Apopka, Ocoee, Osceola advance to semis
Tyson Davison ran for 111 yards, and Zeldrick Roberts rushed for two touchdowns Friday to lead Apopka past Lake Mary 30-23 in the Class 4M, Region 1 final.
The Blue Darters (10-3) will travel to third-ranked Palm Beach Central, a 14-10 winner over Palm Beach Gardens, next Friday.
Davison needed just nine carries to accumulate his yardage. He also completed 4 of 8 passes for 38 yards.
“We learned that we have to make adjustments, and those adjustments we made the last few weeks have helped us,” Davison said. “Reading keys [to] make sure we execute the opportunities.”
Roberts added 83 yards and two 1-yard TD runs for the Blue Darters.
“We know we had to hit open lanes, and if we saw the hole to just strike them,” he said.
Noah Grubbs nearly brought the sixth-ranked Rams (8-4) back.
The freshman completed 19 of 35 passes for 332 yards and three touchdowns. Caden Harshbarger caught four passes for 93 yards and a touchdown for the Rams, who also got six catches for 95 yards and a TD from Carson Hinshaw and two catches for 76 yards and a score from Markel Jones.
Manquez Lang ran for 33 yards on nine carries, including runs of 10 and 13 yards to set up a fourth-quarter field goal for Lake Mary.
The Blue Darters won a rematch after a 21-17 victory at Lake Mary on Oct. 21. They had to rally for a last-minute touchdown then; they had a lead to protect Friday.
The Rams entered the fourth quarter down 30-14 and cut the deficit to 10 when Grubbs found Hinshaw on a sideline route for a 60-yard touchdown with 7 minutes, 14 seconds left.
Kicker Garrett Law then rolled an onside kick 11 yards and pounced on it to give the Rams another chance. However, they could manage only a 38-yard field goal with 4:01 left.
The Rams got possession once more at their own 5 with 2:27 left but could not get a first down.
The Blue Darters reached their fourth consecutive state semifinal.
— Lynn Ramsey
Osceola 31, Vero Beach 7: The Kowboys overcame a sluggish first half to claim the Class 4S Region 3 championship.
Leading by just three at intermission at Vero Beach, Osceola dominated the second half by controlling all aspects of the game. David Buggs threw two touchdown passes in the second half and Ja’Keem Jackson returned an interception 69 yards for a score.
“We challenged our defensive backs to step it up this week and they responded,” Osceola coach Eric Pinellas said. “[Vero Beach receiver Vandrevius Jacobs] has been destroying defenses all season. We noticed on film a lot of opponents were playing off of him and giving him a free release.
“Well, he is a Division I talent, but we have some Division I talent to cover him and we wanted to challenge him all night.”
Jacobs, who entered with 84 receptions for 1,350 yards and 19 touchdowns, was held to seven catches for 33 yards and one touchdown.
Leading 10-7, Osceola got a quick stop to open the second half and Buggs directed a six-play, 61-yard drive that ended on a 19-yard screen pass to Taevion Swint for a touchdown. Later in the period
Jackson stepped in front of Jake Whiteley’s pass and raced 69 yards for a score to extend Osceola’s lead to 24-7.
Swint led Osceola’s offense with 175 yards rushing and one score to go with his receiving touchdown.
— J. Daniel Pearson
Ocoee 43, East Lake 19: Coach Aaron Sheppard said his team has been doing the same thing before each game this postseason.
“We have the kids make a decree that we’re going to win the game this week and move on,” he said.
That simple decree is working better than ever. The Knights are in the state final four after a 43-19 win over East Lake on Friday in Tarpon Springs.
It’s the furthest an Ocoee football team has advanced in the postseason, and it will travel even further next Friday to face Columbus (Miami), which cruised past Doral Academy 31-3 in the Region 4 final.
It was all about the big plays on offense for the Knights (9-4), with senior receiver Asaad Waseem having three receptions of 58 yards or more. He wound up catching nine passes from quarterback Darien Wharton for 269 yards and three TDs.
Waseem’s first catch of 58 yards for a score came on Ocoee’s first possession after East Lake scored on just two plays as quarterback Caleb Coburn ran for a 57-yard touchdown.
The host Eagles (11-2) went up 13-7 on their second possession before the Knights rattled off 36 consecutive points.
“We had to find ourselves early on in the game,” Sheppard said of the slow start. “The kids have been grinding on offense and going through some adversity, but we wanted to come out and execute better.”
Senior running back Keyondray Jones, who had 26 carries for 238 yards, scored the Knights’ other three touchdowns on the ground.
— Steven Gorches
Lakeland 41, Lake Minneola 6: Disappointment came in threes.
Lakeland intercepted Quinn Niemann three times in the first quarter — two were pick-sixes — and rode those to a rout of Lake Minneola in a Class 4S, Region 2 final.
With the win on their home field, the Dreadnaughts advanced to the 4S semifinals on Friday.
“Trust me, we were not expecting that,” Lake Minneola coach Walter Banks said. “Two picksixes put us in a hole.
“It is hard to fight back with a great team like Lakeland after that. It knocked us completely off our game plan.”
The first pick came at 9:53 when Ka’Maurri McKinley darted 69 yards after making the interception to put Lakeland up 6-0. Just 51 seconds later the Dreadnaughts scored again on a 49-yard interception return by R.J. Kelly to go up 13-0.
Lake Minneola answered with a 49-yard touchdown run by John Celestin with 4:19 left in the first quarter to narrow the lead to 13-6. But before the quarter ended Lakeland junior running back Markel Johnson exploded on a 30-yard touchdown run.
Niemann finished 14-of-29 passing for 108 yards with four interceptions.
Celestin gained 94 yards rushing on 22 carries.