With Friday being Durant High School’s homecoming game, the bleachers were even more packed than normal as the Cougars hosted an 0-4 Lennard team that entered the week looking for their first win of the season.
Durant entered the contest with a 3-1 record, their lone loss coming earlier in the month by way of a 15-14 final against Bloomingdale before bouncing back last week with a 21-13 Redman Cup victory over Plant City.
The field was wet and the weather conditions were muggy as yet another daily Florida shower moved through the area just before the game was scheduled to start. Luckily, there were zero delays and kickoff was right at the scheduled time.
Lennard received the opening kickoff and struggled on their opening drive. They were immediately backed up due to a chop block penalty. Durant linebacker Hale Sollmann laid a huge, booming hit to set the tone for the Cougars, forcing the Longhorns to punt. And while the Longhorns opened the game with a three-and-out, it only got worse as Durant blocked the punt and took over at Lennard’s 20-yard line. Durant didn’t do much in their first opportunity on offense despite great field position, but ultimately cashed in a field goal on the first drive, putting the Cougars up 3-0 with eight minutes left in the first quarter
Holding a lead, the Cougars attempted an onside kick, but it was recovered by Lennard and they were set up to start their second drive right around midfield. Lennard tried to attack Durant with short passes to their running backs, but were once again kept short of a first, leading to another punt. Durant followed Lennard’s three-and-out with one of their own on the following drive, punting it right back to the Longhorns.
Lennard started the drive with a personal foul on Durant, moving the Longhorns to midfield, and they began slowly moving down the field. The Longhorns worked their way up to the Durant 35-yard line, but Sollmann came up big again with a huge tackle for loss. The very next play, senior defensive back Xavier Peavy came up with an interception – his first of the season – and the Cougars took over at their own 24-yard line as the first quarter came to an end with the Cougars still holding a 3-0 lead thanks to that blocked punt.
The first drive of the second quarter had all the action and penalties. Durant started the drive with a big run from junior running back Alex Daley, only for the play to be called back due to a penalty. The very next play, following a false start, the Cougars completed a long pass to get them the first down. And then following the chunk play, Durant kept moving forward with a facemask penalty on Lennard, moving the Cougars to the Longhorns’ 33-yard line. After all the penalties, Durant ultimately turned the ball over on downs.
Lennard still couldn’t get anything going on offense and punted after another three-and-out. Durant leaned on the run game the following drive and it paid off as senior running back Caleb Connell broke off a 33-yard touchdown, notching the first touchdown of the game for either side. The Longhorns went three-and-out once again as they simply couldn’t get into any sort of offensive rhythm in the first half and Durant took back over at their own 38-yard line. An unsportsmanlike penalty on the Longhorns and a 20-yard reception by Connell put the Cougars into field goal range right before the end of the half, but Durant wasn’t able to convert on the kick and took a 10-0 lead into the break.
The third quarter began and Durant wasted no time extending their lead as wide receiver Jeremiah Gines brought in the kickoff and took it to the house for an 85-yard return. Quarterback Mike Ryan punched in the two-point conversion and moved the Durant lead up to 18-0 in a flash.
After struggling for the entire first half, Lennard was desperate to get the offense going to start the third quarter and they did just that with a big 30-yard gain from senior Duval Galite. Then a facemask penalty on Durant pushed Lennard inside the Cougars 30-yard line. Despite the Longhorns finally putting together their best offensive drive of the night, it came up short as the ensuing field goal attempt missed wide left.
Durant ended their following drive with a punt and Lennard followed up their best offensive possession with a turnover as a bad snap slipped away, recovered by Sollmann to give the Cougars possession right back. After the recovery, Durant drew three penalties on the drive by way of an unnecessary roughness and back-to-back defensive pass interference flags. Durant finished the drive with a field goal, moving the lead to 21-0.
Durant started their next drive on their own 33-yard line following yet another Lennard punt and the Cougars fell victim to their first and only mistake of the game in the fourth quarter, coughing up a fumble that was returned for a touchdown by Lennard senior Jehad Dolcine. The score would cut the Durant lead to 21-7 but the Cougars would run out the clock on their fourth win of the year and move to 4-1.
Offensively, Ryan completed 11 passes on 24 attempts for 143 yards. Connell led the rushing attack with 80 yards and a touchdown on 29 carries, followed by 29 yards on seven carries from Daley. Gines hauled in a team-high four receptions for 65 yards, followed by 39 yards on two receptions from Connell and the trio of Elian Gonzalez, Jayden Forte and Treon Williams combined for 39 yards on five receptions.
Defensively, senior linebacker Jacob Reed led the unit with nine total tackles. Senior Greg Smith racked up 3.5 tackles for loss, followed by 2.5 from Ty Merkle two from Sollmann and one each from Gage Aroz and Jerome Parham.
Across town, Strawberry Crest moved to 5-0 with a 22-6 win over Zephyrhills Christian Academy and Plant City notched their first win of the season, moving to 1-4 with a 19-7 win over Hillsborough High School.
For the Chargers, quarterback Jordan Lewis attempted just two passes on the evening, completing one for 10 yards to sophomore Thimothee Woods while the team totaled 255 rushing yards. Junior Devin Blunt led the charge with 106 yards and a touchdown on 19 carries, followed by 49 yards on seven carries by sophomore Gage Reibsome, 40 yards and a touchdown on three carries from senior Quincy Hart, 38 yards on seven carries from senior Ryan Weems and 22 yards and a touchdown on four carries from Lewis.
Weems led the defense with 10 total tackles while junior Quintin Walker notched a team-high three tackles for loss and both of the team’s sacks. Hart hauled in one of the Chargers’ three interceptions along with seniors Jaden Baker and Marcus Springfield – bringing his season total to a team-high three interceptions.
Plant City had two different quarterbacks log snaps on Friday, with senior Antwann Mitchell completing six of his 10 attempts for 91 yards and a touchdown while freshman D.J. Howard completed five of his seven attempts for 62 yards. Mitchell also added 18 rushing yards on three carries.
Junior running back Jaden McCants led the team’s ground game with 88 of the team’s 127 total rushing yards and a touchdown on 23 carries, also adding nine receiving yards on two receptions. Junior Jaylen Smith led the receivers with 87 yards on four receptions, followed by 37 yards on one reception from T.J. Knighten and 11 yards on one reception from Judah Bendorf. Junior Dominic Jones had just five yards on two receptions but hauled in the team’s lone receiving touchdown.
Senior Tahuji Miller led the Raiders’ defense with 15 total tackles. Davin Stone-Grant totaled four tackles for loss, followed by one each from Tahuji Miller, Temarce Miller and Matthew Bollinger. Stone-Grant also had 2.5 sacks, followed by .5 sacks from Bollinger.