Tyler Emans rushed for 285 yards – including touchdown runs of 27, 26, 73 and six yards – and his Longhorns teammates forced eight turnovers as Harmony routed Tohopekaliga 40-7 on Friday night.
It was a stunning turnaround for the Longhorns (5-3), who had just two days to prepare for the Tigers after losing a heart-wrenching 9-7 district loss to Melbourne on Tuesday night in a make-up game from Hurricane Ian. That loss knocked Harmony out of the race for a district championship.
“I am so incredibly proud of this team,” Coach Don Simon said after the win. “Because of (Toho's) offense and all its moving parts, it would be difficult to get ready for them if you had the normal week of practice to get ready. Our defense only had the two days to figure it out. To allow just seven points and force eight turnovers is a real tribute to these players.”
Harmony’s defense and Emans would set the tone early in the game. On Tohopekaliga’s first play from scrimmage, Sabby Meassick would complete a 12-yard pass to Julian Nasco, only to watch the Longhorns defense knock the ball loose and the completion and recover the fumble. On the first play from scrimmage and less than 40 seconds into the contest, Emans broke loose and scored on a touchdown to give Harmony a 7-0 lead.
Late in the first quarter, Nathan Butler would intercept Meassick and Emans would again take it to the house of the first play of the drive –this time from 27 yards out. Alex Tuyo would up the lead to 17-0 in the second quarter by hitting on a career-long 49-yard field goal.
Meassick, who came into the game with 32 touchdown passes in the first six games of his career, would get Toho on the board in the second quarter when Nick Rawls Jr. slipped past the Longhorn defenders and had Meassick hit him in stride for a 74-yard touchdown run.
Harmony would register two more defensive stops and Tuyo would add a 25-yard field goal as the Longhorns extended the lead to 20-7 at the half.
Emans would dash any Toho hopes of a comeback on the first play of the third quarter. Taking a handoff, he broke two tackles at the line of scrimmage and raced by the Tiger secondary on his way to a 73-yard touchdown. The Harmony senior would add a fourth touchdown from six yards out and his backup Jeremy Hilliard would add a scoring run in the late moments of the game for the 40-7 final score.
Meassick found the sledding tough against the Longhorns. He was intercepted five times – part of the eight total turnovers the Longhorns forced. Although he completed 29 passes for 285 yards, he also had 24 incompletions, saw four of his passes knocked down at the line, was sacked twice. Only six of his 29 completions gained more than 10 yards. Rawls had a big night for the Tigers. Starting both ways, he had an interception and caught 16 passes for 183 yards.
The win lifted the Longhorns to 5-3 on the season and kept alive their playoff hopes. They will play a district game against Heritage on Friday, before concluding the season against arch-rival St. Cloud (5-3) in two weeks. “With the schedule we have played, if we win our last two, I think 7-3 will get us an at-large bid to the post-season. But we need to win those two to have that opportunity,” Simon added.
Tohopekaliga (5-2 overall and 1-0 in district play) will make-up a district game against 0-7 Celebration on Monday. A win would put them in a Friday road game against Osceola (5-3, 2-0) for the Class 4S, District 11 title. The Kowboys have outscored their last three opponents by a 131-9 margin – including a 33-6 dismantling of Daytona Beach-Mainland on Friday – a team that entered the game as the No. 1 ranked team in the state in Class 3 Suburban.
