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Players typically walk away from the DFRC Blue-Gold All-Star Football Game buoyed by the experience, with only being on the losing end of the final score providing a smidgeon of disappointment.
There was a winner in the 70th renewal of Blue-Gold the night of June 18 in Delaware Stadium, but a close, down-to-the-wire finish meant all could appreciate their efforts a bit more.
The Gold prevailed 16-14 after Laurel’s Khalid Burton intercepted a Blue 2-point pass with 1:23 on the clock, thwarting a game-tying try.
A player quite familiar with leading his team to important wins was named the MVP, as two-time Class 3A state champ Middletown quarterback Derian Cunningham threw for the Gold’s second TD after setting up the first with a long pass.
“I’d been taking a little break from the end of the season, but this got me back on my track,” said Cunningham, who is bound for West Virginia State. “I feel like I’m gonna be ready for college.”
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Blue still leads the all-time series 36-31 with three ties but its 4-game winning streak was ended.
The Gold roster is made up of recent graduates from high schools south of the Chesapeake & Delaware Canal, plus Red Lion Christian and Newark Charter north of the canal. The Blue roster consisted of players from all the other upstate schools.
The Delaware Foundation Reaching Citizens has raised almost $7 million dollars to benefit children with intellectual disabilities as the Blue-Gold game’s sponsor since its 1956 creation.
The Gold scored first with 2:05 left in the second quarter on a 13-play, 80-yard drive while periodically operating Smyrna’s Earthquake Formation, in which someone typically runs on a direct snap from a full-house backfield.
Smyrna’s Kahmaj Kearney, who is quite familiar with that approach, scored on a 3-yard run and then added a 2-point conversion run out of that scheme to put the Gold up 8-0.
“It was really effective, as it was during the season with Smyrna, and wherever we go I’m gonna make it work,” Kearney said of employing the Earthquake Formation. "We were practicing all during the week, and we noticed how effective it was so we had to throw it out there."
Gold coach Phillip Townsend from Indian River said assistant coach Quinn Abbott from St. Georges, which also uses the formation, was instrumental in its installation.
“Kearney from Smyrna was like ‘Earthquake? I know what I’m doing,’ ” Townsend said. “We had [Mason] Spears from Smyrna. They were like ‘Yeah, we can do this.’ We kept it very simple.”
On the play before the touchdown, Cunningham heaved a 38-yard pass to Dover’s Marc Patterson, who made the catch despite pass interference, on a fourth-down-and-8.
But that Gold lead was very temporary, as Dante Brooks of Delaware Military Academy sped 79 yards for a touchdown on the ensuing kickoff. Tower Hill’s Michael Waesco passed to Archmere’s Ryan Hagenberg for two points to tie it 8-8 with 1:47 left in the first half.
The Blue had an earlier touchdown erased by a penalty and was forced to punt.
The Gold then recovered a fumble on the second-half kickoff but was thwarted by Brooks, who added to his heroics by intercepting a pass in the end zone.
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But the Gold regained possession and again drove 80 yards on 11 plays with Cunningham passing 5 yards to Caesar Rodney’s Jayden Minor for the TD. Kearney ran for two again to make it 16-8.
“Dominic Montebell, our number 13, he ran the corner and he drew the outside linebacker back,” said Minor, who’d expected to just play defense in the game but was needed as a tight end.
“I thought the ball was gonna go to him and I turned around and it was just right there. [Cunningham] was just like ‘Get to the pylon.’ I got right there and caught it and it was a touchdown.”
The running of Seaford quarterback Vince Evans and Red Lion’s Judah Barber had kept the Gold grinding downfield before Cunningham threw a 24-yard strike to Appoquinimink’s Montebell.
Davar Rice-Jackson of DMA later intercepted a Gold pass to position the Blue near midfield. But the offense couldn’t take advantage and an 11-yard loss on a third-down sack by Caesar Rodney’s Isaiah Melton forced the Blue to punt.
But the Blue had one more chance, taking over at its 19 after a Gold punt with 2:50 remaining. Aided by a pair of Gold penalties, the Blue put itself in position for Archmere quarterback Johnny Orsini to pass 17 yards for a touchdown to teammate Hagenberg with 1:23 left. But Burton intercepted Orsini’s 2-point pass on the 2-point conversion.
“That was awesome,” Towsend said. “I knew at that point we had it. That was cool. Like I say, defense wins games.”
Montebell then recovered an onside kick to clinch the win for the Gold.
St. Georges Jahil Settles of the Gold was voted the game’s top lineman.
“We had a really good week,” Townsend said. “I know it sounds crazy. It was a short week, but it felt like it was two weeks, just the way guys picked stuff up. We were able to evolve really quickly . . . Kudos to the kids. When they got here, they were ready to go.”
Contact Kevin Tresolini at [email protected] and follow on Twitter @kevintresolini. Support local journalism by subscribing to delawareonline.com and our DE Game Day newsletter.
This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: Gold prevails over Blue as interception decides DFRC all-star game
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