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Red Devils dominate Raiders on both sides of ball
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Courtesy: TheVillagesDailySun.com By KEITH CHARTRAND | DAILY SUN LAKELAND — It’s hard to picture a South Sumter football team with five losses in one season. Consider that they have a total of nine regular-season losses this entire decade. Their latest, a 35-15 loss to the Red Devils of Kathleen High School on Friday night, really could have been a lot worse. Even though Kathleen committed 19 penalties, 14 in the first half, they still were able to dominate on both sides of the ball. The Red Devils outgained the Raiders 408 yards to 175 yards thanks in large part to Brayun Andrews’ 221 yards of total offense. The fact that the Raiders were absolutely dreadful on offense didn’t help. “It’s getting me some gray hairs,” coach Inman Sherman said. In the Raiders first seven series they went three-and-out six times. In their first series, the offense looked terrific. Kathleen’s first of many penalties gave the Raiders a second shot on third down. Quarterback Bryce Mobley hooked up with tight end Adam Hofecker on a 54-yard pass play. Three plays later quarterback Ian Papenheim ran in from 9 yards out to make it 7-0 Raiders with 9:13 remaining in the first quarter. The Raider offense wouldn’t see the other side of the 50-yard line until midway through the third quarter.
The Red Devils answered on the very next possession with a 10-play, 54-yard drive that culminated in a 9-yard pass play between quarterback Isaac O’Neal and Jacques Mackeroy. South Sumter proceeded to go three-and-out on its next two possessions. The Raider defense made big fourth-down plays on the Red Devils’ second and third offensive possessions. Kathleen had fourth-and-3 at the Raider 17 but O’Neal was hurried on a pass attempt. Their next possession, after a 56-yard run by Terry Bentley was called back on a holding penalty, Raider linebacker Mike McCrimon intercepted O’Neal at the Raider 29-yard line. But the Raider “D,” on the field a majority of the night, couldn’t contain Andrews. He busted off a 40-yard run setting up a 5-yard touchdown run by Bentley on the very next play. It was a respectable 14-7 score at the half against the No. 5 team in 4-A “The defense gave us an opportunity to win the game tonight,” Sherman said. But the sputtering offense couldn’t capitalize. Kathleen scored on its first and fourth possessions of the third quarter. Andrews accounted for 52 of the 80 yards on the drive including a 19-yard touchdown run to make it 21-7. Red Devils punter Javier Rodea couldn’t handle a snap. With the ball rolling out of the end zone, Sumter cut the lead to 21-9. A Raider fumble inside their own 5-yard line at the start of the fourth quarter set up the Red Devils in prime real estate. Andrews took the hand-off on the first play and went into the end zone with his second score of the night. It was a Kathleen 28-9 lead. On Kathleen’s next possession, McCrimon intercepted O’Neal, his second of the night, at the Red Devils 45-yard line. He returned it 15 yards and gave South Sumter its best field position of the night. In four plays, the Raiders were within 13 points after Corey Hagins found the end zone from 6 yards out making it a 28-15 Kathleen lead. The Red Devils needed only two plays to diminish any hopes of a Raider comeback. Bentley raced 60 yards on the ground finalizing the score 35-15. It was a 20-point loss but Sherman was somewhat happy with what he saw. “We kept playing hard,” he said. “This was the first third quarter that we actually played hard. That was the best team we’ve faced so far.” On Friday night district rival Orlando Jones comes to Bushnell. It’s a must-win. A loss to the Tigers could mean no playoffs for South Sumter. That hasn’t happened in 13 years.
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