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SPORTS WEEKLY
Volume 2 Issue 39 - Tuesday, October 11, 2022
CECIL COUNTY
YOUR #1 SOURCE FOR CECIL COUNTY SPORTS COVERAGE
‘Underdog mentality’: Panthers force OT on Ayers’ late FG, fall to unbeaten Edgewood By Victor Hensley
Eagles Continue Dominance, Sweep Rival Tigers for Sixth Straight Win
Read the story on B-1
‘Kyle got his’:
Jackson breaks out with 3 TDs in Golden Elks win vs. Indians
By Victor Hensley
NORTH EAST - Mere minutes after being selected to break down the post-game huddle, Kyle Jackson stood under the lights at North East High School with a humbly drawn smile on his face. Jackson, a junior wide receiver/defensive back combo for Elkton, was the star of the show for a Golden Elks (4-2) squad that put up big numbers in a dominant win, 42-6, over the North East Indians (0-6) last
Friday night. “It feels amazing (to get this win),” Jackson said after the game. “We came out knowing, ‘Come and do your job, nothing else.’ As long as we’re doing our job, we’re going to succeed.” Few high school football teams pack the versatile punch that the Golden Elks do. From their deep receiving corps to their dual quarterback system to their high-flying secondary, the Golden Elks present a complex challenge for any oppo-
nent to game plan against. And, with Jackson as the latest piece of evidence, sometimes you simply can’t predict which one of them will single-handedly beat you. In what was a career game for the junior, Jackson totaled three
catches for 124 yards and 3 touchdowns, with two of those touchdowns coming on plays of 47 and 44 yards in the third quarter that put the game away for the Golden Elks. continued on A-6
PERRYVILLE – Sean Sandora knew his team was fighting an uphill battle. So did everyone else. The longtime Perryville Panthers head coach knew what he was up against and — if the other five teams that faced off against the Edgewood Rams this season were any indication — it wouldn’t be pretty. Over the last five weeks, the Rams have been arguably the best team in Harford County. They entered their date with the Panthers last Thursday night with a perfect 5-0 record, the result of having both a lightsout defense and a high-octane offense. While the Rams (6-0) managed to knock off the Panthers (3-3) in an overtime thriller, 19-16, their 21-mile trip to Perryville left them with a few bruises, a wake-up call and a sudden realization that they might not be immortal after all. “Our kids knew we were the underdogs going into this,” Sandora said moments after the loss. “There was really nobody in the stands or in our building that would give us a chance to even keep it close with Edgewood based on our record and what we’ve done in the past, but our kids, they adopted that underdog mentality this week.” Prior to its game against Perryville, Edgewood acted as a wrecking ball to every team in its path. No matter the sturdiness of your team’s structure, the Rams were knocking it down. Over the first five weeks of the season, Edgewood scored nine times as many points (181) as its opponents (20), pitching four shut-outs in the process. The only team that managed to find the end zone – or the uprights – against the Rams was the Elkton Golden Elks (4-2) in a 53-20 defeat on Sept. 9. Yet, despite the overwhelming evidence that suggested the Panthers could lose big to the Rams, Sandora and his team didn’t let it affect them. Instead, a mixture of hard-nosed defense and top-notch offensive talent kept Perryville in it until the very last play. Late in the fourth quarter, however, the Panthers found themselves in a tough spot. Having struggled for most of the game, Edgewood’s offense finally began to click when junior quarterback Caesar Travers connected with an open Michael Lee for a 26-yard score with 8:56 left to play, giving the Rams a 13-3 advantage after Perryville senior Sydney Phillips blocked the extra point. With the Panthers’ offense having scored just three points up to that point – and totaling just 127 yards of total offense – a two-score Rams lead with minimal time left appeared to put the game out of reach for Perryville. Luckily for the home squad, though, their offense didn’t even need to touch the ball. On the ensuing kickoff, senior Zack Ayers fielded it on his own 17-yard-line, sped up the middle, found a hole and took it 83 continued on A-8