Strong second half leads Eagles to win
COCONUT CREEK — Stoneman Douglas and Coconut Creek went to halftime tied at 14, but the Eagles dominated the second half and scored 25 unanswered points to pick up a 32-14 victory over the Cougars in Coconut Creek on Thursday.
“We just told them to freaking get after it,” Stoneman Douglas coach Quentin Short said. “We didn’t make any adjustments. We kind of settled in, and we knew we had mismatches on the outside. Felt very confident with our playmakers. And we just told them, ‘Hey, it’s time to step up, play harder and dominate the line of scrimmage on both sides of the football.”
Neither side gained much of an advantage in the first half. Coconut Creek opened the scoring on a 4-yard touchdown run by Damian Heller early in the fourth quarter, but after junior running back Matt Wilson returned the ensuing kickoff 80 yards, Doug- las answered with a 3-yard touch- down pass from sophomore quarterback Ryan Spallina to tight end Alex Brotton.
Jamarie Holtzsclaw gave the Cougars a 14-7 lead with a 5-yard touchdown run, but again, Coconut Creek’s lead would be shortlived. Spallina tossed his second touchdown pass of the night — a 43-yard pass to Christian Spencer — to tie the game again.
“He played a great game,” Short said. “Makes all the projection calls. Does a great job, get the ball out and just lets these guys make plays.”
Wilson put Douglas ahead for the first time with a 10-yard touchdown pass late in the third quarter, and the Eagles rolled from there. After an interception by Trevell Mullen was called back due to defensive holding, Spallina threw his third touchdown pass of the night, 65 yards to Clayton Cannon II.
Spallina, who started for only the second time in his career on Thursday, finished the game with 15completionson18attemptsfor 283 yards.
“I knew my slot receivers could beat their linebackers,” Spallina said. “We watched it on film. They brought a lot of pressure from the outside, so we were just picking that up well tonight.”
The Eagles defense had some difficulties early stopping the Cougars’ running game, and Heller topped 100 yards. But Douglas buckled down, kept the running game in check and got interceptions from Luke Evans, Colin Keough and Traejon Roberts. The Eagles added a safety in the game’s final minute to increase their lead to 18 points.
“I saw we were on them, but it was just about making tackles,” Evans said. “After we decided what we were going to do, the game plan that we had, we were locked in.”