In spite of a strong showing in the first half, the Mathews High School varsity football team lost to King William Friday night by a 49-14 margin. The loss drops the Blue Devils’ record to 1-6.

Mathews was playing its second game in five days, but there was little sign of exhaustion in the first half as the Devils jumped out to a 14-0 lead and were still ahead 14-7 at the half.

"The kids came out and fought real hard," MHS head coach Ryan Wenner said. "We were taking care of business."

MHS quarterback Will Harrington completed a 77-yard touchdown pass to Deondre Foster. Harrington also took it in himself from one yard out for the other score. P.J. Johnson was a perfect two-for-two in PAT attempts. Foster ended the night with 137 receiving yards.

In the second half, the 5-2 Cavaliers "came out with a mindset ‘We’re going to be mean and dirty’," Wenner said, and wore down the Devils with a much rougher style of play. After having lost a couple of kids ev...