No. 1 Seminole falls; snake stops play at St. Cloud
A 78-36 final score, a rare road loss for No. 1-ranked Sanford Seminole and hard-fought wins for Edgewater, Jones and Lake Brantley were big news in Week 5 of the high school football season.
But the most unexpected result of all was seeing a rattlesnake slither onto the field and force a six-minute stoppage of Thursday’s Winter Springs at St. Cloud game.
St. Cloud athletic director Bryan Smart said the snake was captured and released unharmed in woods behind his school’s practice field, allowing the Bulldogs (3-2) to complete a 38-16 victory.
Venice (2-2), last year’s Class 8A state champ, won 24-17 against 2020 8A champ Seminole (4-1) on a touchdown with time running down.
The loss snapped a 25-game road win streak for Seminole, which jumped out to a 14-0 lead on TD runs by senior standouts Goldie Lawrence and Luke Rucker.
Eagles are 5-0: CJ Baxter ran for 3 touchdowns as area No. 2 Edgewater (5-0) posted a 28-19 home win against No. 7 Apopka (2-2).
Baxter ran for 201 yards against a stout defense to surpass 1,000 yards for the season.
“He’s one of those guys that just gets better as the game goes on,” said Eagles coach Cameron Duke. “Hats off to our offensive line, our H backs, and our receivers for doing a good job blocking.”
Apopka scored with 5:30 remaining to cut Edgewater’s lead to 21-19. The Blue Darters went for two, but they were stuffed at the line of scrimmage. The ensuing onside kick ended went out of bounds and on Edgewater’s next snap, Baxter broke free and sprinted to the end zone for a 46-yard TD.
UCF commit Kaven Call gave Apopka the early 7-0 lead when he jumped a route and turned his interception into a pick-six touchdown.
Last-minute win: No. 3 Jones (2-2) marched 80 yards and scored with 32 seconds left to prevail 17-14 at home vs. No. 14 West Orange (2-3).
Tigers quarterback Maxson Jean-Denis completed 6 of 8 passes for 68 yards on the decisive drive, including a 10-yard TD pass to Dylan Wade who had six straight touches in the closing minutes.
Jones is 8-0 against West Orange since Elijah Williams became the Tigers’ coach.
Osceola rocks Raiders: No. 4 Kissimmee Osceola (2-2) used big plays and stellar defense to win 30-7 at previously unbeaten Rockledge.
Senior linebacker Derrick LeBlanc, an Oklahoma commit, had 4 sacks, 3 of them on third- or fourth-down plays.
“We challenged Derrick to be the guy that Oklahoma wants, and he was that guy tonight,” Kowboys coach Eric Pinellas said.
Defensive tackle John Walker had 2 tackles for loss and a fumble recovery.
Osceola quarterback David Gubbs threw 3 TD passes, including an 83-yarder to TyJuan Massey, and Taevion Swint rushed for 144 yards against the No. 1-ranked team in the 3S (Suburban) division.
DP delivers: Justin Stith’s two-way performance helped Dr. Phillips beat No. 11 Boone 34-24 for its second win of the week after starting the season 0-3.
Stith’s had a TD interception return and 5 of his 6 receptions moved the Panthers (2-3) into the red zone. DP turned four of those chances into touchdowns.
Quarterback Stanley Anderson ran for 2 touchdowns and made key passes on fourth downs in the back-and-forth affair.
DP won 35-7 against Windermere (2-3) on Monday.
Oviedo tops TC: DJ Scott ran for 2 touchdowns, one from 75 yards out, and scored a third time on a reception as Oviedo (4-1) won 28-7 over No. 16 Timber Creek (2-3).
Scott rushed for 203 yards. Omari Muhammad-Wyatt also ran for tough yards and the Lions defense played lights out.
“It was a team effort. Our defense is tough,” said Lions coach Greg Odierno. “It’s a grudge match every day in practice.”
Unbeaten no more: A comeback effort by No. 6 Lake Minneola was too little, too late as the Hawks (4-1) lost at home, 39-26, against Daytona Beach Mainland (3-1).
John Celestin ran for 114 yards and 3 second-half scores on 18 carries for Lake Minneola. His 33-yard TD run with 6:49 to go brought the Hawks to 32-26.
Damarcus Creecy passed for 315 yards, ran for 94 and accounted for 4 TDs for the Buccaneers.
Turnovers and penalties by Harmony (3-1) led to 3 Eau Gallie TDs in the first half and the Commodores (5-0) won 28-13 at home.
“They are a very good team but this was a winnable game for us,” Harmony coach Don Simon said.
Windermere Prep (4-1) lost 21-20 at Fort Lauderdale Pine Crest (4-1) in overtime. After the Panthers scored in OT the Lakers matched that touchdown and went for the win but failed on a 2-point conversion try.
Holding serve: Super 16 teams that won include No. 5 Winter Park (5-0), 37-0 against Evans (0-5); No. 8 Ocoee (4-1), 47-12 vs. Freedom (2-3); and No. 15 Hagerty (4-0) against East River (2-3), 45-7.
Hagerty plays at Winter Park on Friday.
Big numbers: Central Florida Christian Academy (3-0) won 78-36 against Seffner Christian (2-2) in one of the highest scoring games in Central Florida history. Jacob Kania threw 6 touchdown passes and ran for a score for the Eagles.
Mount Dora (2-2) outscored South Lake 48-47 on Thursday as Hurricanes QB Matthew Butler threw a 64-yard TD pass to Tanner Waring and ran for the game-winning 2-point conversion with 13 seconds remaining. Butler ran for 259 yards and 5 TDs and teammate Dante Johnson-Turner carried 33 times for 251 yards and 2 TDs.
Tohopekaliga (4-0) was down 7-0 early but picked up steam in a 46-7 win at Space Coast with ninth-grade quarterback Sabby Meassick throwing 6 more touchdown passes. He has 24 TD tosses for the year.
Deltona is 5-0 for the first time in school history after winning 44-6 against Kissimmee Liberty (0-5).
Lake Highland Prep (4-0) won 60-0 against Trinity Prep (0-5). Next week, the Highlanders put their two-year, 15-game winning streak on the line when they play Orlando rival Bishop Moore (2-3) for the first time since 2014.
Orlando Christian Prep (2-3) routed Foundation Academy 57-14 to improve to 2-0 in district play.
S.T. Cardinal, Austin David, Terry Gilliam, Steve Gorches, Chris Martucci, J. Daniel Pearson, and Lynn Ramsey contributed to this report with game coverage.
Week 5 scores
Monday
Dr. Phillips 35, Windermere 7 Davenport 32, Liberty 0
Thursday
Mount Dora 48, South Lake 47
St. Cloud 38, Winter Springs 16 Mountain Vista (Colorado) 42,
Orlando University 0
Friday
Venice 24, No. 1 Seminole 17
No. 2 Edgewater 28, No. 7 Apopka 19
No. 3 Jones 17, No. 14 West Orange 14
No. 4 Kissimmee Osceola 30, Rockledge 7 No. 5 Winter Park 37, Evans 10
Mainland 39, No. 6 Lake Minneola 26
No. 8 Ocoee 47, Freedom 12
No. 9 Lake Brantley 17, No. 10 Wekiva 12
Dr. Phillips 34, No. 11 Boone 24
No. 13 Oviedo 28, No. 16 Timber Creek 7
No. 15 Hagerty 45, East River 7
John Carroll (Fort Pierce) 28, Bishop Moore 17 Winter Haven 40, Celebration 16
CFCA 78, Seffner Christian 36
Cypress Creek 40, Colonial 7 Cornerstone Charter 35, Bronson 0 DeLand 44, Seabreeze 20
Deltona 44, Liberty (Kissimmee) 6
Ridge Community 53, East Ridge 27
Holy Trinity 31, Faith Christian 8 Out-of-Door Acad. 49, First Academy-Leesburg 8 Orlando Christian 57, Foundation Academy 14 West Port 26, Kissimmee Gateway 0
Eau Gallie 28, Harmony 13 Windermere High 21, Lake Buena Vista 18 Lake Highland Prep 60, Trinity Prep 0
Lake Howell 14, Pine Ridge 12
Villages Charter 38, Leesburg 6 Lakewood Ranch 47, Lyman 28
Mount Dora Christian 29, Tavares 6 Orange City University 21, Flagler Palm Coast 19 Poinciana 20, Teneroc 2 Tohopekaliga 46, Space Coast 7 Northside Christian 38, West Oaks 6
Pine Crest 21, Windermere Prep 20 (OT)