2 weeks Ago By Glenn Graham
The gap between No. 1 Archbishop Spalding football and its Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association A Conference foes grows wider with every week. More evidence came Friday night at packed Calvert Hall, where the Cavaliers scored on their first three possessions and never looked back to claim a resounding 35-0 win over the No.
8 Cardinals. Senior quarterback and University of Maryland commit Malik Washington ran for two scores, threw for one and caught a touchdown pass to close out the scoring on the opening possession of the third quarter. With the 35-0 advantage, the rest of the second half was played with a running clock.
It’s the 18th straight MIAA A win for the two-time defending champion Cavaliers, who moved up to the No. 1 spot in this past week’s statewide poll for the first time in program history. They are 5-0 overall and 2-0 in league play this season, with their last conference loss coming in the 2021 semifinals.
“It’s a focus all week — coming out ready to play right off the bat — and we’ve done that recently and we probably have a little bit of a presence now where when we get people down, there’s some doubt on the other side. So continuing to do that is going to be the key to the rest of the season,” Spalding coach Kyle Schmitt said. After defensive tackle Delmar White stuffed Calvert Hall running back John Asuquo to force a punt on the game’s opening drive, the Cavaliers went to work on offense.
They went 75 yards in just over one minute — running back Antonio Ledbetter’s catch-and-run for 49 yards the key play on a third-and-10 — before Washington scampered the final 25 yards for the opening touchdown. After a three-and-out stop on defense gave the offense the ball back on the Cavaliers’ 44, Ledbetter ran for 21 yards before closing the drive with a 35-yard touchdown catch that made it 14-0 with 3:58 to play in the first quarter. Leading 21-0 after running back Chase Gorman’s jaunt from 11 yards, the Cavaliers got the ball back one last time in the first half at their own 10 with 59 seconds left.
Washington’s 40-yard strike to wide receiver Jameer Wallace put the ball on the Cardinals’ 1 with 10 seconds left, and Washington ran it in for a 28-0 halftime lead. With the Cavaliers receiving the second half kick, freshman returner Kam Miller ran it back 34 yards to the Spalding 43 before the visitors methodically grinded out yards. At the Cardinals’ 9, the Cavaliers ran a reverse to Miller, who threw to a wide-open Washington on the left side for an easy score.
“We spent all week preparing, watching film, getting scout team looks and it prepares us for those first couple of drives and we’re able to roll because we’re getting all the looks we’re seeing. And then when teams make adjustments, we make our adjustments,” Washington said. “We have a lot of weapons and our offensive line does great with the run blocking and the pass protection.
So whatever you ask them to do, they do it spectacularly and we have a lot of great playmakers everywhere.” Ledbetter was happy to do his part in a hurry. On the key third-down play of the opening drive, he took a short pass from Washington and then bounced off tacklers down the right side for the explosive 50-yard gain.
He then accounted for all 56 yards on the second drive — 21 on the ground before the 35-yard touchdown catch. “I like to start off early, because when I can get started early the whole team gets going. And if we do that, it’s over for real,” he said.
It was the third straight game that the Cavaliers forced a running clock, including last week’s 45-0 win over No. 3 McDonogh in their league opener. Schmitt applauded the defensive outputs from White and linebackers Joey Scheffers and Ben Liguori.
Related Articles “Our challenge right now is that we have to embrace our success, but understand the work continues,” Schmitt said. “It’s going to be really hard. Somebody is out there working in their basement trying to get ready to beat us and we have to be ready for that.
” The game was the conference opener for the Cardinals, who are now 3-2 overall. Coach Josh Ward was disappointed at some costly penalties and his defense being unable to get off the field when it had the Cavaliers in third-and-long situations. But there were some encouraging signs with no turnovers and a strong running game led by Asuquo producing nearly 150 yards.
“I think talent-wise, we’re getting there,” Ward said. “The biggest thing is [Spalding] is very well coached, very disciplined and you can’t make mistakes against them. We made too many mistakes in key situations.
” Both teams have conference home games next week. Spalding looks to keep rolling against Gilman at 7 p.m.
Friday, while Calvert Hall tries to bounce back against Mount Saint Joseph at noon Saturday..
