Big first half by Scalzo propels Gibbons

PARKLAND — Nik Scalzo threw for 196 yards and two touchdowns in the first half to lead visiting Cardinal Gibbons to a 45-8 victory over Douglas in the non-district game on Friday night.

Cardinal Gibbons (3-2) scored on their first four drives of the game to take a 28-0 lead and coasted to a third straight victory. Scalzo, a University of Kentucky commit, threw firsthalf scoring tosses of 51 yards to Dimon Stewart and 23 yards to Chris Benestad. The TD pass to Benestad, with 46 seconds remaining in the first half, capped a 10-play, 90-yard drive.

Vincent Davis, who finished with 11 carries for 77 yards for the game, scored on runs of 2 and 18 yards, and Coleman Bennett added a 40-yard TD run. After Bennett’s run, the Eagles (2-2) answered with an 85-yard scoring toss from Ryan Kavanaugh to Preston Sasser with 6:44 left in the first half, which cut the lead to 28-8 following a 2-point conversion pass from Alex Rodriguez to Sasser.

Scalzo threw his third TD pass of the night by hitting Jake Harrington on a 9-yard pass with 9:33 left to up the lead to 42-8 and Daton Montiel added a 29-yard field goal to close out the scoring. Scalzo finished the game going 19 for 28 for 255 yards and three scores.

Cardinal Gibbons coach Matt DuBuc said he stressed to his team all week to get off to a fast start.

“I thought we executed well early which carried over into the second half of the game and gives us the ability to go out there and score a lot of points,” he said. McArthur 40, Nova 27: McArthur senior quarterback T.J. Smith threw for three touchdowns and 307 yards to keep the Mustangs undefeated with a win over host Nova in Davie.

“I’m just incredibly blown away by his skill set,” McArthur coach Pierre Senatus said of his starting quarterback.

Nova (2-3) opened the scoring on the third play from scrimmage, as Antoine Thompson sprinted 66 yards, untouched, on an end-around to give Nova the 6-0 lead.

However, that lead was short-lived as McArthur (5-0) took the lead for good on Jaylen Taylor’s 2-yard touchdown run to put the Mustangs ahead 7-6. Taylor’s score was set up by Smith’s 43-yard completion to Kelvin Taylor to the Titans’ 2.

Smith increased the McArthur lead to 14-6 early in the second quarter, as he connected with a wideopen Billy Pierre on a 47-yard touchdown pass.

Nova’s Daevon Floyd had a game-high 95 rushing yards. Dwyer 42, Palm Beach Gardens 7: Fourteen seconds into the game, the Dwyer Panthers took the lead and raced past the visiting Palm Beach Gardens Gators on Friday night in Palm Beach Gardens. On the game’s first play, Gardens quarterback David Studstill threw a pick-six to Dwyer’s Antavious Lane, who grabbed it at the Gators’ 27 and took it the other way.

From that point, the Gators (3-2) offense struggled against a superior Panthers (4-1) defense. The Gators’ passing game was anemic as Studstill only mustered four completions for 73 yards while throwing four interceptions. The Gators running attack was equally ineffective as Gardens only managed 17 yards rushing in the game.

For the balance of the first half, Dwyer’s offense scored two rushing touchdowns by Gio Richardson and Bobby Armes, while the opportunistic Dwyer defense closed out the firsthalf scoring with another pick-six score by Clayton Colbein, who grabbed an errant Studstill pass and returned it for a touchdown 61 yards with 1:02 left in the half.

Dwyer led 28-0 at halftime.“We had great plays by the defense, but there are a few things that we need to improve on offense,” said Dwyer coach Jack Daniels.