By Kevin Cunningham
Correspondent
The 3-2 Delavan-Darien Comets hosted the 3-2 Burlington Demons on Friday night and the recent play of the football team continued. A season ago, the Comets began the year 3-0 overall, then went on to lose its next three.
With a chance to avoid the same exact six-game start, the first two quarters went the Comets’ way. Quarterback Jacob Benzing found wide receiver Mike Alder for an 80-yard touchdown pass to open contest in the only score in the first quarter.
The Demons answered with a 12-yard touchdown run by its quarterback, Cal Tully, tying the score at 7-7. The Comets came back just over a minute and a half later with a 21-yard touchdown run by running back Fabias Shipman.
Shipman’s touchdown would be the first half’s last score, and the Comets led the Demons, 14-7. Then, just three minutes after the quarter began; Tully went to work on the ground again, this time scoring from 35 yards out.
With the score tied at 14, the Comets would kick a 30-yard field goal, but would give the lead to the Demons for the first time of the night thanks to a 26-yard Jack Miller touchdown run. Running the ball continued to be the key, as Miller would score from two yards out this time, boosting the Demons’ lead to 28-17 with just 7:18 remaining in the game.
Not even three minutes later, Benzing hooked up with wide receiver Seth Kirsch from four yards away. The two-point conversion failed, but then with 1:27 left to play, Benzing found Kirsch again for a four-yard touchdown pass. The two-point conversion was successful this time, and the Comets held a 31-28 lead.
Then, with 0:17 remaining, Tully ran it in from just one yard away, giving the Demons the lead again, and the eventual win, 35-31. Tully only completed 17 of 33 on the night, but amassed 246 yards with no touchdowns or interceptions through the air.
On the ground, Tully also averaged just under six yards per carry, but his three touchdowns, along with Miller’s two touchdowns proved to be the difference against the Comets. For Delavan-Darien, Benzing completed 32 of his 56 passes for 405 yards and two scores with zero interceptions.
Benzing also ran for 25 yards, to go along with Shipman’s 76, but despite over 500 yards of total offense and 31 points, the Comets found themselves on the losing end of the back-and-forth, action-filled game.
Alder ended the night with 165 yards receiving on eight catches, while Kirsch caught 12 balls for 121 yards. The loss brings the Comets to 3-3 overall, back to where they were a season ago.
To avoid the five straight losses the team suffered last year, the Comets’ next game this season is scheduled for a 7 p.m. start Friday at Westosha Central High School. Westosha Central will enter the game with an 0-6 record.
The Falcons are averaging just over 15 points per game and are coming off a 56-18 loss this past week. Despite the Comets’ 3-3 record, the team is just 1-3 in conference, and are one spot ahead of the Falcons coming into Friday’s contest.
