Results and analysis from Week 11 of Sarasota-Manatee area high school football games.
TUESDAY
Braden River 45, Wildwood 28
WILDWOOD – The Braden River Pirates traveled more than 100 miles from home Tuesday night and used a career night from Yashua Edwards to subdue the Wildwood Wildcats 45-28 and keep alive their flickering postseason hopes. Alive.
“I ain’t tired. I’m standing. I’m maintaining,” Edwards said after gaining 203 yards on 33 carries and scoring five touchdowns.
The Pirates (5-4) never trailed, but had a difficult time all game long stopping Wildwood’s explosive passing game. Senior quarterback Alan Means, a midseason transfer from Ocala Trinity Catholic, completed 34-of 49 passes for 417 yards, distributing the ball to sophomore Kevonte Corbin (eight catches, 126 yards, 1 TD), and seniors Lorenza Simmons (14 catches, 128 yards, 1 TD) and Dallas Isham (eight catches, 111 yards).
The Wildcats dressed only 27 players for the Halloween night contest, hastily arranged after Braden River was unable to reschedule its postponed Sept. 1 game against Palmetto.
“I very much know what Wildwood football is all about,” said Pirates coach Curt Bradley. “We knew their record wasn’t indicative of who they are. We knew what a playmaker (Simmons) was and (Means) made great throws. That No. 1 (Simmons) can play at a 1A school, a 4A school, it doesn’t matter. We knew this was going to be a tough game. Our offensive line did a great job, though. Yahshua carried the football and we got turnovers on defense.”
Pirate kicker Brunno Reus, who was 6-of-6 on extra points, booted a 29-yard field goal to open the scoring. The visitors converted two first-quarter interceptions by Isaac Heaven into 10 points, with Edwards – forced into a much heavier load after Marcus Galloway left early with an injury – crashing in from 14 yards out on the first play of the second quarter.
Edwards added touchdowns of 1, 7, 15 and 1 yard, while junior quarterback Lucas Despot (6-of-10, 90 yards) connected with tight end Cody Kawcak for a 45-yard score.
“We have to step it up in 72 hours, gotta keep it going,” said Edwards, a 6-foot, 185-pound junior, referring to his team’s Friday night trip to 7-2 Tampa Robinson. “I liked Wildwood’s talent, and they hit us with their best shot.”
The Wildcats pulled within three points or fewer on four different occasions, the last when Means tossed a 13-yard touchdown to Corbin to make it 31-28 with 10 minutes, 45 seconds remaining. Blitzing sophomore linebacker Ronin Dangler sacked Means on a two-point conversion try.
Wildwood quickly forced a fumble at its own 41, but gave it right back when Means was sacked and fumbled.
Braden River takeaways
1. The Pirates will play for the third time in eight days when they travel to Tampa Robinson on Friday night. “We haven’t put pads on since Wednesday of last week,” coach Curt Bradley said. “(Wednesday) is going to be rest and recovery and a mental day, and then Thursday will be a walk-through. Then we’ll go play Robinson on Friday. We’re not going to be foolish about it and go bang heads for 10 straight days.”
2. Braden River sits 10th in the FHSAA’s Class 3 Suburban-Region 4 power rankings, updated earlier Tuesday. To reach the postseason, which begins Nov. 10, the Pirates must leapfrog two teams. But Cape Coral Mariner (8-1) and South Fort Myers (5-4), the two teams ahead of the Pirates, play each other Friday. “We’ll do the best we can and try to get to 6-4 now,” Bradley said. “We were 2-4 and thought we could run off four straight, and now we’ve put ourselves in a position to do that.”
3. The Pirates likely didn’t return to Bradenton until past midnight, but Bradley still expects his players to be at school for first period Wednesday, which begins at 7:25 a.m. “I’m very thankful that our administration allowed our seniors to get a 10th game by picking this up,” he said. “But on the back end, our kids have to be responsible enough to make sure they can get to school on short rest.”
– Donnie Wilkie
2023-11-01 03:59:05
#Results #week #regular #season
