By Horatio Glover ’26
Derby High School Football has gotten their first win in three years and nine months. This ‘’absolutely marks a new change’’, says assistant Coach Matthew Nicolari. Their last win came on November 15, 2019 against the Kennedy Eagles. On Friday 22, 2023 when the Derby Red Raiders hosted the Wilby Wildcats at legendary Lou DeFilippo Field. This was also Derby coach Jeremy Clark’s first win with the program since he took it over. He stated ’It felt great it felt like we had a lot of momentum building for the last two years that I’ve been here, and it comes together to with everyone having a good night it was an awesome feeling and the hard work is starting to pay off.’’
Derby has been on a 22-game losing streak until Friday when they put up 45 unanswered points just in the first half. Their first touchdown came off a rollout from Jayzair Barbera ’25. After a two-point conversion by Bryan Mclean ‘24, the Raiders went to 8-0. Then the Raiders went back on defense. Throughout the night the Raiders defense played soundly all throughout the whole game, with them rallying to the ball and forcing Wilby out of their strengths. Mclean came up with their first interception of the season as he read a vertical up the seam. In the first play after his interception, Mclean took a counter all the way to the end zone leaving Wilby defenders in his wake. Later into the game Kobe Marroquin ‘24, got his first interception by a hurry-up by Sean Callaghan ‘25. ’’It felt amazing to get my first pick,’’ Marroquin said.
Overall, the Red Raiders finished the game 45 to 2. Barbera finished the night going 4/6 passes for 103 yards, 78 yards rushing, and 2 touchdowns. Mclean ended the night with 12 carries for 210 rushing and 1 interception. Marroquin Finished the night with 2 interceptions, 4 tackles, and 1 sack.
The Raider Press 