Bizarre call goes against Tigers, handing Lions their second touchdown
Tohopekaliga threw for over 300 yards Friday, blocked a field goal, forced a fumble at the goal line, recovered an onside kick and held Lake Nona to 204 yards of offense.
The Tigers still didn't win.
Stymied by bad luck and even worse officiating on one pivotal play, Tohopekaliga (4-4) dropped a hard-luck 17-0 decision to Lake Nona (6-3) that was the de facto District 7A-10 championship game. The Lions, at 3-0 in 7A-10, are the district champions.
The Tigers, who will not make up a game against The Master's Academy from the week of Hurricane Milton, can get a fifth win next week against Avon Park (1-7) to be bowl eligible.
"We're looking for someone who can and will play (in a bowl)," THS Coach Anthony Paradiso said.
Friday, the Lions scored two touchdowns that involved fumbles -- one of which was highly questionable and the Lake Nona player never crossed the goal line. On their first possession of the game, the Lions drove to the goal line, and on a third down run quarterback Michael Dove was about to score when Tohopekaliga forced him to fumble. But Jordan Stokes fell on the ball in the end zone.
The Tigers appeared to have a quick answer. Sabby Meassick, who threw for 307 yards on 30-of-46 passing Friday, hit Jaxson Hardnett for 15 yards on fourth-and-1 and then Tony Brown for 30 to get inside the 10-yard-line. But his next pass was deflected and intercepted by Cristian Cuffy -- remember that name -- at the goal line.
The Tigers got the ball back four plays later on Nate Freeze's interception at midfield. Five plays later, on fourth-and-7 from the 31, things turned bizarre. Brown went up to catch Meassick's pass, and the free safety dislodged the ball as Brown was still off the ground. Cuffy scooped up the ball and headed the other way as there was no whistle -- officials ruled it a fumble. He would be pushed out of bounds at the 12-yard-line. Officials took minutes to sort it out, after which Lake Nona brought out its PAT unit -- one of the officials ruled it a touchdown. Trey Butkowski, who set a Central Florida record last week with a 58-yard field goal, kicked the PAT, and when Toho coaches asked for an explanation after showing the replay on a tablet, the head referee said the ruling couldn't be changed. (Spoiler alert: it certainly could have).
From there, the die was cast, and Tohopekaliga could not get a score to cut the deficit despite reaching the red zone three other times. Still, Paradiso said he came away proud.
"Let's just say it didn't go our way and leave it at that," he said of the bizarre call. "But this may have been our best game of the season offensively. The kids competed for four quarters. I'm proud and couldn't be happier despite what the scoreboard said."
Tre Punter caught eight passes for 87 yards, Bradley Weck added eight for 54 and Brown caught six for 81. All are underclassmen.
