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COCOA — Heritage and Cocoa squared off on Sept. 25 with one team looking to continue its momentum and the other seeking a confidence-building performance.
The Panthers entered on a three-game winning streak while the Tigers were winless at 0-3. Cocoa, in its second home game of the season, set the tone early and never looked back in a 56-17 rout of Heritage.
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“I’m proud of them. It’s a young team. They needed this win, we needed this win, the school needed this win, the community,” Cocoa head coach Nate Hooks said. “We knew it was an uphill battle when we started. Every Friday night we’re going to keep swinging just like this. Now they see what can happen when you execute. Doesn’t matter the opponent, just execute.”
Cocoa led Heritage 27-0 at halftime as it scored 4 touchdowns on its first five possessions. The Tigers ended the game scoring on their final five possessions with 4 touchdowns and 1 field goal.
Tigers sophomore quarterback Kadin Claflin-Coy played his best game of the season, completing 26-of-36 passes for 311 yards, 4 touchdowns and 1 interception. The one turnover came on the final play of the first half.
“It feels great. We got to ride the momentum into next week. We’re playing The First Academy, so it’s onto next week. The offense played good,” Claflin-Coy said. “We had a lot of penalties that against games you got late in the season. It’s not going to work against a team when it’s neck and neck. We got to tighten up on those.”
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The sophomore completed passes to eight different pass catchers. Claflin-Coy threw a 29-yard touchdown to junior Anthony Whaley, a 19-yard and 4-yard touchdown pass to senior Tank White and a 41-yard touchdown pass to junior Jayden Maull.
On the ground, junior Javeon Scott led all rushers with 166 yards on 18 carries and 2 touchdowns. Scott opened the scoring with a 5-yard touchdown and capped the night with a 70-yard touchdown run.
“It’s growing a lot. Our main thing is we stay after practice sometimes for some routes,” Claflin-Coy said. “My receivers like to catch from me and I like to throw to them so that definitely helps. We’re friends off the field, so obviously that helps out a lot more too.”
In his first season as a full-time starter, Claflin-Coy is nearing the 1,000-yard mark through the air to go with 9 touchdowns and 6 interceptions.
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I’m way better than I was first game,” Claflin-Coy said. “No matter what I do, each game I try to get better and better, limit my mistakes. I’m a sophomore now, but coach Hooks is always telling me I’m still the varsity quarterback.”
It was another solid performance from the Cocoa defense as it allowed 28 or less point for the third straight game. Tigers senior Kyree Brooks sacked Heritage quarterback Christian Ryder Borhi twice and junior Elyias Wilson posted 1 sack. Whaley and junior Shakur Pierce intercepted Borhi once.
“Football is football. There’s only so many plays you can run, only so many schemes you can dial up but are you going to do it,” Hooks said. “(Tonight) they did it. I think they understand now more than the previous three games that if you execute, play fast, play violent, good things happen.”
The Tigers improved to 1-3 and they’ll head to The First Academy for their only district game of the season.
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“It was really big just as like a confidence booster for the team,” Hooks said. “Now we’re going into a big game with a win. We got the win, everybody’s hyped up and we’re ready for next week and the rest of the season.”
It was a surprising performance from Heritage, who won back-to-back games by a combined score of 86-0 after it defeated Viera on Sept. 4. The Panthers finished the game with just eight first downs and the defense allowed its most points this season.
“It was poor, soft. I don’t know how many other ways you can say soft,” Heritage head coach Mykel Benson said. “We didn’t want to tackle, we didn’t want to block. I know for sure that we can match up with this team, but we just played soft.”
The Panthers finished the game with 210 total yards of offense. Heritage senior Izael Johnson scored both touchdowns in the second half on back-to-back screen receptions going for 45 and 46 yards. Senior kicker Aden Berrios converted a 28-yard field goal.
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Defensively, Heritage forced 3 turnovers on a forced fumbles by seniors Matt Moise and Cordae Copeland that were recovered by seniors Anthony Hicks and Joseph Johnson. Junior Alex Fralin intercepted a pass on the final play before halftime. The Panthers scored 0 points off the takeaways.
“It was just a mentality,” Benson said. “You either want to do it and you want to set the tone or are you going to get the tone set on you. From the get go, they set the tone and we didn’t respond at all.”
Heritage dropped to 3-3 and it’ll head to Sebastian River for a district game on Oct. 2.
“I want our team to look at themselves when it comes to playing a better opponent. You can run through our district, but we got some tough games coming up too,” Benson said. “We just got to bounce back and really just become more physical. That’s a mentality thing. If we can’t do that, we’re going to struggle with good teams like this.”
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Sept. 25 scores
FHSAA
Melbourne Central Catholic 54, Wildwood 14
The Hustlers clinched their fourth straight district title with a blowout win over previously undefeated Wildwood.
Melbourne Central Catholic sophomore Trenton Washington threw 3 touchdowns, throwing 2 passes to senior Grady Bonenberger and 1 to senior Noah Flores. Senior Noah Gabriel rushed for 2 touchdowns.
Defensively, the Hustlers forced 6 turnovers and they returned 3 interceptions for touchdowns. Junior Triston Washington scored on a 47-yard pick six, freshman Derrick Chandler scored on a 50-yard pick six and sophomore Jake Profit scored on a 35-yard pick six.
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Melbourne Central Catholic improves to 4-1 and it’ll host Rockledge on Oct. 2.
Catholic Memorial 42, Viera 12
Viera suffered a 30-point defeat in West Roxbury, Massachusetts against reigning state champion Catholic Memorial.
The Hawks trailed the Knights 14-12 late in the second quarter after a 76-yard touchdown run by sophomore Jaamal Crittington and a 1-yard touchdown run by sophomore Derek Schmadeke.
Catholic Memorial scored a touchdown with 50 seconds left in the first half to lead 21-12 at halftime and never looked back.
Viera fell to 3-2 and it’ll head to Melbourne for a district clash on Oct. 2.
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Holy Trinity 41, St. John Paul II Academy 15
The Tigers picked up their third straight win following a 26-point road win in Boca Raton over St. John Paul II.
Holy Trinity moved to 4-1 and it’ll play at John Carroll Catholic on Oct. 2.
SSAA
Space Coast 53, Bayside 7
Space Coast won its fifth game in a row as it scored at least 50 points for the second game in a row.
Freshman Charlie Williams led the Vipers offense with 3 rushing touchdowns. Sophomore Ryland Travis scored 2 touchdowns on the ground. Sophomore Chad Johnson and senior Kadyn Thomas scored 1 rushing touchdown. Junior Zion Sandy threw touchdown passes to freshman Da’bar Fluellen and sophomore Solomon Snaith.
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Bayside’s lone touchdown was a 70-yard completion by senior Joey Costa to junior Malachi Barrett-Timmons.
Space Coast improves to 5-1 and it’ll head to Astronaut on Oct. 2. The Bears fall to 2-4 and they’ll play at Boca Raton Christian on Oct. 2.
SSAA, 8-man
Calvary Chapel 34, City of Life Christian Academy 20
Eagles senior Gavin Stewart scored 4 rushing touchdowns to propel Calvary Chapel to its closest win of the season. On the 4 touchdowns, Stewart rushed for 143 yards. Sophomore Chace Evans ended the scoring with a 1-yard touchdown run.
Calvary Chapel improved to 6-0 heading into its bye week. Its next game is Oct. 9 at Merritt Island Christian.
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Merritt Island Christian 31, Lake Mary Prep 7
Merritt Island Christian stayed undefeated with a wire-to-wire win over Lake Mary Prep. The Cougars pulled away in the middle frames with 10 points in the second quarter and 14 in the third quarter.
The Cougars improved to 6-0 and they’ll host First Academy (Leesburg) on Oct. 2.
Sept. 24 scores
FHSAA
Merritt Island 39, Titusville 16
Merritt Island stayed perfect as it pulled away from Titusville in the second half scoring 22 of the final 25 points.
Mustangs opened the scoring on a pick six from senior Elijah Floyd. On offense, senior Kevin Verpaele threw 2 touchdown passes to sophomore Elijah Mitchell. Verpaele also rushed for a touchdown. Senior Kamar Field returned a kickoff 99 yards for a touchdown.
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“I thought we came out good. It was a wet game early on, so it was a little sloppy early on offense. Defensively, we came out on fire,” Merritt Island head coach Tyler Murray said. “We had a pick six. Special teams played lights out, so we were flying around on the defensive side of the ball. We held a pretty good team to 16 points.”
Titusville scored 2 touchdowns on a 32-yard run by senior Tank Harvey and an 81-yard touchdown completion from senior Remy Vigne to junior Deion Bland.
“I said going into this, whoever’s defense plays the best will win. Our defense played good for a long time. Hats off to Merritt Island, their coaching staff, their team,” Titusville head coach Matt Diesel said. “They got a really good team. They got a ton of size. They got a bunch of athletes. They do a really good job. They brought a good game and we couldn’t keep pace there in the end.”
Merritt Island enters its bye week with a 6-0 record. Titusville dropped to 4-2 and it’ll host Davenport on Oct. 2.
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Eau Gallie 38, Astronaut 0
The Commodores extended their winning streak to three games, picking up their second district win with a home shutout of Astronaut.
Eau Gallie senior Donovan Richardson opened the scoring on a five-yard touchdown run. Senior Joseph Allen completed his first touchdown pass of the game to junior Tay Johnson for a 19-yard score.
Commodores junior Troy Silberzahn scored a three-yard touchdown run. Allen threw a 43-yard touchdown to junior Zay Hawkins and a 32-yard touchdown to senior Lukas Viselli.
Eau Gallie enters its bye week with a 4-2 record as it’ll host Merritt Island on Oct. 9. Astronaut dropped to 2-3 and it’ll host Space Coast on Oct. 2.
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SSAA
Satellite 55, Cocoa Beach 13
In a battle of unbeatens, the Scorpions ran away in the Beach Bowl outscoring the Minutemen 34-7 in the second half to keep hold of the surfboard trophy.
Satellite senior Raiden Kerr rushed for two touchdowns. Seniors Anthony Romero, Liam Nolte, Adrian Garcia and Tristan Sejeck scored a rushing touchdown. Senior Brody Grennan threw touchdown passes to senior Noah Corriveau and senior Brennan Saxe.
Cocoa Beach ended Satellite’s defensive scoreless streak at 260:04 on a touchdown pass by junior Jay Craft to senior Langston Long with 37 seconds left in the first half. Minutemen freshman Jordan Stevens returned a kickoff 64 yards for a touchdown in the second half.
Satellite improved to 6-0 and it’ll head to Eustis on Oct. 2. Cocoa Beach moves to 5-1 and it’ll head to Palm Bay on Oct. 2.
This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Week 6 Roundup: Cocoa wins 1st game, MCC wins district title
