- November 23, 2024
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The Seabreeze Sandcrabs’ varsity football team walked away with a 14-7 loss and an injured quarterback after facing the Westside Wolverines Thursday, May 20 at the Daytona Municipal Stadium.
Quarterback Blake Boda’s first quarter injury forced Seabreeze’s head coach Pat Brown to reassess his game strategy. After conferring with his coaches, the choice was clear: All-Area safety senior Dimitri Campbell stepped in and became Boda’s immediate replacement.
“He’s the best all around football player in this area,” Brown said. “He can throw, he can run, he can tackle, he can cover and he has a worker’s mindset. That’s what I love about him. He’s not the biggest guy in the world but he just keeps on working it. I know some of these college coaches are going to take intents to him.”
Brown has been developing the football program ever since he set foot on campus in January 2019 and acquired their 1-9 record. Currently, his regular seasons’ record is a combined 9-9, and, in an uncertain COVID-19 year riddled with cancellations, the Sandcrabs won a playoff game against Gulf Breeze. Brown was also named Florida Athletic Coaches Association 6A District 9 Coach of the Year in 2020.
The Westside Wolverines were relentless in their drive down field, scoring a touchdown in the first quarter by Deshard Wescott and another touchdown in the fourth quarter after a 53-yard run by Dijon Gillins.
Faced with a 14-0 deficit, the Seabreeze coaches opted to put All-State kicker and punter Mac Chiumento in as an emergency quarterback. Chiumento threw a deep 40-yard pass completion to Tayshawn Galery. He then followed it up with an 11-yard touchdown pass to Tashod Troutman and kicked the extra point bringing the final score to 14-7.
“The cohesiveness of this team is very special,” Brown said. “They had their quarterback go down in the first quarter and they made it a game throughout the whole game. Had them on eggshells. You take away a starting high school quarterback and 99% of them can’t come back and win the game. We got a real tough group. They are used to adversity.”