Photo: Jeff Wayman was Northampton High School's quarterback in 1995.
Twenty-five years ago, it was finally the second weekend of September. It was finally Friday night. It was finally Northampton High School’s home football opener.
And a treat was on the schedule. Seaford High School from Delaware was coming 110 miles south to play at Hamilton Field in Eastville.
There were storylines aplenty. In 1994, homestanding Seaford had defeated Northampton in overtime, 26-20, when quarterback Nathan Travis was stopped on the one-yard line while trying to tie the score on the game’s last play.
Except for the final score, it had been an exquisite football game. Now, after waiting a year, the anticipated rematch had come.
We’d see how good Northampton’s highly touted defense was. We’d see how it fared playing a bigger school, and a team accustomed to big stages, with a state champion pedigree, with a legendary coach.
With the coronavirus pandemic scuttling high-school football this fall, I’m recounting Northampton’s games from a quarter-century ago. For 99 days — from Sept. 1 to Dec. 9, 1995, a remarkable Northampton team marched to the doorstep of a state championship.
Only one other public Eastern Shore high-school football team ever has gone so far — Onancock High School played in the state football title game in 1978. And none has played for a state title since Northampton in 1995.
But in September of that year, such heights seemed like a far-off dream. The Yellow Jackets had beaten Franklin by a wide margin to begin the season. But Seaford was a town brimming with athletes, and its high school fielded good teams each year.
Northampton also had athletes, speed, size and experience — and a stout defense. It returned eight starters from the previous year’s 8-3 team.
"I think our defense will be a lot stronger," said Northampton football coach Jimmy Conrow in a preseason interview.
By the season’s end, Northampton’s Nick Bravo and Andre Elliott both earned first-team all-state defensive honors from The Associated Press. Other defensive standouts included Keith Layne, Jamell Satchell, Vance Martin, and many more. Conrow was right. It was a lot stronger.
After the game's kickoff, the Northampton crowd saw that Seaford’s defensive was pretty good, too. At halftime, neither team had scored — it was shaping up to be a tight contest, just like the year before.
Northampton found the end zone twice in the third quarter. Terry Smith scored on a 20-yard touchdown run, and Sam Ames added the two-point conversion, giving the Yellow Jackets the lead, 8-0.
They scored again after Robert Boatwright recovered a fumbled kickoff on the Seaford 23-yard-line. Five plays later, Northampton quarterback Jeff Wayman scored from a yard out, and Ames added another conversion.
It was 16-0, Northampton, and neither team would score again. The disappointing loss the previous season had been avenged. Northampton hasn’t played Seaford again in any sport for the last quarter-century.
The following weekend would also bring an intriguing opponent to Eastville. Arcadia High School’s new coach was Bill Prince, a former Northampton player and coach. It would be Northampton's first district game of the season.
Time to wait another week.