South Florida Sun-Sentinel Palm Beach (Sunday)
University squanders 14-point lead in loss
University was unable to hold on to a two-touchdown second-half lead as the Sharks fell to Cocoa 32-31 in the teams’ Class 4A state semifinal contest late Friday night.
“Sometimes that’s the way football is,” said University head coach Daniel Luque. “It’s a great game. It makes men. It builds character and we’re going to use this motivation for next year.”
It appeared early in the second half as though the Sharks might make their third trip to the state championship game after scoring two touchdowns in 27 seconds.
The first score came courtesy of a 28-yard touchdown reception by McIntosh from Nick Vattiato that gave the Sharks a 24-17 lead. Cocoa then subsequently fumbled the kickoff and on their first play of the next drive, Christian Wells scored on a 31-yard touchdown reception from Vattiato that helped put the Sharks up 31-17.
But Cocoa was able to work their way back into the contest. They drew to within a score on a 29-yard scamper by quarterback D.J. Arroyo with 3:56 left in the third quarter.
After they fumbled near the goal line, Cocoa was able to regroup and tallied two points when Vattiato was tackled in the end zone early in the fourth quarter.
The Tigers took the lead for good in when Jamari Williams caught an 18-yard touchdown pass from Arroyo with 3:17 to go on third-and-goal.
“The safety, it ended up coming back to bite us in the butt by one point,” Luque said.
The Sharks unable to respond as McIntosh lost a fumble on their first play from scrimmage on the ensuing drive. The Sharks had one final chance after getting the ball back in their territory with a little more than a half-minute to go but were unable to get into field goal range.
University started what was a seesaw first-half strong as a 1-yard plunge by McIntosh gave the Sharks a 6-0 lead. The Tigers responded however, with D.J. Arroyo finding Caziah Holmes on a 16-yard touchdown to put the Tigers in front 7-6 early in the second quarter and they added to their lead by way of a 26-yard-field goal by Alex Petruzzello later in the half to go up 10-6.
But University was able to retake the lead at the start of a wild sequence to end the first half, with an incredible one-handed catch by Sharks wide receiver Christian Wells on a 23-yard pitch-and-catch giving the Sharks a 13-10 lead.
Cocoa responded with just about a half-minute left in the first half though as Willie Gaines’ 28-yard touchdown reception put Cocoa up 17-13. A late 26-yard field goal by John Cannon trimmed the Tiger lead to one point at the half.
McIntosh, a commit to the University of the Georgia, finished with 155 total yards and two touchdowns in his final game with the Sharks.
“Kenny McIntosh has been amazing. He was the Broward County Offensive Player of the Year for the SunSentinel,” Luque added. “He’s really going to be missed. He’s U-School’s all-time leading rusher and not only a great kid but a great family but I wish him great things at Georgia.
Cocoa advances to Thursday’s Class 4A state championship game, where they’ll meet Jacksonville Raines, the defending state champions in the classification.