By STEVE JACKSON
The 6-2 East Bay Indians won another nail-biter, 6-2 Lennard was bashed by Parrish Community High, 4-4 Sumner High posted a big victory and 4-3 Spoto High was idle. The football games were all played last Saturday as South Shore schools finally re-opened last week on Oct. 17 after the devastation of Hurricane Milton.
With several division titles on the line, as well as post-season play, this Friday night’s action includes 5A Division rivals East Bay at Spoto, Bloomingdale High at Riverview for the Sharks’ homecoming, Sumner at Alonso and Lennard facing powerful 6-1 Palmetto High down in Manatee County.
East Bay Coach Mike Gottman’s Indians survived a late 78-yard kickoff return by Riverview senior Isaiah Washington, and the Sharks subsequent 2-point conversion attempt failed. The 27-26 Indians win was their fifth straight victory and marked the 1-6 Sharks, of hard-luck Coach Tony Rodriquez, as Riverview’s fourth straight loss. The Indians are now 6-2 overall and 1-0 in 5A District 8, which ties EB for first place with the 6-2 overall and 1-0 district Tampa Bay Tech Titans for first place in 5A District 8.
Riverview featured a prominent running game to challenge East Bay. Prior to Washington’s electrifying kickoff return, Shark seniors Rod Mack and Mason Burriss both carried the pigskin seven times for good yardage. Mack scampered for 110 yards and two TDs. Burriss ran for 83 yards total and a score. The Sharks gained only 18 yards through the air on three complete passes. What really hurt Riverview was losing three fumbles. The turnovers were claimed by EB’s sophomore Michael Walker, junior Comarion Anthony and senior Nick Wilson.
East Bay, after jumping out to a 21-14 halftime lead, barely clinched the game in the 4th quarter. Senior running back Tommy Rieger pushed the Indian lead out to 27-20 with a late TD. Rieger had another good night for EB, scoring two TDs with 115 yards rushing and 31 yards pass receiving. Senior EB quarterback Rocco Boyd had another consistent game. Boyd hit 6 of 9 passes for 126 yards and one TD toss to sophomore Carlos Lemons for 34 yards. Junior Indians runner Harold Moure picked up 53 yards on two totes, one for 1 yard and another for 52 yards and a TD. The winning margin was provided by Indians placekicker Jaxson Farchione who hit three extra points. Riverview’s senior Warren Shriver was 2 of 3 in PATs.
Lennard, with only two days of practice prior to the home game with Division 6A District 11 rival Parrish, looked flat as Parrish jumped out to a 7-0 first quarter lead. The new school made it 13-3 at the half and tacked on 21 more points in the third quarter to make the final a surprising and convincing 34-3. Lennard’s only score came on senior placekicker Aiden Gibbons’ field goal.
The Longhorns made one mistake after another, including dropping eight passes, which should have been caught. “Now we have to go on the road and fight Palmetto High for our play-off lives,” declared a dejected KB Belton, Lennard’s coach, after the loss. “If we win over Palmetto, that will create a three-way tie for first place in District 11.” Palmetto sustained a big loss, 35-7, to Manatee High last Saturday. The defeat dropped the Tigers to 6-1, but it was a non-district loss. Palmetto owns a 21-14 district win over Parrish earlier in the season. A Lennard victory over favored Palmetto this week would put Palmetto, Parrish and Lennard all at 3-1 in the district.
Lennard generally depends on junior quarterback Jacob Mobley and senior running back Gavin Fields, along with junior receiver London Green for its offense. But the trio was pretty much shot down by visiting Parrish in the Longhorns’ first home loss of this season, which resulted from only 142 total yards offense for Lennard, 112 in the air and only 30 on the ground. Defensively, Lennard was led as usual by senior Jamarie Clarke with 15 tackles, junior Dorian Burns with nine tackles, and sophomore Mekhi Williams was in on seven stops. Parrish registered five sacks, and Lennard turned the ball over on downs in its own territory three times and fumbled once. Sparked by lanky junior quarterback Brycen Volz and running back Jermaine Edwards with 144 rushing yards, Parrish piled up 247 total yards, including 227 on the ground.
The Lennard game at Palmetto Oct. 25 is set for a 7 p.m. kickoff.
Surprising Spoto High visits East Bay this Friday night for a 7:30 p.m. kickoff. The Spartans, under Coach Keith Chattin, are 4-3 and starting to smell post-season. Spoto’s offense is built around versatile, swift senior Z’orey Cotton, along with junior quarterback Nathan Richardson and junior receiver Jesse Harden. Defensive stalwarts for Spoto include Rome Freeman and Nasir Foster. After hosting East Bay this Friday, the Spartans welcome a 2-5 Sickles Gryphons squad on Nov. 1.
Sumner High soared back into the win column last week with a 45-7 demolishing of 5-2 Strawberry Crest. The 4-4 Stingrays visit Alonso High in an effort to keep their post-season hopes alive. For articles and photos of Sumner High football, see this week’s print newspaper as well as ObserverNews.net digital coverage by Francis Fedor.