SEBASTIAN — Fort Pierce Central didn’t look past Friday night’s football game against Sebastian River in anticipation of next week’s pivotal Class 8A, District 8 clash at home against Vero Beach.
It would have been easy to do so since Friday’s game was supposed to be a home game for the Cobras. Poor field conditions forced the move to Sharks Stadium.
Instead, Central scored touchdowns on its first six possessions — all in the first half — to forge a 42-7 halftime advantage en route to 49-20 victory against Sebastian River. Most of the second half was played with a running clock.
“We came off the bus and did what we had to do. … We wanted to make sure that we came off the bus clicking on all cylinders,” Central coach Josh Shaffer said. “We wanted to take care of business. We played well on both offense and defense. We made all of our extra points, and we wanted to make sure out of respect to Sebastian River that we didn’t do anything too crazy.”
After taking over at its own 32-yard line after a 34-yard punt by Sebastian River’s Ignasio Severino, Central quarterback Sam Vaughn found Sha-mar Pierre wide open at the Sharks’ 38 and Pierre caught the pass and continued running untouched for a 68-yard touchdown. Erik Aguilar kicked the extra point to give the Cobras (4-0) a 7-0 advantage with 10 minutes, 3 seconds to play in the first quarter.
Central limited the Sharks (1-4) to 4 yards on two running plays, and it pressured Sebastian River quarterback Sloan Drummonds into heaving a pass out of bounds as he ran for his life to the right side. The Cobras declined the intentional-grounding penalty and took over at the Sharks’ 30 after Severino’s 24-yard punt and a short 5-yard return.
Vaughn threw a 14-yard pass to Nehari Crawford on second down to the Sebastian River 16, and Mike McInnis ran 3 yards on a first-down sweep to the Sharks’ 13. Vaughn’s 9-yard pass to the right to Crawford pushed the ball to the Sharks’ 4, and Billy Jolivert ran 4 yards for the first of his two touchdowns on the night.
Danny Garcia kicked the extra point for the Cobras. Garcia converted four of the PATs, while Aguilar kicked the other three of the night.
“I’m glad that it’s over now,” first-year Sebastian River coach Kevin Pettis said. “Their quarterback (Vaughn) is a good football player. Their defense is very physical and it will serve them well down the road. Next week will be a heck of a game for them.”
Vaughn, who did not play in the second half, completed 9 of 11 passes for 224 yards and three touchdowns.
“(Vaughn’s) a smooth operator,” said Pettis, whose Sharks will resume play in Class 7A, District 12 with a road game against Martin County next Friday. Their motion is different and the way they line up and spread you out is so difficult to defend. They’re also as balanced as anyone we’ll play.”
Nick Cooper ran the ball consecutive times for gains of 5 yards, 4 yards and 1 yard for a first down on the ensuing position — the Sharks’ third of the game. After a delay-of-game penalty pushed the Sharks back 5 yards to their 23, Cooper ran 6 yards up the middle to the 29.
One play later, Nick Day sneaked down the left sideline and Drummonds found him wide open. Day eluded three would-be tacklers to score on the 71-yard pass play. Severino kicked the PAT to whittle the margin to 14-7.
On the ensuing possesion, Joseph Clark ran 23 yards to the right on second down and, one play later, Vaughn found Alquawn Vickers open on the left sideline and he sprinted for a 33-yard reception. Vaughn’s quick pass to Kyle West in the Cobras’ no-huddle offense resulted in a 10-yard gain to the Sharks’ 7.
One play later, Clark ran 6 yards up the middle for a touchdown to give Central a 21-7 advantage with 1:46 to play in the first quarter.
Vaughn threw a 70-yard touchdown pass to McInnis early in the second quarter and an 8-yard scoring pass to Crawford to extend the margin to 35-7. Jolivert added a 3-yard touchdown run with 2:03 to play in the second quarter to make it 42-7.
It rained heavily late in the second quarter and during halftime, which almost led to the game being called. But, the weather cleared and play resumed in the third quarter with a running clock.
Nick Cooper, who rushed for 141 yards on 27 carries, scored on a 1-yard run for Sebastian River with 3:21 remaining in the third quarter. That halted the running clock briefly as it chopped the deficit to 42-14, which was below the 35-point margin needed to sustain the state rule.
Rhashaad Owens returned the ensuing kickoff 72 yards to the Sharks’ 20 to set up another touchdown by the Cobras. Backup quarterback Billy Lampley threw a 5-yard pass to Pierre and he also ran 6 yards up the middle under heavy pressure by the Sharks to eventually set up a 1-yard scoring run by Montavious Brown on the first play of the fourth quarter.
Cooper scored on another 1-yard touchdown run to account for the final margin with 1:09 to play. The conversion run failed.