St. Cloud's Matthew Blenman (0) and Stacy Taylor (3) were clearly excited about the victory ... or maybe it was about Coach Mike Short's birthday win? (Photo/Taylor McFee)
St. Cloud 38, Tohopekaliga 7
On a night when coach Mike Short celebrated his 51st birthday, St. Cloud (5-3, 2-1) kept its playoff hopes alive with a convincing 38-7 win over Tohopekaliga (4-4, 1-2) in a game that was delayed for almost 90 minutes by a fourth quarter lightning storm.
With wins in its final two games, including next week’s Soldier City Classic against Harmony, the Bulldogs would finish at 7-3 and could secure an at-large 6A, Region 2 bid.
“We played a pretty complete game tonight,” Short said after listening to his players serenade him with a pretty horrible rendition of ‘Happy Birthday,.’ “I felt our defense and special teams were outstanding and with our offense finishing three drives in the first quarter, it just took a lot of pressure off the entire team.”
St. Cloud wasted little time against the Tigers, scoring three touchdowns in their first four possessions to grab a 21-0 first quarter lead.
They took opening kickoff and drove 51-yards in seven plays to take the lead on Eli Manning’s 5-yard run. The Bulldogs had to overcome two holding penalties on the drive, with quarterback Jeremiah Lattier’s 21-yard completion on a fourth and 16 to TE Owen Sullivan being the key play.
Its defense recorded a quick three-and-out after the score and Bulldogs over at midfield. On the first play, Manning busted off a 24-yard run and had 15 yards tacked on by a facemask penalty.
On the next play, Mathew Blenman hit paydirt on a jet sweep from 15 yards out.
Lattier then extended the lead to 21-0, hitting Zeus Howard across the middle and then watched as the speedster outran defenders to the end zone for a 45-yard score.
Although the Tiger defense held St. Cloud scoreless for the entire second quarter, they could only manage 17 yards of total offense on their own and went into the locker room trailing by three scores.
Tohopekaliga’s offense came to life at the start of the third period. Taking the kickoff, quarter Gabe Valez marched the Tigers 85-yards on 13 plays with AJ Wise capping the drive with a 9-yard touchdown reception.
But the rally was short-lived.
St. Cloud took over at midfield and found the end zone eight plays later on Manning’s second touchdown run of the game. The junior running back came up big on the drive, gaining 37 yards on five carries.
The Tigers drove to midfield before lightning halted the game at the 11:21 mark of the fourth.
When the game resumed almost two hours later, the Bulldogs put together two more scoring drives that included a touchdown run by Leo Morales and a 20-yard field goal by Adriel Gomez.
Perhaps the most impressive aspect of the win was St. Cloud’s running game, which was without the injured Michael Cuyler for a fourth straight game. Despite his absence, St. Cloud managed 200 rushing yards and four touchdowns – including 93 from Manning.
Lake Nona 43, Gateway 18
If Gateway was supposed to be a lamb left to slaughter on Lake Nona’s way to coasting to a second District 6A-5 title in three years, the Panthers didn’t get the memo – at least at first in Friday’s key football matchup.
The upstart Panthers (6-2, 3-1) were clearly the better team in the first half when they held a 12-3 lead against one of the state’s top rated 6A teams according to Maxpreps.
The Lions (7-1, 3-0) showed it in the second half, scoring 40 unanswered points, including three touchdowns in less than a minute, and won going away, 43-18, providing a score that doesn't reflect on how well Gateway played in the first half.
An 86-yard interception return by Taebor Williams early in the third quarter turned the tide and Lake Nona never gave up the momentum.
While Gateway finished its 6A-5 schedule Friday, Lake Nona still has a matchup with Tohopekaliga (4-3, 1-2) next week that will serve
“I respect what Marlin (Coach Roberts) is building,” said Lake Nona Coach David Aubrey, who coached with him at Gateway some 20 years ago. “We got their best shot in the first half, and our kids settled down and played Lake Nona football in the second half, and we’re grateful to win.”
Gateway held the ball for all but four plays of the first quarter, and on its second possession quarterback Aristotle Span Jr. stepped up in the pocket on third-and-16 and hit Jesan Hernandez over the middle for a 51-yard touchdown pass for a 6-0 lead after the PAT was blocked.
Lake Nona drove the length of the field on its next drive but the Panthers defense bowed up in the red zone and forced a short field goal. Gateway got the ball back with 6:25 left in the half and used nearly all of it after a roughing the punter penalty near midfield kept the drive alive. After driving to the Lions 5 with 36 seconds and no time outs on third down, Roberts’ staff called a gutsy running play on third down. Nydrell Thigpen made it a great call and got to the pylon for a score. The two-point try was no good, and the Panthers lead 12-3 heading into the locker room.
They came out and made another big play, recovering a fumble on the third quarter kickoff. But Williams got his big play to make it 12-10, scored in two plays on its next drive to take the lead, scored three touchdowns in about a minute of clock time to start the fourth quarter and was off and running to the district title.
Gateway scored late in the game when Span (13-for-27, 179 yards) passed to Johnny Reyes, who fumbled into the end zone, but Hernandez fell on it for the score. With Lake Nona bottling up the running lanes to stop Thigpen, Gateway featured the passing game more than it has.
Roberts said he was happy to see his young team play free and undaunted against a power opponent.
“We knew they’d stack the box, and we had to have an answer, and the kids made some plays,” he said. “It could’ve been the lights got a little too bright for the young kids, but you hope they learned something from the experience for the next time.”
Gateway, who was on the outside of the playoff picture this week in the Maxpreps rankings, closes the season with games against Cypress Creek and Celebration, who’ve combined for three wins, games that likely won’t impress the Maxpreps computers, meaning even with two wins and the best record in school history, the Panthers would be 8-2 and without a playoff dance partner.
Roberts said the FIT Championship, a bracket-style tournament for teams who don’t qualify for the traditional playoffs, would be an option.
“It would be a step up from playing in a bowl game last year,” he said. “It’d show the program’s going in the right direction."
