Spoto 28, Newsome 21

RIVERVIEW — Next August, someone needs to clarify to Spoto and Newsome what exhibition means. Because both teams spent 48 preseason minutes Friday staging a raucous, rough-nosed, riveting one.

In a clash of running offenses, Spoto made its 28-21 victory count — even if it didn't. A 63-yard scoring dash by 155-pound senior Charles Waits with 3:47 to play lifted the host Spartans, who used most of their regulars the whole game and even allowed Division I linebacker prospect Rodney Williams to re-enter after a first-quarter knee injury.

Then again, the Wolves didn't exactly empty their bench either.

"It's a competition," Spartans coach Dale Caparaso said. "When you line up against someone the goal is to win."

Speaking of competitions, Spoto has one at quarterback — and the competitors are siblings, adding to the intrigue. Senior Jamar Burns (six carries, 78 yards) ran the Spartans' spread attack in the first half, scoring on a 44-yard run on his team's third play from scrimmage.

He was replaced in the second by half-brother James Brown (eight carries, 48 yards), who directed two second-half TD drives out of the Delaware wing-T.

"Jamar's really not a better thrower, but he has a little more command and a whole lot more speed in the wildcat (formation)," Caparaso said. "And James is an option guru."

Newsome got two 1-yard TDs from fullback Conner Powers (22 carries, 64 yards) and a 28-yard score from Matt Klenke to Joe Hennlley. The Wolves appeared to tie it with about three minutes left when Powers, at took a deflected Klenke pass for a 29-yard TD, but an inadvertent whistle nullified the play.

"They said if the whistle would've blown when he had possession they would've marked it where he had possession of the ball," Wolves coach Ken Hiscock said. "But it blew before the kid had possession, so it goes back."