The bell rang to signal the start of the football season last week, and several Central Florida teams answered the call with hopeful season-opening wins. Five mammoth matchups, including three in Orange County, filled the marquee, and none was more notable than Miami Central’s visit to play Daytona Beach Mainland.
Central defeated Mainland 34-3 in a game Mainland led 3-0 after the first quarter. The Rockets committed a dozen penalties in the first half, and that kept them out of the end zone for the first 14 minutes. Brandon Gainer, though, scored on a 3-yard run in the second quarter, and Central added a 22-yard touchdown pass by Jeffrey Godfrey to take a 14-3 halftime lead.
That was plenty of offense against Mainland, which tried to air it out in the early going but had little success in starting quarterback Austin Parker’s first game at Mainland. Parker was just 4-for-16 for 32 yards and an interception.
Marlin Lane and Telvin Hooks combined for 95 yards on 17 carries, and Quinn Bell, who played some at quarterback in the second half, rushed for 67 yards on four carries despite missing his target on all six pass attempts.
Gainer, who fumbled twice for Central, finished with 173 rushing yards and a pair of touchdowns, and Godfrey, who was slow to hit his targets in the first half, finished with 178 passing yards and a trio of touchdown throws among 14 completions.
In Orange County, Friday night featured Apopka at home against Lake Brantley. The Blue Darters won 34-14 behind running back Tom Smith’s three touchdown runs. Smith finished with 158 rushing yards. The Patriots trailed just 13-7 at the half, but Smith scored twice in the second half. Tyler Krider had a pair of touchdowns, including a 77-yard run in the second quarter, for Lake Brantley.
In another key Orange County matchup, Dr. Phillips defeated Edgewater, a team trying to rebound fro a sub-par 2008 season, 24-0. DP wide receiver Kenny Shaw, one of the top pass-catchers in the nation, caught two touchdown passes, and running back Demetrius hart added a 1-yard touchdown run.
In the third big game in Orange County, Olympia knocked off Boone 26-7. The Titans trailed 7-0 at the half against the Braves, one of the top-ranked Class 6A teams in the state, but Olympia shut down Boone in the second half.
Titans’ quarterback Trevor Siemian led Olympia’s second-half surge. He threw a pair of touchdowns in the third quarter and finished the night with 270 passing yards. Boone quarterback Sam Hutsell had little success against the Titans’ defense. He ran for a second-quarter touchdown but committed two second-half turnovers.
In Seminole County, the big Friday night game featured Oviedo and highly-regarded senior quarterback Blake Bortles against Seminole, the reigning Class 6A state champions. Oviedo, which struggled on defense last year, eked out a 16-14 win. Seminole held Bortles to 142 passing yards. More than half came when he connected for an 86-yard touchdown pass to Trevor Berry in the game’s first half.
Toby Durham had 100-plus yards on the ground and a 29-yard rushing touchdown for Seminole.
In Osceola County, Osceola proved why it’s considered one of Central Florida’s best teams with a 32-20 win against St. Cloud. Marterious Coats scored twice for the Kowboys. Osceola led 19-13 at the half, and the Kowboys shut out St. Cloud in the second half.
In Lake County, Mount Dora defeated rival Eustis 24-12 with help from a pair of Vegas Harley touchdown passes.
In other games, DeLand defeated Wekiva 34-0 behind the tandem running of Deante Saunders and Shontrelle Johnson and Lake Mary walloped Hagerty 50-14. Joel Gonzalez caught a pair of touchdown passes for the Rams.