The only inter-county football game this week kicks off Friday at 7 p.m. when Harmony hosts Gateway. The Longhorns (2-1),
The Longhorns (2-1), who overcame a 20-7 deficit to beat Mount Dora 35-34 last Wednesday, will be favored to win their third game of the season against the Panthers (1-2), who lost 35-6 to Eau Gallie Friday in a District 6A-7 matchup.
Harmony got a 200-yard rushing night from Tyler Emans in the Mount Dora win, but had four turnovers and some defensive lapses it overcame.
“When we weren’t turning the ball over, we were doing exactly what we wanted to do,” Harmony Coach Don Simon said. “If we can clean that up, I like the way we are playing right now.”
Gateway is still looking to find offensive consistency, but made a few plays on defense Friday. Brent Pinnock forced a red-zone fumble that Edward Dyer recovered, Elijah Simmons recorded a sack, and Hector Perez intercepted a fourth-quarter pass and raced 70 yards for Gateway’s touchdown.
“Our offensive line is young and building. We’re trying to be at least a little better every week,” GHS Coach Marlin Roberts said. “A few of those kids turn around and play the defensive line, and Emans is really good, it’s like I’m asking the kids to stop the unstoppable. But we’re excited to play a county team and see who’s better at the end of the night.”
Celebration (2-1) will attempt to rebound from a 49-0 district loss at the hands of Dr. Phillips Friday, when it travels to Mulberry (2-2) on Friday.
“We took a big step up in competition last week and unfortunately we didn’t do anything to help ourselves,” Storm Coach Rich Pringle said. “In order to be successful this week we are going to have to clean up a lot of things we didn’t do well against Dr. Phillips. Mainly our tackling has got to get a lot better.”
Both Mulberry and Celebration have played Poinciana this year with the Storm winning 55-22 and the Panthers taking a 27-12 win. The outcome of the game may hinge on whether Storm star running back Oniel Senatus is able to play. Senatus, who rushed for 569 yards and 10 touchdowns in his first two games, was held out in the second half with an injury after gaining 53 yards on 13 carries in the first half against Dr. Phillips. After losing a tough 12-0 defensive struggle to Lake Region on Friday, Poinciana (0-3) will be looking for their first victory of the season when they host Lakeland Teneroc (1-1) this week.
“We went into (Friday) thinking it was a game would should win, and then we ended up having to play it without nine starters,” Poinciana Head Coach Randy Beeken said. “Despite being shorthanded, I thought our defense played great but without our starting quarterback and running back we simply could not generate any offense.”
Poinciana expects most of those starters to return this week against Teneroc. “If we get the majority of those players back we will be a lot more competitive,” Beeken noted. “This team needs a win.”
Tohopekaliga (1-3) will host Hagerty (1-1) on Friday after dropping a 40-0 decision to Oak Ridge in their district opener last week. The Tigers have been limited offensively, having not scored in their last two games. Hagerty played a make-up game with Timber Creek on Monday.
For the second time in three weeks, Liberty (0-2) had to watch football on a Friday instead of playing it, as coronavirus contact tracing postponed the Chargers’ game at Melbourne Central Catholic, now moved to Oct. 12. It’s all forced Coach Brett Munroe and staff to shuffle its early October schedule.
The Chargers are scheduled to host Lake Howell on Friday at 7:30, and they now play at firstyear program Davenport on Oct. 1. A home game with Harmony on the 8th is followed by the Melbourne Central Catholic matchup on the 12th and a home game against Immokalee on the 15th.
