Other county scores:
Melbourne 28, St. Cloud 6
Eau Gallie 35, Gateway 6
Lake Region 12, Poinciana 0
Heading into Friday night’s game with perennial state power Dr. Phillips, Celebration head coach Rich Pringle had hopes that his upstart and undefeated Storm football team would be able to compete with the Panthers.
Those hopes were practically dashed on the first play of the game as a bad center snap exchange for Celebration resulted in defensive end Demarqua Hemmings picking up the fumble and racing 27 yards for a touchdown – the first of seven Panther’s touchdowns on the night – as Dr. Phillips rolled to a 49-0 win.
“It certainly wasn’t the start that we wanted,” Pringle said of the play. “But to tell you the truth I don’t think it took the wind out of our sails as much as it could have. We responded with a good drive of our own, unfortunately we did not come away with any points. From that point on though, we struggled.”
After falling behind 6-0, the Storm did manage to put together a nice drive. Two hard runs a couple of major penalties gave Celebration a first down on the Panther 19. But two plays later, quarterback Dylan Davis was sacked for a nine-yard-loss and Phillip Rowe missed a 39-yard field goal.
From that point on, it was all Dr. Phillips.
Quarterback Curtis Algroves put together a sensational first half, completing five of five passes for 212 yards and three touchdowns. The first of those went Joanes Fortilien who caught a deep slant and ran 75 yards down the right sideline for a 13-0 lead. Algroves needed just four plays on his next possession to drive the Panthers 80 yards for another score. He completed a 38-yard pass to Fortilien and then found Dallas Davis on 35-yard strike to make it 20-0 after one quarter.
Backup quarterback Jair Murphy would then enter the game for the Panthers and find Fortilien on a 24-yard score to make it 28-0 midway through the second quarter. A three-and-out gave the Panthers the ball back on its own 30 and this time Algroves needed just two plays to get into the end zone, this time on a 52-yard pass to Fortilien.
While the Panther offense was rolling, its defense was keeping Celebration star running back Oniel Senatus in check. O’Neil, who came into the game with 569 rushing yards and 10 touchdowns in his first two games, was limited to just 54 yards and 13 carries in the game. Dr. Phillips also used short kickoffs to keep the ball out of his hands. O’Neil tweaked a knee in the second quarter and did not play in the second half.
“Senatus got hurt midway through the second quarter and tried to go back into the game, but could not make any cuts,” Pringle said. “We made the decision not to play him in the second half and hopefully he will be ready to go next week.”
The 35 point lead led to a running clock for the entire second half. Dr. Phillips managed two third quarter scores for the 49-0 final.
“The main thing I told our kids is that this is not the end of the season, it was just the end of week three,” Pringle added. “We need to clean up some things, including tackling better. But we knew we had a huge challenge in front of us tonight and I thought we did a few things pretty well. The main thing I told them was that whether we win or lose you either celebrate or sulk to midnight and then you get ready for the next opponent.”
Celebration (2-1) returns to action next Friday, traveling to Mulberry (3-1).
