Apopka able to slip past DP
Game big, but crowd is small due to pandemic
Big games usually mean big crowds, but not in the 2020 high school football season with spectator limits in play due to the COVID-19 outbreak.
That showed at Friday’s Sentinel Super 16 matchup of No. 5 Dr. Phillips at topranked Apopka. The Sentinel was told that 700 tickets were distributed for a Senior Night game that normally might have drawn upwards of 5,000.
Senior quarterback Jaquan Lowman carried the ball 18 times for 171 yards and two touchdowns to help area Apopka defeat the Panthers 14-7. Lowman broke free for a 73-yard score on the first play of the fourth quarter to break a 7-7 tie.
Apopka junior Andre Phillips forced a DP receiver to fumble with 2:49 to play and Troy Lea made the recovery. Lowman converted on a 2-yard run up the middle on fourth down with 1:24 left to help Blue Darters drain the rest of the clock.
No. 7 Osceola (1-0) scored six touchdowns in five different ways to open its season with a 56-0 win at Liberty (0-1). The Kowboys had only three possession in the first quarter but scored via rushing, passing, punt return, kickoff return and an interception return. Two rushing TDs came from Roshaun Dudley on runs of 18 and 32 yards.
The Kissimmee rivalry drew what looked like a sparse crowd but was declared a sellout at the end of the school day Thursday. Fans purchased tickets in advance online and used use cell phones for touchless entry.
The Deltona at DeLand and Hagerty at Lake Howell games were announced as sellouts on Friday morning.
A ticket-taker at Showalter Field said attendance was limited to about 25% of capacity for the Edgewater at Winter Park rivalry game.
The Orange County
school district limits tickets to two per student and one per staff member.
In Sanford, play was stopped for five minutes in the second quarter of the Daytona Beach Mainland at No. 4 Seminole game because too many fans were in congregated in the concession stand area.
Robbie Sanders returned the opening kickoff 80 yards for a TD and No. 11 Lake Minneola opened its 2020 campaign with a convincing 41-8 road win at Tohopekaliga (0-1).
A 15-yard TD run from Savarius Walker and a 14-yard TD pass from Brayden Davis to Isaiah Shan
non allowed the Hawks to build a 21-0 halftime lead.
Anthony DePinto and the Lake Mary defense dominated, and the No. 12 Rams also got three touchdown passes from Gunnar Smith to rout Oak Ridge 37-7.
DePinto tackled Ja’Quan Turner for a safety and spent most of the first half in the Pioneers (1-1) backfield. He had two sacks and also forcing a fumble to set up a score.
Smith completed passes to six different receivers in the first half and the Rams (2-0) played subs after the break. Rocco Underwood scored on a pass from Smith and on a 5-yard wildcat run in which he broke multiple tackles.
Latravious Boyd broke the shutout with an 80-yard wildcat run for the Pioneers (1-1) on the first play of the second half.
This was the first fullscale night of high school football games in the Orlando area.
It was Week 4 according to a Florida High School Athletic Association calen
dar that was revised several times in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak. A couple of area private school teams played their fourth games of the year. But it was opening night for public school teams in Osceola and Lake Counties and the second weekend of play for public schools in Orange, Seminole and Volusia.
DeLand, Olympia, Windermere High and West Orange took to the field for the first time after overcoming obstacles presented by the coronavirus spread.
Evans still has not played after some of its football players tested positive for the virus on Sept. 15. The Trojans are now set to open with a rescheduled Monday night game at Ocoee on Oct. 5.
Hagerty’s Ethan Lopez scored his second rushing TD of the night on a 52-yard run to lead the Huskies (1-1) to a hard-fought 14-3 win at Lake Howell (1-1).