By Eugenio Torrens
Land O’ Lakes football coach Brian Wachtel watched as the seconds ticked off the clock.
Suddenly, he was overcome with an ice-cold chill.
“It felt great,” Wachtel said.
The Gators coach was doused with a Gatorade bath in the closing moments of his team’s 48-28 win at District 6A-6 rival Mitchell on Oct. 6. Wachtel was the Mustangs leader the previous two years before joining Land O’ Lakes for the same position.
“It was definitely a big one for him, he was tight all week,” said Land O’ Lakes senior tight end Kent Taylor.
The Gators (3-2) needed the district win to keep pace with Sunlake, Hernando and Nature Coast, and they slammed their foot on the pedal from the opening whistle.
Harrison Wood scored on the Gators second play of the game, a screen pass to the left that the junior took 75 yards.
Mitchell (3-3) was held to a quick three-and-out and the Mustangs’ punt was blocked by Darin Patmon. Jackson Cannon recovered and set up Land O’ Lakes at the Mitchell 12-yard line.
Senior quarterback Ryan Bird scored on a 10-yard scamper to put his team up 14-0.
Mitchell answered with a 61-yard scoring drive capped by Dan Barber’s 15-yard run up the middle to bring the Mustangs within a touchdown.
Another Mitchell special teams miscue resulted in another score for the Gators. Patmon blocked the punt and recovered the ball in the end zone to make it 21-7.
“We haven’t had a blocked punt all year — to have two of them, we gotta see where the breakdown happened,” said Mitchell coach Scott Schmitz.
The Mustangs stalled on their next offensive drive, and Land O’ Lakes answered with a 27-yard field goal by Andrew Garcia.
The next time the Gators had the ball, Garcia only had to kick an extra point after Bird found the 6-foot-5 Taylor streaking down the left sideline for a 54-yard catch and score.
“He bit,” said Taylor about the defender, “and I took off.”
Mitchell continued to struggle. Two sacks pushed the Mustangs from their own 20 to their 10-yard line, and Land O’ Lakes’ Wesley Moore returned the ensuing punt to Mitchell’s 4-yard line. Wood scored on the next play to give his team a 38-7 lead.
Another field goal from Garcia before the half made it 41-7.
“Our kicking game today was so important for us,” Wachtel said. “We got to kick some field goals, we got to work on some things that we haven’t been able to work on in the last couple of games.”
Just to erase any doubt of a comeback, Bird found Moore for a 99-yard touchdown pass for the Gators’ last score.
Land O’ Lakes played its backups the majority of the second half, and Mitchell took advantage by closing the scoring gap.
The Mustangs blocked a punt of their own, and Max Gebler returned it for his team’s second touchdown. Freddie Jones had a 45-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter, and Christian Trinidad scored from 5-yards out to narrow the game to 48-28.
“You got two options: you can make excuses and live with those excuses, or you can fix the problem,” Schmitz said. “I prefer that we keep working and fix the problem.”
Land O’ Lakes next travels to Nature Coast on Friday, Oct. 14 at 7:30 p.m.
