets Conner’s first win

Silverdale Baptist Academy came out of halftime firing on all cylinders to give first-year football coach Mike Conner his first win.

The Seahawks erupted for 33 second-half points to secure a 40-7 home victory over Polk County on Thursday night.

While Silverdale (1-1) posted a nearly flawless second half, it looked like the hosts were writing a different story during the first two quarters with missed scoring opportunities and six penalties. The teams went into the break knotted at 7-all after the Seahawks’ Connor Delashmitt and Polk’s Daniel Martin rushed for scores.

“We’ve been talking, and we’ve just been trying to get them to understand what it takes to win and the intensity it takes,” Conner said. “We told them it was unacceptable to play how we were. They responded well in all three phases of the game.”

After the halftime message, the Seahawks turned the page and were off to the races against the Wildcats (0-2). Just more than a minute into the second half, Turner Junkins connected with Cameron Bowen for a 24-yard scoring strike. The pair connected five more times for 92 yards through the air.

On the ensuing kickoff, Silverdale recovered a fumble and scored again a mere 21 seconds after Bowen’s touchdown. This time, it was Delashmitt who punched it in from 1 yard out after another long pass.

That balanced attack worked well for the Seahawks all night long. They rushed for 119 yards — 116 by Delashmitt on 11 carries — and threw for another 149 with Junkins, who completed eight of 12 passes.

“It started with our O-line,” Conner said. “We call them ‘The Stonecutters’ because we want to pound the stone. We weren’t one-dimensional, and it starts up front. We had a lot of guys have their number called and make plays. That wasn’t the case last week, and that’s progress.”

With 8:14 to play, Polk’s fate seemed sealed enough when a blocked punt was scooped up and taken to the house by Silverdale’s Ben Bambry to make it 27-7.

The Seahawks scored two more times on runs of 50 and 14 yards by Delashmitt before the Wildcats could finally respond, with Martin scoring again with just 17 seconds left in the game.

Martin and Eddie Lamb combined for 128 rushing yards on 37 carries for Polk.