SEBASTIAN — Eau Gallie spoiled Sebastian River’s Homecoming and eliminated the Sharks from football playoff contention in Class 7A, District 12 with a 21-7 victory Friday night at Sharks Stadium.
Cyrena Touros was crowned Homecoming Queen and Aaron Butler was named Homecoming King on a night when Sebastian River had a chance to record an upset before the Commodores scored two touchdowns in the fourth quarter to earn only the third playoff berth in the school’s history.
The Sharks, who slipped to 2-6 overall and 1-2 in the district, drove 68 yards on 11 plays to tie the game at 7-7 on Nick Cooper’s 1-yard touchdown run with 6 minutes 12 seconds to play in the third quarter. Justin Eidem kicked the extra point for the Sharks.
Cooper, who returned the kickoff 26 yards to open the second half, rushed for 39 yards on seven carries during the drive. His 25-yard burst up the middle gave the Sharks a first down at the Eau Gallie 30-yard line, and Matt Jones followed with an 18-yard gain on a reverse to the left side on the ensuing play to move the ball to the Commodores’ 12.
Cooper ran for consecutive gains of 4, 1 and 5 yards to move the ball to the Eau Gallie 2, and an offsides call moved the ball half the distance to the Commodores’ 1. Cooper, who finished with 122 yards on 22 carries, powered in from the middle to score.
The Sharks then stopped the Commodores (6-2 overall and 3-1 in the district) on downs and took over at their own 45 after a 25-yard punt by Alec Burak. Cooper ran to the right for 8 yards, but Matt Jones was stopped for a 3-yard loss on a reverse and a fumbled snap out of the shotgun pushed the Sharks back to their own 45 on third down. Severino’s 36-yard punt gave Eau Gallie the ball at its own 19.
“They’ve run that reverse in a couple of games that we scouted,” said Eau Gallie coach Tim Powers, a fourth-year head coach, who was a defensive lineman and offensive lineman in 1998 for the Commodores when they earned their last playoff berth. “Sebastian River played a tough game; they were trying to salvage their season.”
Sebastian River coach Kevin Pettis knows the Sharks squandered an opportunity on that drive. A victory by the Sharks would have clinched at least a tie for second place in the district or a possible district title with a victory on the road next week against Melbourne. Instead, Sebastian River will finish the season with the road game against Melbourne and another road game against Heritage.
“Their defense blitzed the linebacker on that reverse and we didn’t pick it up,” said Pettis, who is in his first season as Sebastian River’s head coach. “Then, we had the fumble on that snap. If we had been able to drive down and score again, it would have been a lot better. We wouldn’t have had to play them from behind.”
Tim Price, who rushed for 186 yards and one touchdown on 14 carries, took a pitch on the left side and sprinted 22 yards. Tracey Williams powered up the middle for 8 yards and Price took another pitch on the left side and broke one tackle before racking up a 24-yard gain to the Sharks’ 22.
Williams ran up the middle for 4 yards and a penalty on the play against Sebastian River pushed the ball half the distance to the goal to the Sharks’ 9. Williams ran up the middle for 5 yards and followed that with a 4-yard scoring run to the right to give Eau Gallie a 14-7 advantage with 20 seconds to play in the third quarter. Burak kicked the second of his three successful extra points.
Eau Gallie, which clinched second place in the district behind Melbourne, stopped Sebastian River on downs and took over at the Sharks’ 36 after Severino’s 21-yard punt was partially blocked.
Price leaped over a defender for a 3-yard gain; quarterback Torrance Brown faked a handoff and kept the ball for an 11-yard gain to the right and Price followed with a 17-yard gain to the Sharks’ 5.
One play later, Craig Dewberry ran to the left for a 3-yard touchdown. Burak kicked the PAT as the Commodores extended their advantage to 21-7 with 8:08 remaining.
“Eau Gallie just has a solid football team,” Pettis said. “They’ve got kids in that program who have been there for four years, and they play hard.”
Price took a pitch on the right side and ran 70 yards for a touchdown on just the second play from scrimmage to start the game. Burak kicked the extra point to give Eau Gallie a 7-0 lead with 11:04 to play in the first quarter.
Sebastian River stopped Price for a 2-yard loss at the Sharks’ 1 and forced Brown to throw an errant incomplete pass under a ferocious pass rush on fourth down with 9:23 to play in the second quarter.
Burak, a left-footed kicker, also missed a 44-yard field-goal attempt with 5:25 to play in the second quarter and a 42-yard field-goal attempt as time expired in the first half. Both kicks had plenty of distance, but Burak kicked them wide to the right.
Eau Gallie’s Taylor Dooley also dropped a sure-touchdown reception on a wide-open, fly route, and another pass by Brown hit Sebastian River’s Steven Oscar in the back as Daniel Kroupa seemed poise to snag a touchdown pass at the right pylon of the end zone.
Moments earlier, Sebastian River’s Anthony Parks nearly intercepted a pass in the center of the field where he would have been able to run untouched for a potential touchdown.
“At halftime, I told them to stay patient,” Powers said. “We had to keep grinding. Their defense allowed them to hang around.”
The Commodores rushed for 246 yards, and Brown completed 8 of 17 passes for 76 yards.
Sebastian River finished with 212 yards of total offense, rushing for 131 yards and adding another 81 yards passing as Deion Jones completed 7 of 14 passes.
After being named king and queen during the Homecoming halftime program, Touros and Butler were driven around by Craig Waskow in his 1973 Chevrolet Caprice blue convertible. The classic automobile was featured on the cover of the October issue of Hemmings’s Classic Car magazine.
The 2012 Homecoming King and Queen, Bradley DiMarco and Brandi Lucas, attended the game and crowned Touros and Butler.
Touros was escorted by her parents, David and Donna Touros. She plans to attend Princeton University next year, where she will major in classics and political science. Touros eventually wants to attend law school. She is a member of the Triple A/International Baccalaureate Academy, the band as the trumpet section leader and she also plays rugby for the Sharks.
Butler, who was escorted by his mother, Latisha McCants, plans to attend the University of Central Florida next year. He will major in engineering. Butler plays the tenor saxophone for the band during marching season and the bass clarinet during the Wind Symphony.
Other members of the Homecoming King’s and Queen’s Court included: Ashley Shaw, Peter Passaro, Jennifer Weber, Alex Arteaga, Taylor Rizio, Deion Jones, Kayla Chenault and Jonathan Maier.
After the game, the band played several sets to continue the Homecoming celebration since it did not play during halftime.
