Varsity football wins homecoming thriller
photo by Bridette Hahn
Sophomore center Chase Horne prepares to snap the ball to junior quarterback J.J. Baird
With two minutes left in the final quarter, the varsity football team was behind 14-13. The team needed to score and they needed to do it fast. Then, 30 seconds left a pass to senior wide receiver
Shomaree Blake from junior quarterback J.J. Baird, led the team to the winning touchdown.
The team beat Winter Springs 21-14 on Friday, Oct. 4. The game was highly anticipated, and the win wrapped up a week filled with homecoming festivities. The pressure on some players was intense. They did not want to disappoint their fans with a loss.
“We were playing for all people up in the stands that can’t do it. We know they’re depending on us, so we had to do it for them,” Baird said.
The game started off slow with a lot of correctable mistakes. Players were not doing what they needed to do and were not where they needed to be.
The team had one rushing touchdown in the first half, scored by senior running back Ethan Lopez.
“I felt like we could have played a much better game, [both] offense and defense were making a lot of mistakes,” senior outside linebacker Garet LaGrange said.
At halftime the score was tied 7-7. The team had evaluated their mistakes and in the second half, the energy of the game flipped. The student section was chanting cheers as the team dominated down on the field.
Two touchdowns were scored in the second half, one rushing touchdown from Baird, as well as a receiving touchdown for Blake.
“When it got down to it, when we needed to score we did,” coach Wes Allen said.
The team’s next game is on Oct. 18 at 7 p.m. They will travel to Colonial in a non-conference game.
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