St. Cloud linebacker Colton Sklarek blitzed up the middle to sack quarterback Aristotle Span Jr. on the final play of the game to preserve the Bulldogs 28-21 win over previously undefeated Gateway Friday.
The win pushed the Bulldogs to 4-2 and 1-1 in the district; while the Panthers fell to 5-1 overall and 1-1 in district play.
It was a back-and-forth affair with the teams trading touchdowns through three quarters. The Bulldogs forged ahead with 6:21 remaining in the game when tight end Owen Sullivan went in motion, stopped behind center, took the snap and ran over from the 1-yard line. The play capped 10-play, 61-yard drive that was kept alive when Gateway was called for a roughing the passer penalty on a third-and-10 play from midfield.
Following the Sullivan touchdown, Span threw an interception, but the Panther defense stiffened – forcing a punt with 3:27 remaining.
With Gateway taking over on their own 16, two quick false starts and a botched handoff had the Panthers backed up on their own goal line. But Spann hit Nydrell Thigpen on a 16-yard pass play and then scrambled for a 10-yard run for a first down. Four straight completions and a 15-yard late hit penalty moved the ball to the St. Cloud 10 with 31 seconds left. Johnny Reyes caught a swing pass down to the 6 before Thigpen was bottled up for no gain. With the clock running, Span snapped the ball with one second left but was snowed under by Sklarek to end the game.
“Extremely frustrating way to lose the game,” Panthers coach Marlin Roberts said. “I thought we played a little nervous all game, but I give our kids a ton of credit, they fought to the end and never gave up.”
Gateway drew first blood on 3-yard Thigpen set up by Nathaniel Cadogan’s interception on the St. Cloud 33. But the Bulldogs responded immediately as Eli Manning capped a 56-yard drive with a 9-yard touchdown run and a Jaden Taylor-Irons conversion made it 8-7.
Gateway forged back in front, taking advantage of another interception deep in St. Cloud territory. On first down, Span d raced untouched on a draw up the middle for a 15-yard score.
Bulldogs quarterback Jeremiah Lattier found some rhythm just before half. He went 5-for-7 for 71 yards before Stacy Taylor-Irons capped off the drive from 3 yards out, tying it at 14-14 heading into halftime.
Midway through the third, Gateway recovered a fumble deep in its own territory but failed to pick up a first down. A short punt set the Bulldogs up on the Panthers 30 and six plays later Manning scored from the 2 as the Bulldogs went up 21-14.
Minutes later, a second short Thigpen touchdown run knotted the game. The score was set up by Johnny Reyes’ 65-yard kickoff return after the Manning score.
The real keys to the win came down to St. Cloud’s ability to bottle up Thigpen and run the ball effectively on offense. Although he scored twice. Thigpen, averaging 195 rushing yards in the previous five games, was held to 57 yards on 25 carries. Meanwhile, Manning gained a game-high 82 yards rushing on 20 carries. St. Cloud, who was averaging just over 90 yards rushing per game, had 150 yards and four touchdowns rushing despite playing without leading ball carrier Michael Cuyler (shoulder).
“We felt we could run on them a bit and our offensive line did a good job,” St. Cloud Coach Mike Short said. “We challenged Manning all week to make yards off initial contact and he did that. Two and three-yard runs went for five or six.
“On the other side, we knew he (Thigpen) is a tough kid. We loaded the box up and it still took three or four guys to bring him down on every play. I really wish he was a senior because I’m not looking forward to having defend him another year.”
The Panthers return to action next Friday with a district home game against Tohopekaliga (4-2, 1-0). St. Cloud (4-2, 1-1) has a non-district home game with Windermere (4-2).
“I really believe we will have to win out to make the playoffs, so tonight’s win was vitally important,” Short said.
New Smyrna Beach 35, Tohopekaliga 21
A pair of rough one-minute stretches dulled the excitement of Tohopekaliga’s Homecoming game Friday.
New Smyrna Beach (5-1) scored two touchdowns in a 37-second span of the first quarter and a 76-second stretch of the third to take the lead, then put the Tigers away and snap THS’ four-game win streak.
Tohopekaliga (4-2) did a good job early of keeping the Barracudas’ offense and running back Todd Cutler, who came into Friday 10th in the state in rushing, averaging 174 yards per game. He upped that, carrying 27 times for 182 yards and three scores.
Conversely, Tigers quarterback Gabe Velez, one of the state’s passing leaders, was 19-of-36 for 166 yards, two touchdowns and four interceptions.
“It’s frustrating, because we’d be playing so well,” is how THS Coach Anthony Paradiso summed up the night.
Early on, Homecoming looked so dang promising. The Tigers took the opening kickoff and scored on an 11-play, 52-yard drive that took just over four minutes. Velez was 7-of-9 on the drive, hitting A.J. Wise on a nine-yard drag route on 4th-and-7 and going over the top on the next play for a 13-yard scoring strike to Bradley Weck.
The Barracudas answered with the first two fast scores, on a Cutler 8-yard run and Frank Ulrich’s 16-yard interception return. But Toho struck right back; Wise returned the ensuing kickoff 47 yards into Barracudas territory, then Velez went back to Wise for a 28-yard scoring strike with 1:39 left in the first quarter.
But after two more Tiger turnovers, but its defense getting two fourth-down stops, the score remained 14-14 going into halftime. And Kesan McDuffie and Maximus Nixon recovered fumbles on New Smyrna’s first two third-quarter drives, one leading to a Toho TD called back on a penalty.
But that was followed by big Barracuda plays: a Morgan Mastropolo 80-yard punt return for a score, an Aiden Smith interception and Cutler’s second touchdown run.
Wise caught eight passes for 98 yards.
The Tigers are still 1-0 in District 6A-5, and can stay on top with Lake Nona with a win next week at Gateway (5-1, 1-1), who fell to St. Cloud (4-2, 1-1), 28-21 Friday.
