Academy Park shakes slow start to distance Interboro

GLENOLDEN — A week ago, Academy Park was halted and humbled. Playing against a Martinsburg team that was a two-time defending state champion in West Virginia, the Knights never found their rhythm on offense, turned the ball over three times and fell in a 22-point loss.

It was a loss they wanted to forget about and move past. The focus in practice this week was to regroup and prepare for Del Val League rival Interboro. Unfortunately, the sluggish play continued longer than the Knights would’ve liked.

Behind the leadership of senior quarterback Skylor Fillis, Academy Park shook off a slow first half and scored on all four of its second-half possessions out a 40-13 victory over Interboro. Amassing those 14 first-half points wasn’t easy as the Bucs controlled the tempo.

The Knights defense was locked in on the opening drive, forcing a quick Interboro (2-4, 0-1 Del Val) three-and-out. On his team’s first possession, Fillis took his team on a nine-play, 71-yard drive which culminated with the first of his two rushing touchdowns to make it 6-0.

The Bucs responded on the ensuing possession as Jared Dellipriscoli found Andrew Grieb on a 43-yard hookup, and running back Mike Moore, who finished with 115 yards on 22 carries, capped it off with a four-yard score. Interboro kept the pressure on by going on a 14-play drive, which lasted 5:52 and ended with Moore’s second touchdown run.

Fillis and the Academy Park (5-1, 1-0) offense answered as he found Jarrick Wilcox for a 20-yard connection and the Knights took a 14-13 lead into the locker room. Still, Fillis sensed that his team wasn’t as engaged as they should’ve been.

“Everybody was moving slow because they thought it was going to be an easy win since we played such a hard team the week before,” Fillis said. “I guess everyone didn’t have their heads together but it took some time and we got things rolling in the second half.”

Knights coach Jason Vosheski said it wasn’t so much that his team was still focused on the result last week but that the Bucs were winning at the line of scrimmage.

“They were pushing us around, and that’s why they were dictating time,” Vosheski said. “It’s two completely different kinds of offense. They controlled the clock and pushed us around. They did what they wanted to do.”

The Knights take the opening possession of the second half 57 yards and Zion Bradley takes the pitch from Fillis in for a 4-yard TD run. @AParkFootball leads @ihsbucsfootball, 20-13 with 8:15 left in the 3Q #Delcofootball pic.twitter.com/Be64FeRzyx

— Rich Flanagan (@richflanagan33) September 29, 2018

The second half was a different story as the Knights held the Bucs scoreless and limited the opposition to five first downs. Fillis drove Academy Park 57 yards on its first possession of the half, and Zion Bradley scored one of his two second-half rushing touchdowns.

On the next possession, Fillis took matters into his own hands by running for a 63-yard score to give the Knights a 27-13 lead with 4:58 left in the third quarter. He finished 13-for-18 for 166 passing yards and two scores while rushing for 89 yards and a pair of touchdowns.

The Bucs showed some life with an eight-play drive to begin the fourth but Moore’s only mistake of the game came as he fumbled at the Academy Park three-yard line and the Knights recovered.

Moore, whose team only trailed by one at halftime, said coach Steve Lennox was imploring his team that they had the game within their grasp.

“(He was telling us) that we’ve come back way higher scores than we were down,” Moore said. “We were trying to stick as a team, keep the chemistry and playing Buc football the way we usually do.”

Academy Park is hoping it learned a lot from this “wakeup call,” as Vosheski described it, as it returns home to take on Chichester next week.