By STEVE JACKSON
East Bay clobbered hapless Chamberlain High Friday night 72-0 on a festive Homecoming at Big Bend Road. The 6-0 Indians of Head Coach Mike Gottman remain the only undefeated team among the five South Shore schools. Sumner, Riverview and Spoto all registered victories Friday, none of them even close games.
Sumner hung a 41-5 pasting on Lennard. The Longhorns dropped their seventh straight of the season as victims on Sumner Homecoming. (See separate article and photos in this week’s newspaper.)
The Sharks, of new Riverview Head Coach Tony Rodriquez, breezed past Alonso High in surprisingly easy fashion 41-14. The 4-2 Sharks host the 4-2 Sumner Stingrays this Friday.
New Head Coach Keith Chattin guided his Spoto Spartans to their second win of the season last Friday. Spoto dumped Leto 47-8 to post a 2-4 record with a home date versus Bloomingdale due Oct. 14.
Undefeated East Bay utilized “a cast of thousands” to rout winless and scoreless 0-6 Chamberlain. The Indians hit for 44 points in the first quarter alone, and Coach Gottman was playing every player on the varsity before the massacre was over. Quarterback Nathan Carter had a super-efficient night. The big senior hit all six passes for 126 yards and three touchdowns. Ten TDs were scored by East Bay. Junior running back Jaelin Sneed tallied two touchdowns and eight other players also visited the end zone. Indians placekicker senior Braxton Maenza had a late one-yard touchdown plunge and booted 10 perfect extra points. East Bay junior defensive stalwart Emanuel White continued to spark the Indians without the ball. White is averaging eight tackles and 2.5 sacks per game. As a team for its 6-0 season, the Indians have outscored the opposition 283 to 90.
The Indians visit undermanned Lennard this Friday evening. Two more road games, Oct. 21 at 3-3 Berkeley Prep in Tampa and Oct. 28 at 2-5 Bloomingdale in Valrico, await East Bay before a return home to face 2-5 King High Nov. 4. Then the high school football playoffs start.
Lennard Head Coach Matt Kitchie has finally welcomed back injured senior quarterback Tyler Russell to the fold full time. Russell completed four of five passes for 50 yards in the loss last Friday to Sumner. Senior Draiden Neidge toted the pigskin 16 times for 91 rushing yards with Russell netting 16 yards rushing. Sophomore Aiden Gibbons connected on a 40-yard field goal to go along with junior Elijah Darcueil’s safety to comprise the Longhorns’ meager five points against Sumner. Lennard has scored a total of 46 season points and given up 260 in its seven losses.
The Spoto Spartans brought back a 47-8 road victory over Leto, scoring 21 in the first quarter. Coach Chattin has shuffled his line-up somewhat, and it has paid off. The big test is this Friday night against 3-3 Bloomingdale. Putting sophomore Jaxson McNeely at quarterback provided some offensive zip for the Spartans. McNeely completed four of 11 passes for 129 yards and three TDs. He was also credited with 64 rushing yards on eight carries. Former sophomore quarterback Z’orey Cotton continued to exhibit his sensational athleticism from his new spot. Cotton carried the ball a leading 16 times for Spoto, gaining 144 yards and scoring twice. Senior running back Corri Ponder also scampered for a leading 162 yards on the ground on 11 carries. Ponder scored a pair of rushing TDs as well as grabbing a pair of touchdown aerials. Senior placekicker Yuriah Watson hit five of seven PATs. On defense, the Spartans have been led all year by two seniors, Jabara Judge and Justin Baker.
Spoto has the opportunity to make some hay between now and the end of the season. After Bloomingdale comes to Spoto this week,1-5, Brandon comes to town Oct. 21. Then a home game versus winless, so far, Lennard at Spoto Oct.28. The Spartans close the regular season visiting everyone’s whipping boy, 0-7 Freedom, Nov.4.
The 4-2 Riverview Sharks also sent the home crowd home happy, winning Homecoming over Alonso 41-14 last Friday. Most of the Sharks offense came from the same, reliable trio: senior Harry Hensley and juniors quarterback Aaron Turner and running back Dontarious “Rico” Shoats. Defensively, Riverview relied on a wide number of players to thwart Alonso, pleasing Coach Rodriguez. Leading the way in tackles and sacks were senior Hayes Thomas, juniors Frankie Santiago, Niko Gnann and Richard Noe.
The junior QB Turner produced 12 of 21 passing for 162 yards and a TD against Alonso. Turner also picked up 52 yards rushing and scored a TD. Shoats continued his pile driving from running back. The junior piled up 118 yards on the ground and two TDs. Meanwhile, the versatile, college-bound (Davidson University) Hensley hit the end zone three times, picking up 58 rushing yards and 23 passing yards.
Riverview closes the regular season home schedule Oct. 14 in a sharply-contested brawl against Sumner. Then it has three straight tough road games to conclude the regular season: 5-2 Strawberry Crest, 6-1 Durant and 3-3 Steinbrenner.