- November 28, 2024
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Mainland stonewalled Seabreeze in a 17-0 victory Friday, in the Class 6A, District 9 championship.
BY SHANNA FORTIER | COMMUNITY EDITOR
The tension at Daytona Beach Municipal Stadium was high Friday night, Nov. 1, as the Mainland Buccaneers and the Seabreeze Sandcrabs hit the field for the Class 6A, District 9 football championship. The Bucs took the rival game with a 17-0 shutout.
“A lot of friends off the field made for a great rivalry,” said Mainland head coach Scott Wilson. “It was close there to the end.”
The Bucs started scoring in the first quarter, when Ricky Norris drove the ball in from the one-yard-line, setting Nick Bruno up for a 35-yard field goal to raise the lead to 10-0 in the second.
The Sandcrabs brought the ball up field several times throughout the game but failed to finish in the end zone. A ray of hope came in the fourth, when Seabreeze quarterback Conner Blair threw a 75-yard touchdown pass to Charles Nelson, but the points were negated by a holding penalty.
Penalties were the name of the game Friday night, both teams loosing vital yardage and scoring possibilities.
“A lot of the times when you have seven officials on the field, they want to be involved too,” Wilson said. “They called a great game, but it tends that when flags start to fly, they really fly.”
Wilson said that those penalties, many of which were false starts, are things his team needs to fix before playoffs.
Mainland sealed the deal with five minutes left of play when Trey Rodriguez powered passed Seabreeze for a 13-yard touchdown run.
Wilson credits his defense for shutting out the Sandcrabs.
“Our linebackers didn’t give anything up. They kept fighting,” he said.
Two players from each team were also recognized for their sportsmanship and play, as is tradition for the annual Mainland-Seabreeze matchup. The Jim Kirton Sportsmanship Award was given to Mainland’s Rodriguez and Seabreeze’s Dorian Gonzalez, and the Tommy Durrance MVP Award was given to Mainland linebacker Kalik Williams and Seabreeze running back Josh Stevens.
Both schools will advance to the playoffs, Mainland as first and Seabreeze as second. But first, each school has one more regular season game to finish. Mainland, now 8-1, will host Fort Pierce Central, an undefeated team ranked third in 8A, two classes above the Bucs. Seabreeze, now 6-2, will travel to Nease.
