Mount Pleasant’s Nigel Bynum (3) and Tiyree Cooper (11) try to bring down Smyrna’s Jared Gillis in the third quarter at Smyrna High School Friday.
SMYRNA – On a night filled with offense, a couple of defensive plays turned the tide.
Smyrna stopped Mount Pleasant on fourth-and-goal from the 1 late in the first half, then returned an interception for a touchdown in the third quarter. The big plays kept the Green Knights from getting any closer as the Eagles roared to a 56-32 victory in the opening round of the DIAA Division I Football Playoffs on Friday night at Charles V. Williams Stadium.
Third-seeded Smyrna (10-1) advanced to the semifinals, where the high-flying Eagles will play at second-seeded William Penn (9-1) at 1 p.m. next Saturday. Sixth-seeded Mount Pleasant, making its first playoff appearance since 1981, finished its season at 7-4.
Smyrna receiver Donte Ritchie gets past Mount Pleasant’s Jaire Brown for a 9-yard touchdown reception in the first quarter at Smyrna High School Friday.
Smyrna quarterback Nolan Henderson completed 13 of 24 passes for 276 yards and five touchdowns, with four of the scoring tosses going to receiver Donte Ritchie (six catches, 164 yards). Eagles running back Will Knight rushed 25 times for 245 yards and a touchdown. He also ran for six two-point conversions and passed to Ryan Seymour for another.
The Green Knights also went to the air early and often, with receiver Rob Myrick snagging seven catches for 188 yards and two touchdowns. Nigel Bynum added eight receptions for 86 yards, as Jashawn Johnson completed 15 of 27 passes for 219 yards. Backup Sayvon Willis came on in the second half and completed 5 of 12 for 102 more.
The teams combined for 1,010 yards of total offense – 567 for Smyrna, 443 for Mount Pleasant. Yet it was the Eagles’ defense that made a couple of game-changinig plays.
Smyrna’s first play from scrimmage lost 2 yards, but Knight went 75 yards on the next play to make it 8-0. The teams traded turnovers before Henderson’s first TD pass to Ritchie, a 9-yard screen for a 16-0 lead with 6:24 left in the first quarter.
The Green Knights answered quickly, as Johnson hit Myrick for a 36-yard score down the right sideline. But Ritchie turned another short toss from Henderson into a 27-yard TD to push the Eagles’ lead to 24-6 after one quarter.
Mount Pleasant responded with back-to-back scores, on 3-yard and 2-run runs by Dannon Williams, to pull within 24-20 with 7:10 remaining in the second quarter. Smyrna got the lead back to 32-20 when Charlie Taylor took a screen pass from Henderson 13 yards with 5:57 left in the first half.
The Eagles turned it over on downs after recovering an onside kick, and the Green Knights drove to a first-and-goal at the 10. Johnson’s third-down pass to Nyair Small reached the 1, but Smyrna stuffed the Green Knights on fourth down. Then the Eagles’ offense buzzed 99 yards in seven plays, including a short pass that Ritchie turned into a 50-yard gain. Ritchie capped the drive with a 13-yard score on a middle screen as Smyrna took a 40-20 lead into the locker room.
Then the Eagles’ defense came up big again. Henderson’s running punt was downed at the 1, and linebacker Jake Kaiser stepped in front of a pass over the middle at the 6 and returned it for a score.
Smyrna’s Jamal Powell recovered a fumble to quash Mount Pleasant’s next drive, and Ritchie took another screen from Henderson and scooted 37 yards for a 56-20 lead with 3:23 left in the third quarter. Willis threw a 46-yard touchdown bomb to Myrick on the Green Knights’ next play, but Smyrna had too much and moved on to the semifinals.
Contact Brad Myers at bmyers@delawareonline.com. Follow on Twitter: @BradMyersTNJ
PLAYOFF SCOREBOARD
Division I
Middletown 42, Sussex Tech 7
Division II
Howard 30, Tower Hill 16
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