Blue Darters able to escape upset bid
Apopka, the No.1-ranked team in the Sentinel Super 16 preseason rankings, survived an upset bid by Ocoee in its football season opener Thursday.
The Blue Darters found themselves down by two touchdowns but shut out the Knights in the second half en route to a 15-13 victory.
The game was played before a small crowd at Apopka, where Blue Darters fans routinely fill most of the seats on the home side. This year the Orange County school district has limited tickets to two per player as a COVID-19 precaution.
Apopka (1-0) scored its touchdowns on its final possession of the first half and first possession of the second half. A bad snap on a punt attempt by Ocoee (0-1) from deep in its own end zone in the middle of the third quarter gave Apopka a safety for the margin it needed for a 15-13 lead.
“The emotion the, energy, all those things are different,” Apopka coach Jeff Rolson said about the spectator limits. “But we’ve got a lot of work to do everywhere.”
Ocoee, which is 0-14 against Apopka all time, dominated much of the first half, scoring on a 1-yard run by Charles Pierre Jr. and on a 34-yard halfback pass from Eric Gilreath to Tramari Smith to take a 13-0 lead early in the second quarter.
After allowing Ocoee 95 total yards in the first half, the Apopka defense completely shut down the Knights over the final two quarters. Ocoee had minus-4 yards rushing and completed no passes in the second half.
The Blue Darters kept their offense simple, lining up only in the single wing and running up the middle about 80% of the time.
Senior Jaquan Lowman led all rushers with 81 yards on 19 carries. He also completed 2 of 5 passes for just 20 yards, but one of them was a 16-yard touchdown pass to Javen Robinson with 25 seconds left in the first half that trimmed Ocoee’s lead to 13-6.
On its first possession of the third period, Apopka drove 37 yards, with Lowman finding the end zone on a 14-yard run to tie the game at 13-13 midway through the quarter.
On Ocoee’s next possession, a bad snap on a punt attempt from its end zone caused the kick to be blocked. And although the Apopka defender recovered the ball in the field of play, officials ruled his leg was on the end line, resulting in the safety with 4 minutes, 39 seconds left in the third period.
Apopka will host sixth-ranked Dr. Phillips (1-0) next week. Ocoee will travel to No. 9 Wekiva (1-0), which rolled to a 46-7 homefield win over East River on Thursday. Both games kick off at 7 p.m. on Sept. 25.
Wekiva senior quarterback Junior Muratovic completed 7 of 16 passes for 123 yards and three TDs in the win. Senior running back Chad Davis Jr. added 114 yards and two TDs rushing for the Mustangs. That included a 41-yard score run on Wekiva’s third play from scrimmage.
Apopka 15, Ocoee 13