By STEVE JACKSON
The five South Shore high school teams won two and lost three in gridiron action. Lennard at Lakewood Ranch was worth the price of admission.
The Lennard Longhorns saw about 3 minutes on the clock. Lakewood Ranch took advantage of a fumble recovery at the Lennard 20-yard line. The Mustangs punched the pigskin in the end zone and hit a 2-point conversion to grab a shocking 22-19 lead. The hometown Lakewood Ranch crowd was delirious, with—they imagined—victory almost at hand. To make matters worse, Longhorn star quarterback junior Jacob Mobley was knocked out of the game with a minor neck injury as Lennard attempted to mount a comeback. With only a few minutes remaining in the 6A District 11 clash, Lennard head coach KB Belton replaced Mobley with diminutive quarterback 5-5, 140 pound freshman Kreg Brown.
Brown rose to the occasion. The frosh QB hit junior receiver Keishawn Pestano for 40 yards. That set up the winning score, a 10-yard Brown toss to junior receiver London Green. Brown threw for the 2-point conversion to make it Lennard 27, Lakewood Ranch 22.
Lennard had its 6-0 record intact and moved its District record to 2-0. The Longhorns take on another big challenge this Friday, Oct.4, at 4-2 Plant City.
Coach Belton said, “Plant City will be our toughest opponent so far. They have the best quarterback (Chris Denson) we will face so far. And we play them in their stadium.
“But we will be ready,” remarked the second-year coach, who has doubled his 2023 season total victories of three. Belton added that Mobley is expected to return from his injury as is placekicker senior Aidan Gibbons who missed his second straight game. Coach Belton praised his defense. “They kept us in the game while we got rolling,” he said. D-backs Mekhi Wiliams, Jayden Jones and Calvin Mobley all grabbed fumbles. Mobley added an interception.
The exciting Lennard duel with Lakewood Ranch was just one of the South Shore games postponed by the Hurricane Helene, Sept. 27. Also on Monday, Sept. 30, Sumner High fell 35-15 at Plant City. This Friday night, the Stingrays welcome the 5-0 Lakeland Dreadnaughts, fresh off a 63-7 smacking of Lake Gibson.
Spoto High of Coach Keith Chattin travels to Tampa again to take on Freedom High Oct. 4. The 3-3 Spartans, losing 42-7, were no match for the 4-2 Tampa Bay Tech Titans. The Riverview Sharks were thoroughly whipped, 41-7, by the powerhouse Durant Cougars. Riverview hosts Bartow High Oct. 11 at 7 p.m. East Bay and head coach Mike Gottman come back home to play a weak Wharton High Friday, Oct. 4, at 7:30 p.m. The Indians are now 4-2 with their latest 45-7 rout of Leto High, one of the South Shore football teams’ favorite cupcakes. Standouts for East Bay included on offense senior running back Tommy Rieger, who plowed for 179 yards with three TDs. Drayvn Oblak had a good night with 131 combined rushing and receiving and tallying a pair of TDs. Carlos Lemons contributed a 38 yard TD catch from Rocco Boyd. Boyd hit 6 of 9 aerials for 140 yards. Jaxon Farchione booted 5 of 5 PATs. On defense for the Indians, Nick Wilson had three sacks while Dorian Edwards added a sack and two more tackles for losses. Johntae Marcellus sacked the Leto QB for a safety.
EB Coach Gottman was understandably pleased with the win, saying, “we had a lot more good plays than bad plays. We’ve got to stay away from negative plays and be more consistent on offense,” said Gottman. East Bay celebrates Senior Night this Friday.