It may not have been a championship game, but it sure had the feeling of one last Wednesday night as the Mathews High School football team took on its neighbors from the north, Middlesex, in a down-to-the-wire contest that saw the host Devils close out their 2018 season with a 12-10 win.

The win was the second for first-year head coach C.J. Kelly and his Blue Devil squad (Mathews defeated King and Queen on Oct. 5 by a 33-18 margin), but it seemed to carry more meaning for the Blue Devil faithful, and it was also Kelly’s first victory in front of a home crowd.

Mathews also showed a marked improvement from the start of its season. Back on Aug. 16 in a pre-season scrimmage at Ken Brown Field, Mathews fell to the visiting Middlesex Chargers, 27-12, in a contest that was called short due to a Charger injury.

“Wednesday’s win was a great way for us to finish off our season,” Kelly said. “I was so happy for our seniors to go out with a win. We lost two of ou...