As the announcers went crazy over the third touchdown for Hagerty in just two quarters, the home energy of Sam Momary Stadium was overwhelming. However, the lead would shortly be tied and surpassed. Although playing in an electric home atmosphere, the varsity football team lost to the Oviedo Lions 42-28 on Friday, Oct. 4.
The highly anticipated game started off strong. Huge offensive plays like a rushing touchdown for senior running back Porter Williams, immediately followed by a recovered onside kick, gave the team the upper hand in the first quarter. A fumble by Oviedo’s punt team the following drive gave way to a receiving touchdown by senior receiver Jordan Ketron to give the team the lead again.
“Our offense started off really good,” Ketron said. “We were in tune with each other, and mostly all we did was working.”
Williams ran another 70 yards to the end zone in the second quarter, and his three receptions and 10 carries gave him nearly 200 yards for the game. Both student sections erupted in cheers as their teams made plays, taunting the opposing sections and even cheering specific player names.
As both teams headed to the locker room at halftime, the game was tied 21-21. However, the Lions found their rhythm in the second half. Oviedo’s offense tacked on 21 more points and held the offense to only one more touchdown while forcing six Hagerty turnovers by the time the game ended.
“We had some very costly turnovers,” assistant coach Richard Quinones said. “They were very untimely—really bad times for us to turn the ball over, and it killed our momentum. We weren’t able to bounce back from that.”
Although their loss to Oviedo came the week after a tough defeat by Lake Mary, the team remains confident as they go into the next few weeks of district play.
“Even with a loss, I think that was our real first time coming together as a team,” Quinones said. “We showed a lot of resilience. We played together and not for ourselves. We’re just going to keep working on that.”
The team was supposed to head to Lake Brantley to take on the Patriots on Thursday, Oct. 10, but the game was delayed due to the Hurricane Milton. Regardless, the team mentality remains the same.
“We just got to put the loss behind us, look forward, and move on,” Ketron said. “There’s no time to dwell on that right now.”
