Tohopekaliga looked to be putting a second straight solid effort together after a big District win last week over Harmony.
Instead, against a solid Lake Brantley squad, the Tigers fell, 43-7 in a game that was closer than that score portrays — the Tigers (3-3) scored first and only trailed the Patriots (6-1) 14-7 at the half.
Lake Brantley running back Curtis Dewberry scored three touchdowns on the ground, and quarterback Jackson Stecher was 20-for-25 passing for 216 yards and two more scores.
Any battle between quarterbacks Stecher and Tohopekaliga's Sabby Meassick, both among the area leaders in passing yards and TDs, ended quickly when Meassick came out of the game late in the first quarter after taking a hit on a sack. Before that, the game started about as well as it could for the Tigers. Meassick hit Josiah Hall on a 53-yard touchdown pass on the fourth snap of the game, and then Toho recovered an onside kick at the 41.
But a sack and an interception followed, and Meassick went down with the shoulder bruise. The Patriots assumed all the momentum and scored 43 unanswered points, despite Toho's Caiden White picking off Stecher's second pass of the second half.
"Sabby going down put a crimp in the game plan, plain and simple," Tigers Coach Anthony Paradiso said. "We were already down a couple starters on both sides going in, but the kids who did play did battled."
Gabriel Velez entered for Meassick and was 5-for-14 for 34 yards. Xaevez Brown carried 16 times for 92 yards.
Tohopekaliga will have to regroup quickly with upcoming matchups at home against private-school power Master's Academy and a big matchup Oct. 17 at St. Cloud that could decide the District 7A-10 champion. Paradiso said message would be a definitely maybe for next week.
