By Andy Walter

SEAFORD — To any young person around Seaford, the Blue Jays’ era as a football state power is ancient history.

After all, the last time Seaford High played for the Division I state crown was in 1993.

Still, there are reminders around from those glory days.

Blue Jay assistant coach Clint Dunn, a standout for the program in the 1980s, has a Seaford football tattoo. Another assistant, Dwayne Bivens, also played for the Jays.

“We talk about that a good bit actually,” said Seaford head coach Mark Quillin. “They (the players) don’t understand the significance of that, it’s been so long ago. But the more you share with them, the more they understand that it’s more than just playing a football game. It’s back in the day, when the community was here.”

It’s been a difficult few decades of football at Seaford for various reasons. But, with the state’s new three-tier classification and a second-year coach in Quillin, the Jays have some genuine reason for optimism.

Seaford (1-0, 2-0) goes to Indian River (1-0, 1-1) today for a 7 p.m. Class 3A, District II matchup. It is the first time the Blue Jays have started a season with back-to-back wins since 2018.

They’ve won more than two games in a season only twice since 2009.

Quillin, the former Sussex Tech head coach and Delmar assistant, says it’s also probably the first time in a long time the Jays’ players have been interested in things like district standings and state tournament possibilities.

“It’s an interesting conversation with the kids each day,” he said. “They ask me all the time, ‘Coach, how do we get points? How do we do this, how do we do that?’ So they are starting to kind of get excited about it and learn.

“When I was at Tech and Delmar, we used to talk about it every week. So it’s kind of fun that our kids are excited about it.”

Besides Seaford’s record, there are other tangible signs of improvement. There are now over 70 total players in the program — from middle school to high school — where there were only 20-some just a couple seasons ago.

On Monday, the Blue Jays’ junior varsity registered the program’s first victory since before 2009.

Of course, Seaford’s schedule — as it is for most Class 3A programs — is set up to help the Blue Jays be successful. Aside from a matchup with currently-unbeaten Laurel on Oct. 29, the Blue Jays’ final five other opponents own a combined record of 2-11 right now.

But Quillin said his players are already asking what they have to do to move up to Class 2A. They want to start playing Sussex County rivals Delmar and Woodbridge again.

Seaford is still young. It has only three seniors listed on its 32-player varsity roster.

“They see us improving,” said Quillin. “Of course our goal, in the next few years, if we do well here and continue to move forward, we want to be able to compete with those teams at the Division II level.

“The biggest thing is being competitive every Friday night. Just having a Friday night that’s really competitive just makes football fun.”

Familiar foes

Smyrna and Sussex Central, who square off tonight in Georgetown at 7 p.m., are no strangers to each other.

This will be the third time the two Henlopen North rivals have met in their last 11 games.

While the Eagles and Golden Knights split their two meetings last fall, it’s Central’s last-second 38-34 victory in the DIAA Division I state semifinals that most people remember. The two programs have split their last four meetings.

At 2-2, Smyrna has out-scored its two opponents by a combined 96-6 in its two wins but been out-scored, 80-20, in its two losses.

With all 11 teams in Class 3A making the DIAA state tournament this fall, perhaps there’s not as much riding on tonight’s showdown. But pride and state tournament seeding can still be powerful motivation.

Morning meeting

Dover and Caesar Rodney’s game on Saturday, at 11 a.m. in Camden, is certainly an unusual kickoff time for the two crosstown rivals.

How the Senators and Riders react to the early start remains to be seen.

Dover has won the last three meetings and leads the all-time series, 36-30-4. This is the third straight season that the contest has been played on CR’s home field.

The game can be seen online at 302 Sports.

At the moment, the two teams are headed in different directions. At 3-1, the Senators have already surpassed last season’s victory total in a 2-4 campaign.

The Riders (0-4), on the other hand, haven’t scored in their last two games.

Extra points

Middletown (3-0) is the only one of the 11 Class 3A teams that is still unbeaten. There are seven undefeated teams in the state ... Milford High junior lineman Desmond Aladuge (6-foot-5, 232 pounds) posted a photo on social media of him taking an official visit to Virginia Tech. ... St. Andrew’s (3-0), which didn’t play any games in 2020, has won five in a row going back to 2019. ... October is a big month for Homecomings. Milford’s is tonight while Delmar’s is on Saturday afternoon. ... Former Smyrna High defensive back Larsen Wilson is seeing playing time as a senior at Assumption University in Mass. ... Middletown’s home game with St. Joe’s of Philadelphia on Oct. 8 is going to be televised on ESPNU.