Rain doesn’t dampen Wekiva win
Inclement weather may have slowed things down a tad, but the Wekiva Mustangs were an opportunistic bunch when it counted on Friday.
Wekiva got two scores from its special teams and two from its offense and forced four turnovers to battle past West Orange 24-17 in a rainsoaked Class 8A, District 4 football opener for both schools.
Cayvian Holmes returned a punt 63 yards for a touchdown in the first quarter, Solomon Edgerton ran for two TDs and Oscar Salazar boomed a 37-yard field goal for the Sentinel Super 16 No. 8 Mustangs (4-1, 1-0 in district).
West Orange (2-3, 0-1) played from behind all night, but its defense helped keep things interesting.
The Warriors three times closed to within seven points. West Orange’s Brenden Cyr threw a 14-yard TD pass to Darrell Harding with 6 minutes, 21 seconds left to pull the Warriors within seven, 24-17.
After Wekiva botched a 20-yard field goal attempt, West Orange drove to the 50-yard line before Cyr threw an interception on a Hail Mary pass. Cyr ran for a 42-yard TD in the second quarter.
“It was a hard-fought ball game,” said Wekiva’s Brandon Williams, who ran for 140 yards. “It’s a big win.”
With rain falling in the first quarter, Holmes ripped off an electrifying punt return to give Wekiva a 7-0 lead.
A 41-yard pass from Sean Robles to Holmes set up a TD for a 14-0 lead.
Four Wekiva players took a knee during the national anthem.
Apopka racked up 421 yards on the ground with three runners passing the 100-yard barrier as the Blue Darters whipped Evans 57-12 Friday in an 8A-4 contest.
The Blue Darters (4-1, 1-0) were led by freshman Eric Wright, who had 140 yards and one score. Apopka got 116 yards on just four carries from Jaylen Carter while Cornelius Williams added 104 yards and one TD.
Apopka is ranked third in the Sentinel Super 16 and tied for No. 3 with Osceola in the 8A state poll.
Apopka jumped out to an early 16-0 lead but the Trojans scored on a 55-yard pass from Deandre Moody to Daryl Travel to cut the lead to 16-6.
Evans (3-2, 0-1) scored just before halftime on a five-yard run by Moody to trim Apopka's lead to 36-12.
The Blue Darters scored three times in the second half, getting rushing touchdowns from Jackson Darlington and Rashard Simmons, and a TD pass from Darlington to tight end Shaderrick Bradford.
Harmony shook off four interceptions and 85 yards in penalties and needed a safety to prevail 35-33 over host St. Cloud in a district rivalry “Battle for the Bugle” Friday night.
The Longhorns win for the first time since 2014 in the rivalry with St. Cloud and lead the series 7-6.
St. Cloud (2-3, 1-1 in 7A-5) took an early 7-0 lead in the first quarter before Harmony (3-2, 1-1) scored 20 unanswered points in the half.
Harmony managed to score 12 seconds before intermission on a Nathan Herstitch to Lane Hickey jump pass in the end zone for a 27-20 lead. Herstich completed 9 of 23 pass attempts for 197 yards, three TDs and four interceptions. Two of his scoring passes went to Lane Hickey.
As rain fell in the third period, fumbles, stumbles and interceptions slowed the scoring.
St. Cloud senior Charles Robinson had a game-high 174 yards rushing on 31 carries.