Guilford Park remains undefeated, knocks off defending champs Decatur, 28-14
November 14, 2025
JESSUP, Md. — It wasn’t always pretty, but Guilford Park (11-0) did what it needed to do to stay undefeated and knock off the two-time defending state champion Stephen Decatur (8-2) 28-14 on Friday night.
On the legs of Junior running back Tyler Lee, and behind a stout defense, the Panthers were able to score early, withstand a surge by Decatur, and rebound to take the lead, which it would never relinquish.
The scoring started in the first half with Lee found the end zone on a 2-yard run to give the Panthers a 7-0 lead after the extra point was added by Edduan Perez. Guilford Park took that lead into the second quarter, but Decatur answered back after a slow start. Vernon DeShields broke free to score from 14 yards out, and the Blake Wallace PAT tied the game once more.
Decatur’s defense turned it up in the second quarter and was able to stop Guilford Park multiple times in the red zone. The Seahawks scored one more time in the quarter on a 25-yard pass from Johnny Hobgood to Brody Lynch to take a 14-7 lead. But with just under 30 seconds to play in the half, the Panthers answered back on an 18-yard TD pass from A’Yar Reed-Wright to Anthony Griffin to bring Guilford Park back to even at the half.
Guilford Park looked as if it was going to have another drive stall in the red zone, but A’Yar Reed-Wright found Caden Thibert who made a diving catch at the goal line to break the plane and give the Panthers a 21-14 lead, which they would hold into the 4th quarter.
With the ball, and looking to run out the clock, Guilford Park seemed poised to grind the ball out on the ground and milk the clock. But Reed-Wright threw a deep ball down the sidelines and connected with a wide-open Griffin for a 34-yard score to take a 28-14 lead.
The Seahawks drove down the field deep into Panthers territory, Hobgood’s pass was intercepted and Guilford Park kneeled out the clock.
Stephen Decatur’s season comes to an end after back-to-back 2A state championship titles in each of the last two years. Guilford Park advances to the 3A State Quarterfinals and will host a game next weekend and will await its opponent after teams are re-seeded.
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