Golden Knights ring the (Malik) Bell three times in 55-30 win over Dover

Malik Bell of Sussex Central races to the end zone for one of his 3 TDs in the Golden Knights win over Dover

GEORGETOWN — What started as a heavyweight slugfest with both teams trading huge blows turned into a one-sided ground attack as Sussex Central scored five times in the first half, leading to a 55-30 Class AAA District 2 victory over Dover led by Malik Bell’s three touchdowns.

Sussex Central amassed 483 yards of total offense, with 371 of them on the ground. Dover had 243 total yards, with 228 coming by air.

It was a back-and-forth first quarter, as the Golden Knights struck first on the game’s third play when Malik Bell raced 44 yards for a touchdown. Rodney Escobar-Gonzalez added the kick as Sussex Central jumped out to a 7-0 lead.

Dover answered quickly. Nehemiah Coston returned the ensuing kickoff to the Sussex Central 40-yard line. A horse-collar penalty on the tackle moved the ball to the Golden Knights’ 25-yard line. On the first play, quarterback Alex Starling connected with Marc Patterson for a 25-yard touchdown pass. Cole Turner added the point after the kick as Dover tied the game 7-7.

Jajuan Sturgis answered for Sussex Central with a two-yard touchdown run. Gonzalez’s kick gave the Golden Knights a 14-7 lead with 6:41 left to play in the first quarter.

It took the Senators a mere 20 seconds to answer the score. Starling and Patterson hooked up again, this time for a 78-yard touchdown pass. Turner added the point after, as Dover tied the score 14-14.

Sussex Central wasted no time as one play later, Bradley Chavez hit a wide-open Joaquin Rodriguez-Costa for a 64-yard touchdown. Escobar-Gonzalez converted the point after, giving the Golden Knights a 21-14 lead just midway through the first quarter.

Dover’s ensuing drive began to stall in the red zone, but the Senators were to finish off the drive with a 33-yard field goal by Turner, cutting the Sussex Central lead to 21-17 with 2:27 to play in the first quarter.

“That first quarter was something; there were almost 40 points scored between us,” Sussex Central head coach John Wells said.

The Golden Knights began taking control of the game with their rushing attack, scoring twice more before halftime. Will Harmon scored on a six-yard run to kick off the second quarter scoring, followed by Bell’s second touchdown, a 42-yard run. Escobar-Gonzalez, who was 7 of 8 on PAT kicks, was good on both conversions, extending the lead to 34-17.

Bell opened the third quarter scoring with a 25-yard touchdown run, and Rodriguez-Costa caught an eight-yard touchdown pass from Chavez as Sussex Central took a 48-17 lead with 4:13 to play in the third quarter.

Bell rushed for 222 yards on 15 carries with three touchdowns to lead Sussex Central. Chavez was 4 of 4 for 112 yards and three touchdowns.

“Malik Bell is special and he is going to have games like this with the way our offensive line is playing, but we need to stay humble,” Wells said. “Dover had some stud defensive lineman out with injuries tonight.” Wells said.

Dover got back on the scoreboard on a pair of touchdown passes from Starling. A 45-yard strike to Coston was followed by a 15-yard touchdown pass to Patterson as the Senators cut the lead to 48-30.

Starling completed 7 of 17 passes for 228 yards and three touchdowns. Patterson caught three of those passes for 118 yards.

Harmon capped off the scoring on the night with a 20-yard pass from Chavez, and Sussex Central went up 55-30 with 6:40 to play in the game.

“We didn’t have to pass much tonight, but Bradley Chavez just keeps getting stronger throwing the ball, which down the road is going to make teams have to respect his ability to throw,” Wells said.

Sussex Central improved to 7-1 overall and 3-0 in Class AAA District 2 and will host Caesar Rodney next Friday night with kickoff at 7:00 pm. Dover dropped to 2-5 overall and 1-2 in Class AAA District 2. Dover will travel to Cape Henlopen on Friday night with kickoff at 7:00 pm.