Oviedo storms back to beat University
Oviedo won a game for the ages on Friday night, clawing back from a 27-point deficit to spoil Orange City University’s homecoming with a 50-49 win in a wild Class 8A, District 2 football game.
Keonte Coffie’s 2-yard touchdown run with 24 seconds left and his ensuing two-point conversion run capped the dramatic comeback for the Lions.
Oviedo improved to 3-3 overall and 2-1 in 8A-2 to stay in the playoff chase.
University (2-2, 2-1) dropped into fourth place in the district standings behind Oviedo.
The Titans led 41-14 late in the second quarter before Oviedo reeled off 21 unanswered points to close the gap to 41-35.
University picked up a safety when an Oviedo punt snap sailed out of the end zone and stretched its lead to 49-35 when Lorenzo Lingard ripped off a 73-yard run for his fourth TD of the night.
But the Lions rallied again, getting a 13-yard TD pass from Morgan Mitchell to Jonathan LaRochelle with 2:48 left, and a TD run and two-point run from Coffie to win it.
Coffie finished with 238 yards rushing and three touchdowns.
Mitchell overcame a slow start to finish with 211 yards and four TDs, three to Jonathan LaRochelle.
Lingard, a Miami commit, galloped for 358 yards and four TDs. He had 228 yards and three TDs when the first half ended with his team up 41-21.
The Titans, who don’t have an oncampus home stadium, hosted the game at Pine Ridge High School in Deltona.
Malcolm Davidson ran for two touchdowns and Osceola’s defense posted its first shutout of the year as the Kowboys won their homecoming game 35-0 vs. Tampa Jesuit.
Osceola (5-0), ranked No. 2 in the Super 16 and No. 4 in the Associated Press’ Class 8A poll, turned three Jesuit turnovers into touchdowns.
The shutout was the first for Osceola since it won back-to-back shutouts vs. Gateway and Haines City in 2015.
Defensive lineman Elliot Bodre led the Osceola crush, sacking quarterback Enzo Tedesco of Jesuit (2-3) three times in the first quarter. Bodre also recovered a second-quarter fumble that erased an Osceola turnover.
After 27-yard touchdown runs by Osceola’s Braxton Jones and Davidson in the first five minutes, the Tigers kept Osceola under wraps.
Back-to-back turnovers in the third quarter eroded the foundation from under the Tigers’ defense. Homecoming king Kam Moore set up Davidson’s second touchdown run with an interception. Davidson capped the short drive with a 21-yard touchdown run.
Jesuit’s next turnover led directly to an Osceola score. Trey Shine picked off a Tedesco pass and returned it 60 yards for a 28-0 lead with 4:22 left in the third. quarter.
Dewayne McGee’s 71-yard run in which he broke four tackles put the Kowboys up 35-0, starting the running clock with 2:36 to go in the third quarter. McGee finished with a gamehigh 72 yards on four carries.
“They played physical with us,” Osceola coach Doug Nichols said. “We just had to match that in the second half. We have to be more consistent on offense.”
Osceola is home against crosstown district rival Gateway on Thursday.
Cocoa (5-0), the defending state champion in Class 4A, won 21-7 at home against Super 16 No. 10 Daytona Beach Mainland. Mainland drops to 2-3 and has three regular-season losses in a season for the first time since 2012.
Previously unbeaten Lake Highland Prep (4-1) saw a two-touchdown lead slip away in the fourth quarter and lost 22-21 at Frostproof (4-2).
Clermont East Ridge athlete Justin Watkins, who was averaging 46.6 yards per catch and 12.2 yards per carry halfway through the regular season, wasn’t able to showcase his talents much in a Thursday night win at Hagerty after suffering a sprained ankle in the first half. But he did say he has narrowed his college choices to Alabama and LSU.
Watkins, a 5-foot-11, 170-pound senior who is projected as a college slot receiver, left Thursday’s game late in the first quarter and returned for a few plays in the second half before he decided it was better to stay on the sideline with the Knights (5-1) en route to a 29-7 victory.
Watkins said he it is likely he will sign on Dec. 20, which is the NCAA’s new early National Signing Day for football.
“I’m choosing between LSU and Alabama right now,” said Watkins, who is ranked as the No. 13 receiver in the country by 247Sports and the No. 3 player overall in the Sentinel’s 2018 Central Florida Super60.
Watkins transferred to East Ridge this spring from Ocala Vanguard. He played as a freshman and junior at Vanguard, with a stop at nearby North Marion for his sophomore season.