No mercy: Mainland trounces Seabreeze in hometown football rivalry

The Bucs showed out on senior night with a 53-0 win over Seabreeze on Nov. 1 at the Daytona Stadium.

  • By Michele Meyers
  • | 9:08 a.m. November 4, 2024
  • Ormond Beach Observer
  • Sports
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Mainland showed no mercy in the rivalry game against Seabreeze on Friday, Nov. 1, at the Daytona Stadium. The Bucs racked up 40 points by halftime and finished off a 53-0 triumph with a running clock.

Mainland won its fifth game in a row, ending the regular season with a 5-5 record after losing its first five games. Seabreeze (2-6) will host Deltona at 7 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 7, at Daytona Stadium in its final game of the year. That contest had been postponed by Hurricane Milton. 

Mainland's next stop is the playoffs, which begin on Nov. 15, and Bucs head coach Jerrime Bell said his team is peaking at just the right time.

“Belief in one another and belief in the system — they have finally found who they are and you can see it,” he said. “We have been saying week after week, you can see the joy in the kids just playing football.”

Bucs quarterback Sebastian Johnson passed for 249 yards and six touchdowns to five different receivers. Phillip Moore had two touchdown receptions, while Jameil Patrick, Christian Cooper, Khalil Wilmore and Eddie Lake Jr. had one each. In the fourth quarter, Cole Walker added a 28-yard touchdown pass to Kyle Moore.

Bell said Johnson has gotten more comfortable with the offense, adding that he has started seeing the game as Mainland offensive coordinator Josh Russell sees it.

“(Johnson) has always been our field general,” Bell said. “He has belief in his receivers who have stepped up. They had a lot of naysayers at the beginning of the year and they kept working. Now we go about 10 or 12 receivers deep and they can all make plays.”

At the beginning of the year, Bell said his running back group was one of the best in the state. Edward Williams leads the team in rushing yards and is 11 yards short of cracking 1,000 for the season. 

“Edward Williams was an unknown commodity in this area because he is not originally from Volusia County,” Bell said. “He’s a kid that made plays at Fleming Island and made plays at Appling County up in Georgia, and we’re blessed to have him. He’s a Division 1 running back.”

Kwasie Kwaku Jr. started for Atlantic the past two years when Bell was the Sharks' head coach and was instrumental in helping Atlantic attain back-to-back district championships. Bell said the Bucs recently redefined Kwaku's role and put him at safety on defense. He leads the team in interceptions.

Belief in one another and belief in the system — they have finally found who they are and you can see it. We have been saying week after week, you can see the joy in the kids just playing football.
— JERRIME BELL, Mainland head football coach

“He’s been one of the best playmakers for the past three years,” Bell said. “He’s starting to get more and more comfortable week after week. It takes a while for people to adapt to the bright lights of Mainland High School.”

Seabreeze suffered injuries to two key players. Running back Jeremias George left the game after sustaining a concussion early. Late in the second quarter, quarterback Dylan Tocci was helped off the field following a side tackle to the knee by Mainland linebacker Dennis “Tank” King. Coach Mike Klein said he hopes both players will be cleared to play against Deltona.

“(Tocci) thinks he is going to be able to play this week,” Klein said. “We’re thinking he has a bone bruise. He says he feels pretty good about it. We’ll take a look this week and see how he does. I know he’s going to want to play this last game.”

Klein said he knew going into the game that Mainland had a tough defense. The Sandcrabs struggled to move the ball consistently. Defensively, he said his guys played the run well, but they gave up too many deep passes.

“We talked all week about how we have to prevent the explosion plays, keep the ball in front of us and stay on top of it with all the deep routes,” Klein said. “We just didn’t do a great job with that. Every time they threw it vertically, they pretty much scored on us in the first half. It just added up quick.”

Klein was hired a week before spring practice last year and missed out on off-season conditioning with his new team.

“These guys have been awesome to coach throughout the season,” Klein said. “Especially in a season where it’s real easy for guys to quit or to lay down or not go as hard. These guys have done a fantastic job of coming to work and getting better every week. I hope we just continue that trend going into this final week, have a great week of practice and get us a win to finish off the season. That would be great.”

Klein said he has a lot of young players that play on varsity. He said having that experience next season won't necessarily lead to instant success, but it will go a long way toward the team’s longterm success.

“I’m most excited about just being able to be here January through May and actually have a real off-season,” he said. “That’s the biggest thing I think we’re missing this season. Just being able to get in the weight room with these guys and continue to develop our culture is going to help us be a successful football team. I think the future is bright at Seabreeze.”

The Buccaneers' defense has allowed only 34 points in the last six games including the 10-7 loss at Coffee High School in Douglas, Georgia. Myron Shafer led the Bucs with over 10 tackles against Seabreeze, Bell said. 

“Myron is a guy's-guy on the football field,” Bell said. “He eats, sleeps and breathes football. That’s where he’s the happiest. You see it on Friday nights, especially in a game like Mainland-Seabreeze where they know all those kids. To be out there making play after play gave him that big smile on his face — he was having a great time.” 

The playoff pairings are scheduled to be released on Nov. 9. The Bucs, ranked seventh in the region heading into the Seabreeze game, could have a home game if they are paired with a team that did not win its district, but the Florida High School Athletics Association is the final authority over site selection, and Bell is expecting the Bucs to go on the road.

“All I’m looking to see is how well our defense travels,” he said. “I’m looking forward to seeing our defense continue to play and our offense getting more confidence week-by-week.”

Shafer said it meant a lot to play his last Seabreeze game in front of his family and the Daytona Beach community on Senior Night.

“With the whole city there, we got to put on a show, so that’s what we did as a team,” he said. “Defense kept the intensity up all night and offense didn’t take their foot off the gas. This is not the end though. These next two weeks are the most important of the season. The run starts now.”

 

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