By: Noah Krawchick

The Maury High School Commodores suffered their first loss of the season to Mallard Creek High School on Friday, August 28. Despite a promising first half lead, Maury struggled to keep their momentum in the second half, due to an inconsistent passing game, and a weak defense.

Maury dominated the first half of the game with a 24-7 lead, thanks to a strong special teams, and effective offense. The standout player of the game, senior Matt Williams, boosted morale early by returning a 79 yard kickoff for a touchdown. In addition to boosting the defense at cornerback, Williams scored multiple 2 point conversions as quarterback.

The Commodores expanded their lead as Junior quarterback Domo Everette threw a touchdown pass to Sophomore Jai’Qua Cuffee, while showcasing his agility through multiple big scrambles and 3 30+ yard passes. 

Maury’s offense also had two rushing touchdowns from Senior running backs Tayshawn Branche and Tyrell Reese, who had the only touchdown of the second half.

Overall, Maury converted on three of four 2 point conversion attempts. However, some mistakes were difficult to overcome, as the offense turned the ball over twice; they had one fumble and one tipped pass that was intercepted.

Defensively, the Commodores applied pressure early, with 3 sacks total, one by senior Zachery Wilkerson and two shared team sacks.However, after halftime, Mallard Creek wore down Maury’s defense, scoring 4 rushing touchdowns, enabling 18 unanswered points in the second half.

The Maury Commodores will return for another home game hoping to come back this Friday, September 4, against Varina highschool.

-Edited by: Anton Motley