St. Georges football starting over in Flight B

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St. Georges coach J.D. Maull and the Hawks celebrate last year’s Division II playoff semifinal victory over Woodbridge. This year’s inexperienced Hawks will have to progress quickly to reach the playoffs again.

Does the St. Georges football team rebuild, or reload?

We’re about to find out this season, because the Hawks have lost almost every key player from one of Division II’s most successful programs.

Only five starters return. St. Georges is starting over from step one — literally.

“We’ve had to slow down. Our kids are still trying to pick up the basic stuff,” Hawks coach J.D. Maull said. “We’ve had to go back to step one. Usually when we come into the season, we’re already on step four or five. This year, we had to start with the basics.”

St. Georges has piled up a 43-6 record and earned the No. 1 seed in the DIAA Division II playoffs in each of the last four years. The Hawks reached the final twice, including a 28-13 loss to Howard last season.

But that means nothing now. St. Georges kicks off the season against Division I power William Penn on Sept. 9 at Caravel, then faces Caesar Rodney, St. Mark’s and a pack of hungry Blue Hen Flight B opponents bent on revenge.

“I don’t want to say rebuilding,” Maull said. “I want to say we’re trying to reload. But we’re in for a big-time growing experience. A lot of the guys playing for me now did not play varsity last year.

“We have a lot of new faces, and the same schedule. William Penn doesn’t feel sorry for us. CR doesn’t feel sorry for us. Nobody in Flight B feels sorry for us. We’ve got a lot of growing up to do, very quickly.”

But the Hawks still have 70 players — one of the largest squads in D-II — and a winning tradition. A team centered around running backs Taronn and Keyjuan Selby, Tymiere Griffin and Gary Brightwell in the past expects to throw more with junior quarterback Robert Shorts.

That’s because St. Georges’ strength lies at tight end. Senior Jason Stewart (6-foot-2, 219), third-team All-State as an offensive tackle last year, has moved to one end. Senior Doug Phillips (6-2, 206) returns at the other end.

“We’re trying to run some of the stuff Stanford runs, the two-tight-end sets,” Maull said. “We’ll try to get that going. They both have good size and have colleges looking at them.”

Maull calls junior noseguard Jhemir Stanley, “the anchor of our defense.” At 5-9, 350, it’s easy to see why.

“He carries that 350 well,” the coach said. “He can run sideline to sideline. He does a good job for us.”

Senior Charles Lamborn moves from guard to center, and juniors Isaiah Gatling and Solomon Alexander and senior Brian Rush will play big roles on both sides of the line.

The Hawks will have to come together quickly, but don’t be surprised if they crank out another successful season.

Elsewhere in Flight B, HOWARD will be the conference favorite after returning several key pieces from last year’s D-II championship team. The Wildcats will be stout on both lines with Darin Matthews, Jordan Chance, Christian Francis, Amod John and Shawn Bowman. Korey Kent and Nick Johnson can break open a game at receiver, but Howard has holes to fill at quarterback and running back to make another title run.

GLASGOW could emerge as a conference contender in the Dragons’ second season back in Flight B. Junior QB Isaiah Wilson already has two years of starting experience, and can throw to speedy WRs Michael Credle and Jasaan Cunningham or hand off to RB Tavion Jones-Hill.

A young HODGSON team battled its way back to the playoffs last season after winning back-to-back state titles in 2013-14. The Silver Eagles are more experienced this year, with QB Marc Perez, RB-LB Greg Tucker, OL Jarod Orlando and RB-LB Seaqueris Wiggins among 13 returning starters.

BRANDYWINE will be one of the most experienced teams in the conference, with starters returning at 17 spots. WR-DB Rajae Britt and two-way linemen Cody Snyder, Marquise James, Tremayne Pinkney, Mamud Saccoh and Steven Biddle are among the key Bulldogs.

DICKINSON will look to improve behind an experienced defensive line led by Rashee Scott, Duncan Stevens, Rajae Lindsay, Zach Hill and Di’Meire Williams.

McKEAN showed improvement during 7-on-7 play over the summer, but it remains to be seen if the Highlanders will have the strength on the lines to advance from last year’s 3-7 mark.

After winning just four games in the previous five years, CHRISTIANA improved to 2-8 last season. The Vikings face a long road to make a bigger jump.

Contact Brad Myers at bmyers@delawareonline.com. Follow on Twitter: @BradMyersTNJ.