Melbourne linebacker Logan Barnhill broke through the center of the line and blocked Alex Tuyo’s 19-yard field goal attempt late in the fourth quarter, and the Bulldogs held on to hand the Harmony Longhorns a devastating 9-7 District 4S-11 loss on Tuesday night at “The Ranch.”
The game was a makeup of a Sept. 30 game that was postponed by Hurricane Ian, and sent Harmony to 4-3 on the season and 1-1 in the district. Melbourne improved to 6-2 overall but 2-0 in the district. The Bulldogs can now clinch the district title with a win over winless Viera.
“Not going to lie, this one is going to sting for a while for several reasons,” Harmony coach Don Simon said. “Melbourne was a team that made a deep run in the playoffs and really manhandled us last year. We stayed with them and shut their offense down tonight and had a real chance to win this game.”
While Melbourne dominated time of possession, it was the Longhorns who took a 7-3 lead into the fourth quarter. Both teams moved the ball a little between the 30s until the Bulldogs were stuffed on a fourth and one play from their own 31.
Four plays later, Tyler Emans broke loose on a 17-yard touchdown run, and Tuyo’s conversion made it 7-0 three minutes into the second quarter.
Melbourne would then go on a time-consuming 17-play, 67-yard drive – holding the ball for more than eight minutes. But with the Bulldogs knocking on the door on third-and-1 from the Harmony 6, the Longhorn defense stuffed two consecutive running plays.
Melbourne took the second-half kickoff and marched 68 yards to the Harmony 12 before settling for a Trevor Causey field goal that made it 7-3.
The score would remain there until midway in the fourth quarter. Facing a second-and-19 on the Harmony 39, quarterback Hunter Turner lofted a pass to the goal line where 6-1 wide receiver Jalen Clarke out-jumped a Harmony defender for the ball. The Bulldogs would miss the extra point but took a 9-7 lead with 5:49 left.
“Our defender was where he was supposed to be,” Simon said. “Credit the receiver, he is big and has strong hands and basically made a play he had to make.”
But Harmony fought back. After taking over on their own 27, Emans broke off a 28-yard run. Three plays later on a third-and-7, quarterback Ayden Parks faked a handoff to Emans and pitched out to Cooper Richards who got the edge and raced 32 yards to the 10. On first down, Richard took it to 1.
But Melbourne stuffed Parks on a quarterback sneak, and on third down Richards was stopped for no gain. Melbourne called timeout with just over two minutes left, and on the Tuyo’s ensuing field goal attempt, Barnhill broke up the middle and blocked the kick.
“It was a confluence of mistakes,” Simon said. “We had a high snap that messed up the timing and we had a couple of guys turn the wrong way and that led to the block.”
Still, Harmony fought back and regained possession on the Melbourne 40 with 32 seconds left. On the game’s final play, Tuyo tried a 54-yard field goal that fell short.
Melbourne controlled possession and much of the clock behind senior running back Wesley Lambert, who carried 29 times for 159 yards. The Bulldogs also bottled up the Longhorns ground game — Richards gained 56 yards on 12 carries and Emans managed 75 yards on 17 carries. But of those 131 combined yards, 83 came on just four attempts.
“I really thought we did a pretty good job being patient on offense,” Simon said. “We’re a running team and they have a big physical defense that is hard to run against. But we knew if we kept pounding it we would eventually break some longer runs and we did that. We simply did not make that one more play that could have won the game.”
Harmony will be on short rest this weekend as they must now play at Tohopekaliga (5-1) and their high-flying offense on Friday night. Freshman quarterback Sabby Meassick leads the area with 2,125 passing yards in just six games.
“It’s going to be tough, but we will practice tomorrow and Thursday and get ready for them,” Simon added.
