Isaac Nieves took a screen pass and raced 69 yards for a touchdown and Noah Carr returned an interception 26 yards for another score, as the St. Cloud Bulldogs posted a 22-12 win over Gateway on Monday night.
“This team needed a win in the worst way,” St. Cloud Coach Bryan Smart said. “Our defense played really well tonight, but we still made too many mistakes. We had four freshmen out there on offense tonight and those mistakes are going to happen when you are playing some many young players.”
Although they only scored 13 points on offense, it was still the Bulldogs still best offensive showing and highest total point production for the season.
The Bulldogs compiled 246 yards of total offense. Freshman quarterback Logan King completed 11 of 16 passes for 130 yards. In addition to his 69-yard touchdown reception, Nieves ran for 21 yards on seven carries, Anthony Morales had 50 yards on six carries and Jolaney Quinones added 25 yards on three carries. Still, St. Cloud had trouble finding the end zone on offense, turning the ball over five times.
“Our defense certainly played well enough to win this game,” Gateway head coach Marlin Roberts said. “But we simply could not get anything going. Our offensive line really struggled and our running backs missed some holes.”
Gateway didn’t score off the takeaways. The Panthers first score came on a 95-kickoff return by Eli Azize to open the second half. Their other came on a five-yard run by Ishmail Sesay with just over two minutes remaining in the game. Gateway picked up 64 of their 87 total yards of offense on that final drive.
St. Cloud countered with two field goals from Wyatt Castelluci and also blocked a punt out of the end zone to account for the Bulldogs other points.
Both teams return to action on Friday night. St. Cloud (2-4, 0-1) travels to East River (2-5, 0-2) for a District 7A-7 matchup. Gateway (1-5, 0-2) has a 6A-7 game at Heritage (3-2).
Elsewhere, the playoffs don’t start for another month, but Harmony’s remaining games will feel like playoff games if they want to find a spot on the Class 7A bracket.
That includes a District 7A-7 game Friday at Melbourne (4-2), winners of four in a row. The Longhorns go into it riding the momentum of a 44-14 win Friday over Liberty.
Running back Tyler Emans had another big night with 138 yards and 5 touchdowns on just 18 carries. He now has 941 rushing yards and 17 TDs this season, both among the state leaders.
Three scores came in the second quarter, when HHS turned a 3-0 lead into a 31-6 halftime margin. The Longhorns defense also forced five turnovers.
“This is who we are, our identity, running the veer and playing tough defense,” HHS Coach Don Simon said. “The kids were flying around, making a lot of good plays.”
Liberty, who got 100 yards and two rushing touchdowns from Karvelis Scott Friday, had a slight schedule adjustment. They will welcome Leesburg on Friday.
The Chargers (2-5) played Melbourne Central Catholic Tuesday night in a make-up game from earlier in the year.
Celebration (4-2) looks for their first District 8A-9 win of the year at home Friday against West Orange (5-1), one of Central Florida’s premier teams. The Storm warmed up with a 33-15 win Friday over Tohopekaliga (2-4), and Oniel Senatus rushed for 3 TDs, bringing his season total to 16.
The Tigers go for a second District 8A-5 win tonight when they host Boone.
Poinciana (0-5) saw its shot at the first win of the year dashed at Davenport, 20-8, Friday. The Eagles get back at it Friday at Haines City at 7:30 looking to try to crack the win column.
