The Seaforth football team defeated Jordan-Matthews, 20-0, at home on Friday to hand the program its first-ever varsity win.
The Hawks (1-4) started the season 0-4 and were outscored by their first four opponents by a total of 140-7. Seaforth competed at the JV level in 2021 but is playing varsity football for the first time this fall.
“(It’s) like a relief honestly,” Seaforth head coach Terrance Gary said.
After both teams failed to score in the first quarter, the Hawks capitalized on their second drive of the second quarter.
Backed up facing a 3rd-and-20, sophomore quarterback Joshua Brown connected with junior wide receiver Ethan Becker on a deep throw down the field. Becker beat the defensive back on his route and took the ball all the way to the house. After the extra point, the Hawks found themselves up 7-0 halfway through the second quarter.
The Hawks were pushed back after multiple penalty calls on their next drive and found themselves needing 30 yards on 3rd down to move the chains, Brown connected with sophomore Alex Hinchman, who evaded a tackler in the midfield before racing into the end zone. And with the extra point, Seaforth held a 14-0 lead at halftime thanks to two explosive plays.
Seaforth continued to tack on points in the third quarter, as a quarterback keeper from Brown on 2nd-and-8 at the 18-yard line led to the Hawks' third touchdown of the night. A failed two-point conversion left the score at 20-0, but the margin was more than enough for Seaforth to come out victorious.
The Hawks looked poised to add on another six points late in the third quarter off another quarterback keeper from Brown, who ran the ball to the one-yard line. But on the very next play, a high snap was recovered by Jordan-Matthews' Kevin Causey, terminating the Hawks’ chances to convert in the red zone.
Despite the final result, Jordan-Matthews' head coach Ryan Johnson pointed to this defensive stop as evidence of a “great week of practice” and the grit of his Jets squad.
“We had a big rush on the quarterback, and he made a mistake and we were able to benefit from it and stop them from scoring,” he said. “We just harp on playing hard and hustling every day and good things will happen to you.”
The fourth quarter was uneventful until the final moments. With the crowd on its feet, Seaforth lined up in the victory formation and took a knee with 43 seconds remaining in the game, closing out the program’s first win of the season and first-ever varsity win.
Although the Hawks spent plenty of time celebrating after the game, a Gatorade-soaked Gary insisted that the team is already looking ahead.
Seaforth hosts Graham (1-4) in Week 6, while Jordan-Matthews heads home to take on Chatham Central (0-4).
“They (the Jets) have a really good team,” Gary said. “They have some really good athletes that, as a coach, keep you up at night thinking about all kinds of things that you have to work on. So just getting that out the way, and trying to get on to the next week.”