South River Edges Severna Park In Wild Contest

The first quarter of Friday’s football game between South River and Severna Park represented a defensive struggle between two teams that couldn’t move the football.

In the second quarter, everything changed, and the wildness was just beginning.

What started as a slog turned out to be an entertaining, back-and-forth matchup, with South River making one more decisive play and taking the game over the Falcons, 33-26.

The fireworks started late in the second quarter when Jaden McDuffie made a spectacular catch in the end zone on the sideline, tapping one foot down before tumbling out of bounds. It was the second of his three touchdown catches on the night, part of an 11-catch, 140-yard effort.

After a Severna Park field goal, Landon Williams’ interception on the next play set up the Falcons in business, and a bomb from Vince Nguyen to Joey Tramontana set up a 15-yard strike from Nguyen to Cole Cavanaugh with just two seconds left in the half. Out of nowhere, the Falcons had the lead.

The teams traded scores in the third, made possible by a big play from Tyler Lawhorne to punch the ball free on a pass reception, with Chase Bierdeman falling on the fumble to prevent South River from getting a two-score lead.

After that, Nguyen worked some magic on a fourth-down play by scrambling out of the back of the pocket, working to his right, and waiting an almost uncomfortable amount of time before firing a dart into the corner of the end zone. Joey Tramontana, who had altered his route to track with Nguyen, rolled into a somersault, snaring the ball just inches above the turf and getting his knee down in bounds for an electrifying score.

“The route was supposed to go in, but I saw Vince rolling and I just went with him, and his patience was amazing,” Tramontana said. “I just went down, rolled, and looked up to make sure the ref saw I was in.

“That was a really fun game … you want to win, but you definitely take those kinds of games rather than getting blown out,” he said. “There was never any quit in our guys, even though there were times where we could have given up.”

Unfortunately for the Falcons, that was the last time they’d find the scoreboard. In a game that featured big-time plays by each side’s big-time players, South River had one last ace up their sleeve: on the final drive, the Seahawks put McDuffie in the secondary and told him to make one final statement.

That he did, jumping in front of Cavanaugh as Severna Park drove for a would-be tying score. McDuffie wrested the ball from the Falcons’ top receiver after a brief tussle for possession, snatching the interception, and with it, victory.

“You want your best players to make an impact on the game, and they did what they had to do at the end, so hats off to them,” said Severna Park head coach Nick Marks. “We’ve got a young group, and they’re hungry and showing a lot more toughness. This is a good county, and we’ve got to look at where things went well and wrong tonight and get ready for Annapolis.”

The game that looked like a three-yards-and-a-cloud-of-dust contest early finished with two gunslingers making the statements. Before South River drained the clock with a long run and two kneel-downs following McDuffie’s interception, the teams had combined for 94 rushing yards and 531 passing yards.

Nguyen finished 20-of-34 for 277 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions, to go with a rushing touchdown. Cavanaugh had eight catches for 109 yards, Tramontana caught four passes for 86 yards, and Charlie Hartman had five catches for 55 yards. South River quarterback Finn Mulvihill was 21-for-26 for 254 yards and four passing touchdowns, adding another on the ground.

South River 33, Severna Park 26

South River     7    12   6    8    --33

Severna Park    0    20   6    0    --26

First quarter

SR – McDuffie 13 pass from Mulvihill (Corcoran kick) 3:38

Second quarter

SP – Caffiero 27 FG 6:21

SR – Warren 66 pass from Mulvihill (kick failed) 5:11

SP – Nguyen 1 run (Caffiero kick) 3:05

SR – McDuffie 26 pass from Mulvihill (pass failed) 2:38

SP – Caffiero 43 FG 0:52

SP – Cole Cavanaugh 15 pass from Nguyen (Caffiero kick) 0:02

Third quarter

SR – Mulvihill 4 run (run failed) 5:29

SP – Tramontana 11 pass from Nguyen (run failed) 1:41

Fourth quarter

SR – McDuffie 1 pass from Mulvihill (run failed) 9:04

SR – Safety 8:11

Team statistics

Total Yards: South River 328, Severna Park 316.

Rushing Yards: South River 25-74; Severna Park 30-39.

Passing Yards: South River 254, Severna Park 277.

First Downs: South River 11, Severna Park 19.

Penalties: South River 14-101, Severna Park 8-66.

Turnovers: South River 2, Severna Park 2.

Individual Statistics

Rushing – South River: Adams 16-87, Mulvihill 7-(-19), Davis 1-9, Handzo 1-(-3). Severna Park: Griner 21-36, Nguyen 5-(-2), Wark 2-5.

Receiving – South River: McDuffie 11-140, Adams 3-16, Davis 2-11, Simpson 2-13, Warren 1-66, Handzo 1-6, Thompson 1-2. Severna Park: Cavanaugh 8-109, Hartman 5-55, Tramontana 4-86, Murphy 2-22, Griner 1-5.

Passing – South River: Mulvihill 21-26-1-254, 4 TD; Severna Park: Nguyen 20-34-2-277, 2 TD.