Screaming Eagles Whip Wheaton
By Kevin O’Rourke
It was a tale of two halves, at the Blair High School football field on Friday night as the Wheaton Knights hosted the Seneca Valley Screaming Eagles. The large contingent of Seneca Valley fans that made the trip had to wait until the second half to cheer, but the in the end it was worth the wait.
The first half was a battle of attrition as both teams fought each other and themselves, as penalties and turnovers marked almost every drive. In the first quarter, a long promising Wheaton opening drive was stopped when Donovan Becket-Simms (6) popped the ball free of Wheaton’s Howard Xavier and Seneca Valley was able recover. Unfortunately, the Seneca Valley offense could not convert the turnover into points. Screaming Eagles put the ball on the ground and Wheaton recovered.
The teams then traded punts, until the Knights cobbled together a nice drive to get the ball inside the Seneca Valley 30-yard-line late in the first quarter, but the drive was ended when Jamal Ofori (8), stepped in front of a Howard Xavier pass in the end zone. Ofori’s , which would have gone coast-to-coast for the first score of the night, was called back. Screaming Eagles got the ball at the 20 year-line, but the drive stalled and the first half ended scoreless.
The second half gave the Seneca Valley faithful something to cheer about as the offense exploded for 35 points as the tandem backfield of sophomore runners Adrian Felix-Platt (7) and Darius Golston (32) combined for five touchdowns.
Felix-Platt got the scoring started less than five minutes into the second half with a 42-yard scamper to put Seneca Valley up 7-0. Andrew Magnuson (10) added the extra point. Felix-Platt had another long touchdown run called back in the first-half.
The sophomore speedster was not finished, he would put another touchdown on the board with a long 72 run to extend the lead to 14-0, Magnuson connected on the PAT.
With less than two minutes remaining in the third quarter, Golston took a handoff and ran 20 years to pay dirt to put the Screaming Eagles up 21-0. Again Magnuson connected tacking on the extra point. Golston had another touchdown run, this one of 30 yards with 11:42 remaining in the fourth quarter.
Halfway through the final quarter Feliz-Platt blasted a seven yard run for his third touchdown of the night, cementing the 35-0 victory over Wheaton.
The game almost felt like a home game for Seneca Valley, as more fans SV showed up to the neutral location than Wheaton fans. The game was played at Montgomery Blair High School because the Wheaton field is closed due to the construction of the new Wheaton High School.
The Screaming Eagles will take on the Rockville Rams at home next Friday. Rockville is coming off a high scoring win over Richard Montgomery, 46-33, also on Friday night.