Golden touch: Smyrna's Sanchez, Smith a winning pair

By Tim Mastro
Posted 6/13/21

CAMDEN — Aidan Sanchez lifts his arm up beside his head, then brings it down to the ground as far as it will go to make his point.

Devin Smith has caught the most passes thrown by him, …

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Golden touch: Smyrna's Sanchez, Smith a winning pair

Posted

CAMDEN — Aidan Sanchez lifts his arm up beside his head, then brings it down to the ground as far as it will go to make his point.

Devin Smith has caught the most passes thrown by him, Sanchez said. And whoever is second isn’t close to Smith.

“It’s probably Devin, then a long empty space and then finally someone else,” Sanchez said.

Smith and Sanchez will have one last chance to team up this Friday. The two Smyrna High teammates are part of the Gold roster for the 65th edition of the Blue-Gold senior all-star football game. The team opened practice Sunday at Caesar Rodney High School.

The game kicks off at 7 p.m. at the University of Delaware. Opening ceremonies will begin at 6 p.m, hosted by the Delaware Foundation Reaching Citizens with intellectual disabilities and all proceeds go toward the DFRC.

Each player is paired with a buddy through the DFRC’s hand-and-hand program. The players and buddies will meet on the field as part of the opening ceremonies.

“It’s definitely an honor,” Sanchez said. “Having fun with our buddies is the big thing here. Then meeting all these guys that we go toe-to-toe with, it’s cool to get everybody in one place and play as a team. It’s really nice to be out here and I’m really excited to go out on the field and play.”

Smith is planning some highlights with Sanchez in the duo’s final performance together.

“I don’t want to tell any info, we’ll keep that until Friday,” Smith said, laughing. “But it’s definitely going to be a show.”

When Sanchez arrived in the Smyrna School Distrct in eighth grade, Smith was the first person he met.

“Ever since then, we’ve been boys,” Sanchez said. “We see each other every other day in the summer. I’m always over at his house. It’s really like a brother, blood relationship.”

“Aidan has been my QB since eighth grade,” Smith said. “For five years we’ve had that chemistry,”

Sanchez and Smith were honored on the All-State first team in this past season that was abbreviated by COVID-19. Sanchez was awarded the Gatorade Player of the Year award.

Smith caught 24 passes from Sanchez in seven games, recording 363 yards and five touchdowns. Sanchez completed 70% of his passes (154-of-220) and threw for 25 touchdowns and 2243 total yards.

The best play, according to Smith, came this year against Caesar Rodney when Sanchez lobbed a ball which met Smith perfectly in stride for an 80-yard touchdown.

“Eighty yards, that was a good one,” Smith said. “He led me right to the ball.”

The pair will continue their football careers in college. Sanchez is headed to Kutztown University while Smith will suit up for Seton Hill University.

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