WORTON — With a senior-led roster of 29 players and three full weeks of practice, on the heels of a confidence-boosting scrimmage last Saturday against Early College School at DSU charter school and a well-attended minicamp over the summer, the Trojans kick off their football season here tonight in a much better place than a year ago.
No one, least of all head coach Paul Tue III, would say otherwise.
“Last year was hard,” Tue said, soft-pedaling how the program folded eight games into a winless 2025 campaign after the mostly underclassman roster had dwindled to fewer than 15 players.
“We’ve got some growing pains, but we’re doing things the right way … looking better than last year,” he said. “It’s a very positive vibe.”
One reason for coach Tue’s optimism is the return of three-year starter Dwan Harris at quarterback.
Harris’ backup is sophomore Paul “Bang” Tue IV, who was the junior varsity quarterback at Queen Anne’s last year.
The QBs will line up under senior center Tae’Shaun Demby.
Also projected as starting offensive linemen are freshmen Karter Moody and NaCaden Outland at the guard positions and junior Chiedozie “Dozie” Orakpu and senior Avon Hubbard at tackle.
It will be O line by committee, according to coach Tue, with sophomores Blake Warrington and Finn Dierker and junior Jordan Henry rotating in.
The primary ball carriers will be senior Kalief Roberts, sophomore Alijah Floyd and freshman Xavier Gross.
Sophomores Romelo “Melo” Wilson and Landen Gross and seniors Thomas Moore and Dylan Hurtt head the list of receivers.
Coach Tue said he anticipates that the Trojans will attack in the air more often than on the ground because “we have those skills.”
Defensively, across the front, Moore and “Bang” Tue are on the ends, with Dierker and Orakpu at tackle.
Linebackers are Harris, Floyd, Paul Roberts and Kalief Roberts.
The secondary includes Hurtt and Wilson at cornerback, Landen Gross at safety and Tyreek Henry, another of the eight seniors on the team.
Wilson was a starting corner last year for Queen Anne’s.
Several guys will be playing both ways, but coach Tue adds that “we’ve got some kids behind them.”
There are as many as 10 or 11 linemen, including freshmen Adren Walker and Travis Wright.
Moore, who was the team MVP last year, returns as the designated kicker.
Of the 29 players on the roster, 24 have come through the Kent County-based Spartans youth football program that coach Tue has been involved with for many years.
This is Tue’s second year as KCHS’ head coach, after being an assistant in 2024.
His staff includes Kent County football alumni Thomas Price [Class of 2015] and Melvin Freeman [Class of 1998], who are coaching the linemen, and Stevie Curran [Class of 2016], who is the offensive coordinator.
Tue and Jude Mandes are co-defensive coordinators.
Brian Mooney, who was the head coach at Queen Anne’s for three years, is now on the KCHS staff as the quarterback coach and “a lot of other things as well,” according to Tue.
Rounding out the staff are Ian Wilson, also a KCHS graduate, Jarman Thomas and William Poore.
The academic advisor is KCHS teacher Anna Lill, who holds a doctorate in social science.
Kent County kicks off at home tonight [Friday, Sept. 4] at 6 o’clock against Bo Manor, its border rival to the north in Cecil County.
In the recent past, Bo Manor has been deeper, bigger and more experienced than KCHS and has won handily — by an average of 34 points over the last five years, with shutouts in 2025 and ’22.
Given that, coach Tue said he was optimistic and realistic about both tonight’s opener and the season in general.
He said his focus will not be on the win-loss record, but instead on “being able to say we competed and that we looked better than last year.”
“I want us to show up for four quarters and to fight for four quarters,” Tue told The Evening Enterprise in a telephone interview earlier this week. “And we’ll see what the scoreboard says.”
