Tyler Emans rushed for 203 yards and scored three touchdowns, and Brayden Adams returned an interception 56 yards for a touchdown as the Harmony Longhorns (2-1) came from 14 points down to defeat Mt. Dora (0-3), 35-34, Wednesday.
The game was originally scheduled for Aug. 27 but was postponed due to COVID-19 tracing concerns.
“We did some good things tonight on offense, but we made this game a lot harder on ourselves than we needed to,” Harmony Coach Don Simon said. “Between bad tackling, turnovers, and penalties, we made entirely too many mistakes tonight. Fortunately we got a stop when we had to and did enough to win the game.”
The penalties and poor tackling had a lot to do with the Longhorns falling behind 20-7 before a furious comeback that started just before halftime. Cooper Richards returned the ensuing kickoff 84 yards, but the Longhorns were called for a block in the back that gave them the ball back on the 48 yard line with less than a minute to go. Emans took a handoff on a draw play from the Hurricanes 48, broke two tackles and took it to the outside, going the distance for a score that cut the gap to 20-14 at the half.
Emans then took the second half kickoff and raced 94 yards for a score and a 21-20 lead. A defensive stop was followed by a 9-yard Richards touchdown run. Emans again played a key role in the drive, ripping off a 43-yard run. On the next possession, Adams intecepted a Mount Dora pass and raced 54 yards down the sideline for a 35-20 lead.
But the Hurricanes would not quit. Dante Johnson-Turner’s 7-yard TD run – his third of the game— capped a drive where he carried three times for 51 yards and added the 2-point conversion as Mt. Dora cut the lead to 35-28.
Harmony tried to take control of the game on its next possession, but a 26-yard touchdown run by Richards was called back for a holding penalty and three plays later Mt. Dora recovered a fumble on a strip sack. Six plays later, Johnson-Turner scored his fourth touchdown of the game but he was stopped on the ensuing two-point conversion and the Longhorns held on to their one-point lead.
Looking to ice the game, Harmony recovered an on-sides kick and Emans picked up two first downs on runs of 30 and 11 yards. But with time running out, Harmony would fumble the ball back to Mt. Dora with 2:02 remaining. The Hurricanes would pick up four first downs, but the drive ended on the Harmony 30 as the clock ran out.
For the game, Johnson-Turner joined Emans as a 200-yard rusher, gaining exactly 200 yards on 27 carries. Mount Dora quarterback Trent passed for 164 yards and rushed for 129 more on 13 carries. Harmony would turn the ball over three times and were called for 11 penalties for 95 yards.
“The penalties were just ridiculous,” Simon noted. “It wasn’t just the penalty yards themselves that hurt, but so many of them also negated big plays by us.”
Kicker Kevin Lavigne played a key role in the win – booting five extra points and putting all six of his kickoffs out of the end zone for touchbacks. “Special teams were certainly a big deal for us and have been all year,” Simon said. “We had two big kickoff returns in the game and on the other side, Kevin never gave them a chance to return the ball.”
It was the second game in five days for Harmony, as the Longhorns dropped a hard-fought 20-16 road game to Palm Bay last Friday. The Longhorns rallied from a 14-3 halftime deficit behind its running game, as Emans scored from 21 yards out and Cooper Richards added a 9-yard score as Harmony took a 16-14 lead. With five minutes to go in the game, Palm Bay scored a go-ahead touchdown and then held Harmony at bay for the win.
“Terrific game against two evenly matched teams,” Simon said. “Palm Bay is one stout football team especially on defense. We slugged it out with them for four quarters on the road and just came up a little bit short.”
The Longhorns will have this weekend off, returning to action next Friday when they host Gateway.
