Caesar Rodney defeats Sussex Central 4-1 to earn spot in D-I soccer finals

CAMDEN — When he saw the ball approaching him, he couldn’t believe it.

But when the ball fell at his feet, Trevor Sullivan made sure to take advantage of the opportunity and set his teammate up in perfect position.

The Caesar Rodney High freshman ended up being credited with the assist on the first half corner kick goal that tied the game up 1-1, with sophomore Derek Hawkins deflecting the ball into the net for the score.

Sullivan later netted the go-ahead goal in the 48th minute on the way to Caesar Rodney’s 4-1 victory over Sussex Central High in Tuesday night’s DIAA Division I boys’ soccer semifinal showdown.

“The keeper ran at me, and the net was wide open,” Sullivan said of the go-ahead goal. “It feels amazing, this is something I’ve never felt before. It’s a new feeling and I’d like to keep doing it through all my years at CR.”

The top-seeded Riders (17-0-1) move on to face Salesianum School in the finals Saturday night at Dover High.

It marks the sixth overall trip to the state finals for CR, including a showdown with Salesianum in 2019 and 2014. The Riders lost that ’19 matchup with Salesianum 7-0 and the ’14 showdown 2-0, but hope for different results this time around.

They’ll be seeking their second state title ever, having defeated McKean 2-1 in the ’94 title game.

“Central is a good team, they have a lot of pace and some good individual players,” said CR coach Dwayne Lavender. “I just think we had to settle in to play our game. We like to play our game, and I think it took us a half to realize we can play our game.

“I think in the second half we really came out and grabbed the game by the scruff and we were knocking it around a bit more and just really elevated our speed of play.”

Caesar Rodney started the season with a 4-4 tie to Charter School of Wilmington but have since won 17 straight games to earn the finals trip. That streak includes the Henlopen Conference championship and a pair of state tourney wins.

Caesar Rodney outshot Central 18-10 while senior CR goalkeeper Kaden Childs made eight saves.

No. 4 seeded Sussex Central (12-2-1) got on the board first with a goal from senior midfielder Jerry Velasquez Mazariegos on a free kick in the 18th minute.

Hawkins’ tying goal came nine minutes later to tie it up before the halftime break.

Ahead 2-1 after Sullivan’s go-ahead goal, junior Sawyer Ott extended the lead with a goal on a corner kick header in the 71st minute and, just a minute later, junior teammate Thaddeus Glasser put the exclamation point on the win with a goal on a free kick.

Senior Daniel Tebar Gomez assisted on all three of the second half CR goals.

“Sallies is a great team, they’ve been a great team for a while and they’ve got a great coach,” Lavender said of the finals. “It’s going to be a battle, but we’re going to come to play and give it our best … We’re going to enjoy this moment, and then come in tomorrow and get focused.”