Heading into Friday night’s road game against undefeated Eau Gallie, Harmony coach Don Simon felt that the game would be winnable -- if his team could take advantage of red zone opportunities and avoid the big mistakes.
Unfortunately, neither happened as the Commodores (5-0) handed Harmony (3-1) its first defeat of the season by a 28-13 score.
“We made too many mistakes against a really good team,” Simon said. “The early turnover led to a score, we kept two of their scoring drives alive with penalties, killed one of our own with a penalty and had some sloppy tackling. You can’t do that against good teams and expect to win.”
The trouble started early, when Harmony fumbled the ball away on sixth play of the game. Eau Gallie recovered at the Longhorn 40 and on their first play from scrimmage Mari Croom hit Baker Alvarez on a quick hitter and he took it to the house for a 7-0 lead.
Harmony would drive inside the Commodores 20 on their next two possessions, but had to settle for a pair of Alex Tuyo field goals to make it a 7-6 game. The first of two bad penalties would cost Harmony on Eau Gallie’s next possession. A holding penalty and two incomplete passes put Eau Gallie in a third-and-22 hole on their own 8-yard line. Croom would fire an incomplete pass, but Harmony was called for a roughing the passer penalty to keep the Commodores on the field with an automatic first down at the 25. One play later, Latavious Welch took a pitch around left end, broke a tackle and raced 70 yards for a touchdown and a 14-6 lead.
After a Longhorn punt, Harmony defense would cut the lead to 14-13 when Joshua Moss stepped in front of a Croom pass and returned the interception 26 yards for a score. A second penalty would again lead to a touchdown for the Commodores. Facing fourth-and-4 from their own 37, Eau Gallie lined up to go for it and where successful in drawing Harmony offsides for a first down. Eight plays later, Delvonte Williams ran it over from 9 and Eau Gallie took a 21-13 lead into the half.
The Commodores were able to control the ball for most of the second half, limiting Harmony to just three possessions. Eau Gallie put the game out of reach with 11:56 to go in the game when Baker caught a 33-yard slant from Croom to up the lead to 28-13.
Harmony did try to fight back on its next possession as Tyler Eman broke off runs of 13 and 14 yards and Cooper Richards added a 14-yard run as the Longhorns drove down to the Eau Gallie 8. But on a second and goal, Harmony was called for an illegal chop block that pushed the ball back to the 25. Four plays netted a minus two yards and the Longhorns turned the ball over on downs with 6:30 remaining.
Harmony was led on offense by Emans (17 carries, 87 yards) and Cooper Richards (13-76) but had trouble moving the ball through the air as Aiden Parks was just one for four and was sacked four times.
“I actually thought we played well for three quarters of the game," Simon said. But the fact remains that isn’t good enough when you play good teams and we have to start putting the ball in the end zone when we get into the red zone.”
The Longhorns return to action next Friday at home, when they play Melbourne (3-2) in their first District 4S-11 game. Kickoff is 7 p.m.
