Football: Calvert Hall Improves to 10-1

Even at this point in the season, Calvert Hall coach Donald Davis is still looking for continued growth from his team.

And game after game, he continues to see it.

A week after beating McDonogh, the Cardinals downed Red Lion Christian Academy, 27-20, in Bear, Delaware Friday night.

Calvert Hall (10-1) has won three in a row since suffering its first loss of the season at Georgetown Prep Oct. 15.

Aside from a loss to Cardinal O'Hara (PA) Oct. 8, the Lions (5-3) came into Friday having outscored their other seven opponents 198-119.

"The major thing I want from our team is to keep getting better," Davis said. "Every time you go out there, you look for growth and development from your players and I saw it. I saw some good things from the team."

The Cardinals capitalized on favorable field position as well as two Red Lion turnovers. Calvert Hall scored touchdowns following both turnovers and all four of its scoring drives were 46 yards or shorter.

"We were very economical and moved the ball when we needed to," Davis said. "We stayed the course and made [plays] when necessary."

Garrett Keane had 42 yards and two touchdowns for the Cardinals. His second scoring a run, a 6-yarder, gave Calvert Hall a 27-14 lead early in the fourth quarter.

The Lions answered, however, as Juhrell Pressley's 3-yard touchdown run trimmed the lead to 27-20 with five minutes left in the game. Pressley also had a 16-yard scoring run in the second quarter to tie the game at seven.

But after Red Lion got the ball back with two minutes remaining, the Cardinals' defense buckled down, halting the Lions' potential game-tying drive after they had worked the ball down to Calvert Hall's 14-yard line.

"Red Lion has a lot of talent," Davis said. "But I think our defense held up well."

Brandon Neverdon and Stephen Kelly also had scoring runs for the Cardinals.

Red Lion quarterback David Sills, the 14-year old that committed to USC in February for the Class of 2015, tossed a 74-yard touchdown to Dhameer Bradley in the third quarter to tie the score at 14, but Calvert Hall scored 14 unanswered from there before Pressley's fourth quarter touchdown.

The Cardinals have two weeks off before closing out their season against Loyola Nov. 25. With a win against the Dons, Calvert Hall will clinch at least a share of the MIAA A Conference championship.

"We're just going to use the time to slow everything down and let our kids heal," Davis said. "We'll also use the time to assess ourselves before we delve into Loyola. We need to look at our strengths, our weaknesses and maximize our strengths and minimize our weaknesses because I know Loyola is going to do that."