Dover is 2-8 against Smyrna since October of 2017 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Friday. The Senators will face off against the Eagles at 7:00 p.m. Dover has given up an average of 33.8 points per game this season, but Friday's game will give them a chance to turn things around.
Dover is coming in fresh off a high-stakes matchup with another one of Delaware's top teams: Cape Henlopen, who was ranked ninth at the time (Dover was ranked 18th). The Senators took a 47-28 bruising from the Vikings on Friday. On the bright side, the 28- point effort marked the Senators' highest-scoring contest to date.
Meanwhile, it was a Battle of the Birds when Smyrna duked it out with St. Georges Tech on Friday. The Eagles really took it to the Hawks for the full four quarters, racking up a 44-12 win. That 32 point margin sets a new team best for the Eagles this season.
Smyrna's win came from a few key players Dover will need to keep an eye on. One of the most notable was Drew Marks, who rushed for 103 yards and one touchdown on only ten carries, and also threw for 233 yards and one TD while completing 76.9% of his passes. Those 103 rushing yards gave him a new career-high. Smyrna's leading receiver Phoenix Henriquez was Marks' top target yet again, picking up 108 receiving yards and one score, while also punching in a pair of TDs on the ground.
Smyrna's run defense was locked in: St. Georges Tech could only muster three yards per carry. The team can thank Ky Timmons for the heroic effort on defense: he. Smyrna's run defense has been on the up-and-up: they allowed 4.62 yards per carry earlier this season, but they've only allowed 5.43 on average over their last five games.
The victory (which was Smyrna's third in a row) raised their record to 4-4. The wins came thanks in part to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 36.0 points over those games. As for Dover, their loss dropped their record down to 1-7.
Dover might still be hurting after the 28-7 defeat they got from Smyrna in their previous meeting back in October of 2024. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Marks, who threw for 239 yards and three touchdowns while completing 77.4% of his passes, and also rushed for 79 yards and one score on only 11 carries. Now that the Senators know the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
