By STEVE JACKSON
The 4-0 East Bay High Indians remain the sole unbeaten South Shore football team after defeating Jefferson High 35-25 in Tampa on a wet field last Friday evening. Head Coach Mike Gottman’s Indians return home this Friday night as favorites over 1-3 Spoto, idle last Friday night.
Lennard Longhorns put up a valiant fight but fell 21-7 to Durant. The 0-5 Longhorns play at Ruskin as slight underdogs versus 1-4 Bloomingdale Sept. 30.
Sumner’s Stingrays tumbled from the ranks of the unbeaten in a devastating 43-0 loss last week to Wharton in Tampa. Sumner returns home this Friday but faces another tough opponent in the 4-1 Durant Cougars. (See article on Sumner in this week’s Observer News.)
Riverview had a bye last week. This Friday the 3-1 Sharks hope to get back on the winning trail, hosting the 3-1 Newsome Wolves.
East Bay scored on the opening kickoff against Jefferson High Dragons. Speedy Indians’ Armando Becceril shocked Jefferson, sprinting 85 yards on the first play of the game. Dependable Braxton Maenza booted the PAT. East Bay never trailed in a game filled with offense by both squads in the first half and defense in the second half.
EB overcame a marvelous rushing exhibition by Jefferson’s senior Nashaun Pryor to grab a 28-19 halftime lead. The Indians utilized the offensive talents of soph Becceril, along with senior quarterback Nathan Evans, junior running back Jaelin Sneed, and senior running back Vincent Ketchup, to offset Pryor’s big night. Both teams managed a TD in the fourth quarter after a scoreless third quarter dominated by stalled drives and fumbles.
The Indians’ Carter completed four of five passes for 70 yards and a TD throw to Vincent Ketchup, who also added a rushing score. Carter picked up on 62 yards and a TD on nine rushing attempts. Sneed put the cap on East Bay’s scoring with a 4-yard run at the climax of a 45-yard drive as the game clock wound down. The Maenza PAT made it 35-25 with three minutes in the contest. Sneed wound up with 76 rush yards on 11 carries and one TD. Becceril contributed 43 rush yards on six attempts. Vincent Ketchup added 47 yards on the ground on four totes. Junior Izaiah Ketchup carried twice for 14 yards.
Lennard picked a tough Durant team to try for its first win. The Horns fought valiantly against the heavily favored Cougars but could not put together much offense. Lennard fell behind 21-0 after three quarters before getting on the scoreboard when Horns Jehad Dolcine returned a Durant fumble for a 33-yard TD, and William Ahlgren’s PAT boot cut the score to 21-7 with about 10 minutes left in the game. Lennard had time but Durant closed the door. Sacks, turnovers and punts by both teams down the stretch ended the match at 21-7 for Durant’s home win to go 4-1.
Liam McDowell played quarterback for Lennard once again, due to senior Tyler Russell’s immobility with an ankle injury. The junior McDowell hit seven of 18 pass attempts for 81 yards. Lennard wide receiver junior Ryan Dunn, selected as the Horns offensive player of the game, caught a pair for 29 yards. Soph Mason Burriss had 13 rush attempts for only 17 yards for Lennard. Senior Draiden Neidge also had a rough time on the ground, carrying seven times for only 11 yards. The Horns junior defensive end Anthony Hunt played another good game, being named top defensive player for the Horns.
