It was Homecoming at Salem as the Sun Devils celebrated their 30th year of existence. Never in those 30 years has the Virginia Beach school pitched five shutouts in a row, and that was the goal as they 6-0 Sun Devils welcomed in the 5-2 Dolphins of Ocean Lakes.

Ocean Lakes, which captured the Beach District and Region 6A crown a year ago, came in off a 31-6 loss to a Maury team that Salem might run into come playoff time at the Region 5A level.

Salem's star running back Kaelon Black showed fans in attendance why he might be the best 2020 running back in the 757, rushing for 202 yards and two scores as the Sun Devils ran away to a 45-0 win over Ocean Lakes.

"It was a great game," Black said. I just want to thank my o-Line and all my receivers for doing great things outside and allowing me to bounce through the hole and score touchdowns."

Black entered the game having rushed for an area-best 16 touchdowns along with 825 yards, tops in the Beach District. This performance puts him over the 1000-yard barrier, and while winning rushing titles would be nice, the primary goal remains team-oriented.

"Our motivation is to go to the State Championship," Black commented. "We know we have to take it one game at a time, so if we obliterate these teams one game at a time, we know we will be in the State Championship."

The preparation has been there each and every week for the Sun Devils, a team that has been driven since their 31-28 loss to Maury on a field goal at the end of the regional semifinals last November.

"We did an excellent job of scheming this week," Head Coach Shawn Wilson stated. "I know we have some guys who can get it done. Our running backs Kaelon Black and Lex Henry, did an excellent job, Desmond Green, especially our offensive line coach and our offensive front. Without those guys, we couldn't do anything."

Two was the number of the day for Salem as Desmond Green had a pair of touchdown receptions to go with quarterback Saquan Miles' two rushing and two passing scores on the night.

"We came out and did what we had to do," Miles said. "Shout-out to my defense, they pushed me in practice and we are looking on to the next."

After missing his freshman year, which Miles was slated to start in, he is on all cylinders in his sophomore campaign.

"I finally get to break out the juice that I wanted to break out, but I'm just looking forward to the next game. I try to do what I do to put points on the board," the soft-spoken quarterback said.

With a good mix of youth and experience, the Sun Devils are sitting at 7-0 under Coach Wilson. It's the program's best start in six years.

"We always have good guys, but it's a little different now," exclaimed Wilson, hinting at fewer players transferring within and out of the Beach District. "Now everybody has an even playing field. We are playing with the guys we are supposed to have. With the guys I have like Saquan (Miles) and Kaelon (Black), we do have a good mixture. "

Salem notables:

QB Saquan Miles: 7-9, 108yds, 2 TDs, 15yds rush, 2 rush TDs

RB Kaelon Black: 202yds, 2 TDs, 1 rec, 6yds.

RB Lex Henry: 34yds

WR Keimar Gatlin 1 rec, 15yds, 8yds rush.

WR Desmond Green: 4 rec, 76yds, 2 TDs, 15yds rush

Ocean Lakes noteables:

QB Josh Brown: 9-11, 98yds

RB Kai Hodge: 41yds, 2 rec, 20yds

WR Naquan Brown: 3 rec, 51yds

WR David Roulley: 3 rec, 27yds.

At 7-0 and a virtual lock to make the playoffs, some teams could be caught looking ahead. But don't expect that to be the case for Wilson and his Sun Devils.

"We are just focused on Kellam," Wilson commented. "That's been our motto all year: to just focus on the next team that we play and not think about the playoffs."

With all the things that could come with being undefeated this late in the year, Wilson isn't letting the outside pressure get to him and make him or the team look past what's in front of them.

"We try not to read the paper, they don't write about us anyway," Wilson quipped. "Maybe they will write something this time. But we ain't played nobody and all that... we just do what we need to do over here and do it the Salem way."

That way this year has been with a relentless, unforgiving defense, hard-nosed running, efficient quarterback play and solid play in the trenches.

The Sun Devils have had some great teams over the years, one that have captured region titles and made the State Playoffs with decorated stars such as Kevin Whaley, Lyndell Gibson, Bucky Hodges, Andrew Motuapuaka and others over the years that have gone on to play in the ACC, Big Ten, among other conferences in College Football. Yet, the data to this point tells us this team might down as the most dominant one ever at the school.

Next for Salem is a Friday night game at Kellam, which was blanked by Landstown 35-0 in its latest contest. Meanwhile, Ocean Lakes will try to get back in the win column when they travel to winless First Colonial, who was bested by Tallwood 22-16 their last time out.

The Sun Devils can capture a No. 1 seed for the Region 5A playoffs if they are able to win out. Beyond the game with Kellam are matchups against Bayside (3-4) and Cox (4-3). Should they finish out the regular season 10-0 for the first time since 2007, it's looking like they will out-point Maury and Woodside, even if both the Commodores and Wolverines also conclude 10-0.