by Coach Brad Lord, South Lake High School Football
The South Eagles won their second game in a row defeating Boca Ciega 28-22 this past Friday night at Groveland’s Eagle stadium. The Eagles started off the scoring when Tre Kelly hit Sam Wood on a 59-yard pass early in the second quarter. The Eagle defense was playing very strong in the first half keeping the Pirates out of the end zone. Quoy Nelson, Anthony Johnson, JD Lovelace, Brian Bedingfield, Sam Amarista, and PJ Davis all had strong defensive performances. The defense had a huge stop at the end of the second quarter giving the Eagle offense the ball at mid field. Some strong runs by Wood and Kelly would get the ball into the Pirate’s red zone. On third down Kelly would connect with senior wide receiver Kyson Cleveland for a 14- yard touchdown pass giving the Eagles a 14-0 lead at the half.
To open the third quarter senior Athlete Willie Dixon would take the ball 86 yards on a kickoff return to the Boca Ciega 2-yard line. Kelly would plunge into the end zone, putting the eagles ahead 21-0. A costly penalty on the Eagles would give the pirates great field position and they would score within 19 seconds making the score 21-7. The Eagle offense would again march down the field with some strong runs from Kelly and Wood. Kelly would hit Dixon in the End zone for a 12-yard touchdown pass putting the Eagles ahead 28-7 midway through the third quarter.
Mistakes plagued the Eagles in the second half. Penalties and mistakes led to another Pirate score ending the third quarter 28-14.
Early in the fourth quarter the Eagles would fumble inside the ten-yard line and Boca Ciega would take advantage of the mistake scoring on a run up the middle. The holder on extra point would take a bad snap and run it into the end zone cutting the score to 28-22 with ten minutes left in the game. The Eagle offense got behind the chains, and the Pirates would block a punt setting themselves up inside the ten-yard line. The Eagle Defense would rise to the occasion stuffing the Pirates offense. The Eagle offensive line and running attack took over and moved the ball all the way across midfield taking crucial time off the clock. Wood and Kelly were banged up, and freshman Walker Motley and Sophomore Jayden Kaley took over getting some crucial first downs, The Eagles would then run the clock out to win the game.
“We keep shooting ourselves in the foot with costly penalties and blown assignments. We must fix this. Boca Ciega was a very good team. Our defense rose to the occasion making some huge stops and our offense had some big plays that carried us to the victory. We can’t make the same mistakes vs Evans this week”.
Date of next opponent; 10/9 at Evans High School 7 pm
