Seminole crushes Gainesville on Hurricanes senior night

Story by Bennett Solom0n and Kaitlyn Wadulack

The Class 8A Seminoles (1–0) dominated the Class 6A Gainesville Hurricanes (1–1) 28–0 Friday night. 

Following a win against Santa Fe last Friday, the Hurricanes looked to add another win on their annual senior night festivities. They honored their senior football players, cheerleaders, band members, and NJROTC members. 

A Defensive first half 

Both teams came out of their respective locker rooms fired up for Friday Night Football. Throughout the first quarter, each team was playing hard-fought defense. Both Quarterbacks were struggling to find open receivers. With the first quarter coming to a close, the Hurricanes managed to halt the Seminoles on the goal-line causing Sanford to settle for a field goal. At the end of the first quarter, the Seminoles took a 3–0 lead. 

During the first half, both teams were being pushed back into their own territory because of penalties. The Seminoles surrendered 75 penalty yards while the Hurricanes were hit with 25 penalty yards. Because of this, both teams could not find the endzone. Once again, the Seminoles had to settle with a 6–0 lead with four minutes remaining in the half. 

With time running, Seminoles quarterback Timmy McClain threw an interception at the four-yard line. With hopes of swinging the momentum towards the Hurricanes going into halftime, the Seminoles defense had other plans. They forced a safety, and the Seminoles extended their lead 8–0 going into halftime. 

Seminoles pull away in the second half

At the start of the third quarter, Gainesville’s defense came out strong with a sack on McClain; however, the Seminoles responded with a 22-yard touchdown and led 15-0. The Seminoles continued to surrender penalty yards, racking up a total of 55 yards lost in the second half. Gainesville quarterback Brent King continued to struggle to find open receivers, leading to no scoring in the third for the Hurricanes. 

As the fourth quarter began, the Seminoles had a 30-yard field goal chance but came up short. The Seminoles bounced back to extend their lead with a 10-yard touchdown by Javari Frederick with a little over five minutes left in the game, score now 22-0. Gainesville received a five-yard penalty late in the fourth, giving the Seminoles momentum to score a two-yard touchdown by Rory Thomas.  The final score of this matchup was 28-0 Seminoles. 

Upcoming Games

The Hurricanes next game is home against Trinity Catholic this coming Thursday at 7:30 pm.