Sussex Central High isn’t going to let its reign as DIAA state champion end without a fight.

The sixth-seeded Golden Knights opened defense of their big schools state title with a 35-0 victory over No. 11 Caesar Rodney on Friday night.

Sussex Central (6-5) advances to the quarterfinals of the DIAA state tournament, now known as Class 3A, where it will play at third-seeded Salesianum (7-2) on Saturday at 7 p.m. The Sals beat the Knights, 42-13, in the second game of the regular season.

Friday’s game was also a rematch of Central’s 42-6 victory over the Riders from just a week ago.

But unlike the first meeting, when the Knights led only 7-6 at halftime, Central opened up a 21-0 advantage by intermission on Friday night. Fullback Kris Shields scored all three of the first-half touchdowns on short runs.

P.J. Henry and Malik Bell added second-half touchdown runs as the Knights won their third straight state tournament game and raised their tourney record to 7-1 over the last four seasons.

The Riders, who were shut out for the fourth time this season, finish the year at 0-11. They have lost 12 games in a row dating back to last season.

Delmar 43, Newark 7: Trent Kemp scored on a 79-yard touchdown run in the first quarter before J.W. Warner added a 60-yard TD run to start the third quarter as the No. 6 Wildcats rolled past the 11th-seeded Yellowjackets in the first round of the Class 2A tournament on Friday night.

Delmar (7-3) moves on to a quarterfinal contest at third-seeded Wilmington Friends (9-1) on Saturday at 1 p.m. The Quakers blanked the Wildcats, 28-0, in their season opener.

On Friday, Delmar led 22-0 at halftime before two quick touchdowns to start the second half gave the Wildcats a 36-0 advantage and started a running clock with 11:24 still left in the third quarter. The victory was the third in a row for Delmar.

Newark finishes the season with a record of 5-6.

College basketball

WOMEN, Delaware 79, Delaware State 48: Jasmine Dickey netted 31 points as the Blue Hens posted the Route One victory on Friday night at Memorial Hall.

Delaware (3-1) now leads the all-time series, 12-1, after posting its second straight win in the rivalry.

Dickey, who also had 10 rebounds, shot 10-of-23 from the floor and 9-for-10 from the foul line before posting her second 30-point game in a row.

Ty Battle added 14 points and 11 rebounds for the Hens while Lizzie O’Leary scored 10. The Hens opened up a 43-21 halftime lead.

Joy Watkins (13), Unique Miller (11) and Sianny Sanchez-Oliver (10) all scored in double figures for the Hornets (0-4).

College volleyball

Delaware State 3, Morgan State 0: The second-seeded Hornets made quick work of No. 7 Morgan State, defeating the Bears, 25-15, 25-11, 25-16, in the MEAC Tournament quarterfinals on Friday.

DSU will face No. 3 seed Coppin State in the second semifinal match of the tournament on Saturday at 8 p.m. Howard, the tourney host, and North Carolina Central will square off in Saturday’s first semifinal.

The MEAC championship match is slated for Sunday at 8 p.m. (ESPNU/ESPN3). The Hornets are trying to win the program’s first conference title in 35 years.

Delaware State (25-3) notched its first MEAC Tournament victory since defeating Florida A&M to advance to the 2010 championship match.

Sydney Lewis and Karen Cordero led a balanced Delaware State attack with nine kills each. Valerio Otero had eight kills without an error for a .615 percentage.

Jasmal Cruz led the Hornets with nine digs, while Malgorzata Andersohn led DSU with 19 assists, while contributing five digs.

Towson 3, Delaware 0: The fourth-seeded Blue Hens saw their season come to an end Friday after falling in straight sets (25-18, 25-19, 25-15) to top-seeded Towson in the semifinals of the Colonial Athletic Association Tournament.

Lani Mason paced Delaware (15-13) with nine kills and three digs. Savannah Seemans followed with nine digs and eight kills.

Grace Underwood had six kills, five blocks to close out her career. Lilly Rogers (seven digs, five blocks) and Ezgi Basaranlar directed Delaware’s offense with 12 and 10 assists respectively. Anchoring the Blue Hens defense was Katie Turner with 12 digs.