The Delmarva Christian boys’ soccer team opened up its conference schedule with a 4-3 home victory over ESIAC rival Salisbury School Sept. 6.

“Our team played phenomenal,” said Royals captain Jay Parrish. “We possessed the ball well, moved it well, and although we let in a few goals that we should not have allowed, it's okay. We can recover from that and we'll do better next time. I'm so proud of the boys.”

Twas the Dragons that struck first in the ancient mythical battle of Royals against the fire-breathers. 

“We got to see how we play as 11 guys – as one team – when things don't go our way,” Royals coach Luke Shiderly said.

Refusing to yield, Delmarva Christian battled back to earn a penalty in the 36th minute. Parrish buried the shot and quickly grabbed the ball to signal to his teammates more work was needed with the game 1-1.

“As a captain and as our striker, I was just thinking the whole game, I need to put the ball in the back of the net,” Parrish said.

Royals captain Kasey Bell broke the tie early in the second half on a corner with a highlight reel header on a service from Mauricio Chavez in the 45th minute. Firing back with a goal on a penalty kick in the 57th minute, Salisbury School continued to test the Royals’ resilience. The Dragons scored again in the 70th minute, but sandwiched between the two tallies was a gem of a shot from Harrison Schlabach who took a pass from Parrish and sent a ball through traffic and past Salisbury School’s keeper.

With the game knotted 3-3, freshman Cameron Smithson found a crease in the defense as he entered the box and exploited it. Nearly splitting the two defenders, Smithson almost scored the winner himself but was fouled by the Dragons.

With the game in its 74th minute, the Royals entrusted their sophomore captain Parrish to handle the shot from the spot. Their faith was rewarded, as Delmarva Christian took a 4-3 lead with just about six minutes to go.

Keeping their cool in the high-stakes situation, the Royals' task of closing the game was made easier when one of the Salisbury School’s captains was sent off with a red card.

As the final whistle blew, Delmarva Christian celebrated their first win of the 2024 season, proud to have stood up to the quality challenges from their division rivals.

“A win like this, it's really important, because it gets everybody's confidence up,” Parrish said. “We need to work harder, 100%, but coach is always pushing us to be the best that we can possibly be. We're going to keep doing better and better throughout the season and hopefully we can get a bunch of Ws.”