Archmere football lines up on offense at the start of its game against the St. Mark’s Spartans, September 18. Photo Credit: Ryan Colasanti
The Archmere Auks (2-0) defeated the St. Mark’s Spartans (0-3), 8-0, on September 18, earning their first Class 2A win of the season and second shutout in as many games.
WILMINGTON, DE — Archmere’s junior quarterback, Shane Harding, stood in the shotgun formation with fellow junior, Wyatt Beekley, standing beside him for the third straight play. Beekly ran the ball out of the same formation the past two plays, helping the Auks earn a first and goal opportunity from the St. Mark’s three-yard line with a little less than 10 minutes remaining in the fourth quarter.
On first and goal, Archmere turned to its trusted running back one more time.
Beekly ran from the right hip of Harding and took the handoff to the left of the center. Beekly looked for a running lane inside, but quickly bounced the run wide of the guard and between the tackle, finding enough room to barrel into the endzone for the first touchdown of the game.
Beekly’s touchdown was the only score in Archmere’s 8-0 win over the St. Mark’s Spartans, Friday night, in the first Class 2A game of the season for either squad.
Beekly finished the game with 58 rushing yards and the one touchdown as part of an Archmere rushing attack that gained over 200 yards throughout the game. Harding led all rushers with 126 yards on the ground and fellow junior, Nathan Blessington, ran for just under 70.
“We just have so many plays that work off each other, like, our plays are all built to like confuse the defense,” Beekly said about what makes Archmere’s running attack so effective. “We have so many weapons outside, inside. Shane’s willing to run anyone over so, I mean, we just have so many weapons that I believe in our offense and we can go as far as we want.”
The Archmere running game played well throughout the night, but it was the two defenses that made big plays to keep the game close throughout.
The Auks started the game by receiving the kick-off and drove the ball into Spartan territory on the game’s opening possession. Archmere got as far as the Spartan 22-yard line before the St. Mark’s defense earned a sack and forced the Auks into a turnover on downs. Archmere’s next offensive possession was thwarted deep in Spartan territory as were a couple others in the first half.
Archmere’s defense held the Spartans to their side of the field through the first half. St. Mark’s crossed midfield for the first time on their opening possession of the third quarter — driving to the Archmere 23-yard-line — before the Auks defense halted the drive. A couple possessions later Archmere scored the game’s only touchdown on a six play drive, all of which were runs.
“The word of the week we had in practice was finish and at halftime coach was not happy with how we had been finishing the drives, but we finished it at the end so that’s all that matters,” Harding said.
The Spartans followed Archmere’s scoring drive with a strong drive of their own working their way to Archmere’s 36-yard line. The Auks defense held firm there, stopping St. Mark’s on fourth down and returning the ball to their offense. The Spartans defense did the same on the Auks’ next offensive possession and the Spartans’ offense took over at their own 35-yard line with a little over two and half minutes to play and a chance to tie the game.
St. Mark’s senior quarterback, Kyle Iudica, connected with fellow senior Ta’Son Wallace for 23 yards on the drive’s first play, but the Archmere defense stopped the Spartan offense on the next set of downs. The Auks defense allowed the offense to gain just two more yards during the drive, successfully keeping the Spartans out of the endzone each time they encroached into Archmere territory.
“I think we got a lot of dogs on the other side of the ball, a lot of guys stepping up, a lot of young guys,” Archmere senior Francis Morda said postgame describing the Auks’ defensive unit. “We have a lot of grit and you can’t teach that, that’s all heart. That’s all it is.”
The Auks defense finished the game with two sacks and their first shutout against the Spartans since the DIAA quarterfinals in 2021.
“We look forward to this game every year, we circle it on the calendar, but we got to build off this,” Morda said. “We’re 2-0, but we have a lot of things to fix. We just gotta move forward to DMA and just focus one game at a time.”
Archmere’s next game will be on September 25, against another Class 2A opponent, Delaware Military Academy. The game will start at 7:00 p.m. and take place at Delaware Military Academy.
The Spartans will play the second game of their two-game home stand against William Penn on September 25. That game will start at 7:00 p.m.
Ryan Colasanti joins Delaware Live following four years at the University of Maryland’s Philip Merrill College of Journalism, earning a bachelor’s degree in journalism. There he covered multiple sports for the school’s radio station as both a reporter and editor. Ryan is excited to return back to the state and cover all things Delaware sports.
