LAKE WORTH- A
beat-up Park Vista squad pieced together enough offense on Friday night to lift
the Cobras to a 27-18 victory over the Hawks, extracting some revenge for last
year’s 24-14 loss at Seminole Ridge.
The Hawks (5-3)
have always beat Park Vista (6-2). They have owned the rivalry for years and
their season depended on it this time.
Unfortunately for
Seminole Ridge, after a slow start Park Vista jumped out on top and never
looked back. Starting at its 20-yard line, the Cobras opened the scoring when
senior quarterback Billy Perez connected with Brenden Meyers for a 25-yard
touchdown catch to end the first-half tied at 6-6.
In the second-half
Park Vista came out strong. Having good clock management and an impressive
drive that went for 12 plays, 80-yards and was capped by a Tre Mason three-yard
touchdown run.
Mason led all
rushers with 108-yards rushing on just 22 carries and a touchdown.
The Hawks would
answer back with a Gary Holmes 47-yard touchdown run up the middle. Holmes
would later add another touchdown for Seminole Ridge. Aaron Arndt also had a
pair of touchdowns for the Hawks.
The electrifying
Cobra senior Demaris Freeman followed last week’s performance against Suncoast
with scoring runs of three and 51-yards and now has nine touchdowns on the
season.
Freeman was the
star, with two touchdowns and the big interception, but coach Brian Dodds said
it was a team effort that allowed them to win.
“It definitely
takes a team effort to beat a quality team like Seminole Ridge,” Dodds said.
“And that means you have to have key plays by key players, and Demaris is
definitely one of our key players, but this game was won by the team.”
With the victory
Park Vista
knocked out Seminole Ridge from winning a possible playoff berth and handed
them a free ticket to watch the post-season from the bleachers.
If Park Vista
defeats the Boca Raton Bobcats next week they will be crowned District 8-6A champs
and have home field advantage throughout the playoffs.
