St. Georges running back Gary Brightwell (21) breaks a 79-yard touchdown run against Woodbridge in the DIAA Division II semifinals on Nov. 28.
For the fourth straight year, St. Georges is the No. 1 seed in the DIAA Division II football playoffs.
But the Hawks have yet to win a title, and the weight of expectations grows every season. So St. Georges (11-1) has a lot on the line against fifth-seeded Howard (9-3) in the championship game at 5:30 p.m. Saturday at Delaware Stadium.
“We feel the pressure,” Hawks coach J.D. Maull said. “I’m not going to stand here and lie to you. We feel the pressure as coaches, and our seniors, they feel the pressure. The freshman don’t feel it, but the seniors feel it.”
St. Georges also knows the Wildcats will have revenge on their minds, after the Hawks beat Howard 35-14 on Sept. 18. But that was a long time ago.
“Some things have changed,” Wildcats coach Dan Ritter said. “We played them Week 2. It’s now Week 13. They’re doing things slightly different than they were then, we’re doing things slightly different than we were.”
The biggest change could be in maturity, since Howard has a younger lineup than St. Georges.
“They play a lot of sophomores, and I believe those sophomores have grown up,” Maull said. “They’ve gotten better.”
They have also moved around. Junior Jordan Chance and sophomore Christian Francis have solidified the offensive line, senior Gerald Wiggins has been outstanding in a dual role at tailback and fullback, and junior Korey Kent has settled in at wide receiver.
“I think we’re a little bit more evenly matched, now that we have we as Howard have settled down and some of our kids have found a home in certain positions that they weren’t necessarily playing in Week 2,” Ritter said. “We didn’t tackle very well in that game. There were kids that we had out of position, and I think we have them in the right position now.”
Tackling will be key, because the Hawks will come straight at the Wildcats on the ground. In 12 games, St. Georges has thrown only 52 passes.
“Our mentality is we’re going to play football, and we’re going to beat you up. It’s a mentality. It’s an attitude,” Maull said. “On Saturday, we’re going to have that mentality.
“We’re going to go in there, we’re going to run the ball, and we’re going to try to beat you up. If Howard is tough enough to stay in there, then they win the game. But if they can’t, they’re going to be in for a long day.”
Speedy junior running back Gary Brightwell (1,309 yards, 19 TDs) leads the way for the Hawks, and senior fullback Logan Gilbert (670 yards, 11 TDs) is a power running threat.
“The most important key is obviously to stop the run,” Ritter said. “You’ve got to stop Brightwell, and then you’ve got to start looking at a couple of the other guys that run the ball very well for them.
“Then the second part is, you’ve got to score. You can’t win if you don’t score.”
The winner will score its first state football championship. Both of the Blue Hen Flight B and New Castle County vo-tech rivals have reached the title game only once, with St. Georges falling to Hodgson 38-0 in 2013 and Howard dropping a 35-6 decision to Delmar in 2002.
“I think it says a lot about our conference,” Ritter said. “It’s also two teams from the same school district. So it bodes well for both the conference and our school district.”
Contact Brad Myers at bmyers@delawareonline.com. Follow on Twitter: @BradMyersTNJ