By FRANCIS FEDOR
francisfotography@outlook.com
The Lennard Longhorns met the Newsome Wolves on a rare Thursday night, Sept. 10, in Ruskin, at the Ranch, with streaks on the line. Lennard had won two in a
row after a loss at Armwood, and Newsome was undefeated, at 3-0, but it was the Longhorns who continued their streak with the 28-7 win over the Wolves. Newsome found the end zone first, and it was the only score the Longhorn D would surrender. Head coach KB Belton and the Longhorns stayed composed and got the TD back with a couple of key plays from Antonio Balaguer to Chayse Brown, Marcus Dixon completed the drive with the TD, and it was all the scoring for the first half. The Horns took the ball on offense to start the second half, and Balaguer (15 of 17 in completions) engineered a long drive that culminated in the go-ahead TD, with him calling his own number for the score. Lennard’s defense stepped up, forcing a turnover after a Newsome pass connection and a sack to stall a drive. And then, Balaguer went from QB to magician after a snap went awry, stayed composed, collected the ball and found Brown down the sidelines to get a wild TD that was a back-breaker for the Wolves.
Balaguer finished with 202 yards and TWO TDs in the air and 30 (1 TD) with his legs. He connected with the dynamic Brown for both TDs. Brown finished with 126 yards receiving. Dixon accounted for 85 of the Longhorn 139 yards rushing with a long of 33 and the TD. The defense recorded three key sacks, with Parker Owens, Sire Toussaint and Trey Knight with one each. Bryce Herald forced a fumble, ending a Wolves drive.
The Longhorns make the short trip to take on 3-1 East Bay on Friday, Sept. 18, in a marquee South Shore Six (SS6) tilt with Lennard setting its sights on extending its winning streak to four games.
The Sumner Stingrays and head coach George Selvie started a win streak with a 27-14 win over rival Durant in the Tank, tagging the Cougars with their only loss and winning back-to-back games for the first time this season. The Rays were bolstered with a return on their next drive after scoring their opening TD. The return was key in a first half that saw the defenses stand tall and was the difference between a 7-7 halftime lead vs. a Rays 14-7 advantage.
Makai Frederick only completed four passes for 75 yards but played a clean game at QB with no turnovers, while the offense capitalized on the running game and piled up 151 effective yards with Robert Garcia leading the way and finding the end zone twice. The Rays got a boost from special teams with a Caden Daniels kickoff return that went for a TD and two FGs from kicker Josiah Washington with a long of 43 yards. Senior Kanye Faison picked off a pass, and Trey Brown had a monster game, leading the way with six tackles and three sacks, creating a disruption for the Cougar offense.
The Stingrays leave the Tank for the first time in three weeks and head up I-75 to Armwood for another big game, with the Hawks coming off a win over SS6 member Spoto and having opened the season with a win over Lennard (the Longhorns only loss).
The East Bay Indians looked to stay undefeated while navigating a schedule that put them on the road for three-in-a-row after a home opener win over SS6 rival Riverview. The road warrior segment of their schedule had the Indians travel to storied Hillsborough High, and East Bay held a late fourth quarter lead on a FG at 17-13 before the Terriers took the ball, found the end zone late in the quarter and came away with a stunning 20-17 win. The Terriers scored the opening TD and ended the first quarter recovering an East Bay fumble (they had three on the night) and capitalized scoring early in the second quarter before East Bay cracked the goal line on a breakaway 53-yard TD from Richard McClary. East Bay took the lead on a Jeremiah Argo 1-yard rushing TD. The Indians were poised to add another TD midway through the fourth but fumbled the ball on the goal line, after East Bay Shawn Daniels had picked off a pass to set up the opportunity.
The Terriers bottled up the passing offense, holding Argo and Cannon Farragut to 10 completions for 68 yards. The Indians did find some success on the ground with Aric Person finding space for 93 yards.
The Indians finally return home to Gibsonton to take on SS6 rival Lennard where East Bay and head coach DeAndra Simmons will be looking for a bounce back win in front of their home crowd.
The Riverview Sharks stumbled in a 37-7 loss to Plant City at home and dropped to 1-3 on the season. Plant City was coming off a loss to Armwood, a top 25 team in Florida. The Raiders got off to a fast start, putting up 14 first quarter points and adding 23 in the second quarter to put the Sharks in a big hole before the half.
Plant City QB Ta’Vare Miller fell just short of a 300-yard game with 291 yards passing and three TDs and found his prime target Adam Robinson for 130 yards receiving. Sharks QB Carter Peternell spent the game under constant pressure and was sacked six times. Sharks senior JP Rinaldi scored the Sharks only TD in the fourth quarter.
Head coach Tony Rodriguez and his staff will go back to work and look to keep the team positive after a tough four game stretch where the team did have a positive outcome vs. Parrish Community but faced strong tests in the other three match-ups.
The Sharks host SS6 newcomer Morgan as Riverview attempts to end its two-game skid in front of a big home crowd as it has another key district match-up at Durant the following week, Sept. 25.
The Morgan Mustangs hosted 2-1 Robinson, and the Knights were looking to extend their winning streak to three and put a 1-9 2025 season in the rear-view mirror. The 2026 edition of the Knights was too much for the young Mustangs squad and came away with a 41-0 win at the Ranch. Cole Verzosa, the junior Mustang, did throw for 116 of Morgan’s 187 passing yards and was its leading rusher with 22 yards. Morgan receivers had a couple of long receptions, including a 32-yard completion to Martis Bunton and a 29-yarder to Zamauri Taylor. The Mustangs fell to 2-2.
The Mustangs will travel up 301 to face the Riverview Sharks in a SS6 match-up where both teams will be looking to get back a win. It will be the first of three on the road that will take head coach Marlo Hollingshed's team into Tampa to play Jefferson and Freedom before returning to home territory.
The Spoto Spartans had a tough draw on their schedule, playing the Armwood Hawks on the road and falling 51-0; they are now 1-3 on the season. Head coach Keith Chattin expects to have his starting QB Giovanni Sbabo back on the field for their next game and return to consistency on offense with the players they worked with in the off-season to setup the offense and saw success in the preseason game at Riverview where Sbabo found receivers and put points on the board.
The Spartans host another tough opponent in 3-1 Steinbrenner on Friday, Sept. 18, but the Warriors will be coming off a tough loss of their own, 56-14, to undefeated Carrollwood Day that tagged Steinbrenner with its first loss.
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