Berlin Dolphins Win One, Lose One

BERLIN- The Berlin Dolphins Salvation Army Youth Football League teams split a pair of games last week with the Juniors routing Snow Hill, 34-0, and the Cadets falling to the Eagles, 14-6.

The Junior Dolphins, ages 11-3, evened their record at 2-2 with the big win over county rival Snow Hill. The Juniors wasted no time getting on the scoreboard, opening with a three-play drive finished off with a 10-yard run by Tayevon Mills. The extra point was good and the Dolphins led 8-0. After forcing Snow Hill to go three-and-out, Berlin scored two plays later to go up 16-0 on a 15-yard touchdown run by Andrew Borradale.

Berlin added to its lead late in the second quarter on a 22-yard touchdown pass from Danny Beck to Jarid King to make it 22-0 as the first half expired. In the second half, the Junior Dolphins added two more touchdowns on scoring runs by Will Holland and K.J. Purnell to complete the domination over the Eagles. All day, Berlin out-muscled and out-hustled Snow Hill in the trenches on both sides of the ball. The Junior Dolphins will play the Salisbury Terps at home tomorrow at noon.

While the Junior Dolphins were having their way with Snow Hill, the outcome was not as rosy for the Cadet Dolphins in their battle with the Eagles on a wet and windy day. The conditions led to sloppy play as both teams committed multiple turnovers. For example, Snow Hill fumbled on its very first play, but after driving 25 yards, the Dolphins turned it right back over.

Snow Hill finally broke through with a 44-yard touchdown run just before the half ended to take a 7-0 lead into intermission. With conditions worsening late in the third quarter, Berlin got on the scoreboard with a 45-yard bootleg by quarterback Billy Wheatley, but the extra point failed and Snow Hill clung to a 7-6 lead.

In the fourth quarter, Snow Hill got a big break with a 24-yard run down to the Berlin one-yard line and punched it in two plays later to go up 14-6. It proved to be the decisive sequence of plays in the game. With less than a minute left in the game, Berlin mounted on last comeback attempt and nearly succeeded when Wheatley dashed 65 yards for an apparent tying touchdown as time ran down, but the play was called back by an illegal block far away from the play and Snow Hill hung on for the 14-6 victory. With the loss, the Cadet Dolphins season record fell to 2-2. The Cadets will try to avenge the tough loss with a game against the Salisbury Black Knights at Buckingham Elementary School tomorrow at 10 a.m.