The Stephen Decatur varsity football team and coaches pose with the winning state title trophy after defeating Huntington 21-13 last Thursday in Annapolis.

Stephen Decatur football goes undefeated on way to bringing home 2A title

By Bruce C. Walls

Contributing Writer

(Dec. 7, 2023) It’s great to see a community come out and support its local high school varsity football team like this one has done and, oh yes, there was a football game.

Last Thursday evening, Stephen Decatur High School football fans filled the Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis to witness history.

 The team left Berlin surrounded by a surprise send-off of banners, streamers and fanfare from a swarm of students, community members, family and friends. Fans lined Berlin’s streets to watch the small parade assembled and wished the team well as it left for Annapolis.

 A few hours later the team returned home the conquering hero’s after pushing the Hurricanes of Huntington, Maryland out to sea, 21-13. On the way home, the team bus was met by an escort of fire trucks, police cars and other emergency vehicles blasting sirens with blue and red lights flashing following them home to Stephen Decatur.

 Everyone in the Naval Academy stands knew the Seahawks were there to claim the MPSSAA Class 2A Maryland State Championship Trophy they had been steadfastly pursuing.

The Seahawks were there on a mission that began for Coach Jake Coleman back in 1996 when a team from Cambridge South Dorchester was the last Eastern Shore team to make the finals.

Now the head coach of Decatur, Coleman quarterbacked that Cambridge team. He has coached the Stephen Decatur Seahawks team for four years. Coleman’s son Vanderbilt-bound Brycen, is on his father’s Decatur team as a quarterback and plays other positions.

When asked, Coach Coleman said he would rather be the coach and father then the player in the championship because he got to work with his son.

Last year, the Millers of Milford Middle Academy prevented the Seahawks from earning their first Maryland state championship. This year, Decatur knocked them out in the semi-finals.

In last Thursday’s title contest, Seahawks won the toss and elected to receive. As it turned out, it was a smart choice.

Stephen Decatur got a decent kickoff return up to their 38-yard line, and from there senior Careen Bolden scrambled 51-yards for a Seahawks first down.

On the fifth play of the quarter, Brycen Coleman scored the first of two rushing touchdowns he would score that evening. With 10:37-minutes left to play in the opening quarter, Coleman burst four yards through Hurricane defenses for the game’s first touchdown.

Senior Seahawks kicker Brogan Eastlack booted it between the uprights to give Stephen Decatur an early 7-0 lead.

The Seahawks continued to push, and in the second quarter senior Tyrbe Wise pulled down a short pass to put another six on the board. With the Eastlack kick splitting the uprights, Decatur led 14-0 at half time.

The Hurricanes showed they still had plenty of fight in the third quarter, as Landon Cawley reached the end zone for the Hurricanes. Their kick was good, closing the gap 14-7. But the Seahawks were quick to respond with a 68-yard drive and a run around the right end by Coleman for another TD. The point-after kick was good to give the Seahawks a 21-7 third-quarter lead.

The Hurricane continued to battle, however, and the fourth quarter saw Trent DePompa haul in a pass for the touchdown. But the kick was blocked with 11:12 left to play to leave the score at 21 to 13.

The team led the Ocean City’s Christmas Parade on Saturday and the Berlin’s Christmas Parade Thursday.