By Kyle LoJacono
The Sunlake football team kept its playoff hopes alive by winning 18-6 at Class 6A-District 6 opponent Land O’ Lakes Oct. 19.
The win also gives the Seahawks (5-2, 3-2) bragging rights over the cross-town rival Gators (1-6, 0-5) for the second straight year.
“This is the best thing because we’re walking around town and in all the stores everybody is like yep, they took it to Land O’ again this year,” said senior linebacker Ben Wood.
Sunlake lost their first four meetings with Land O’ Lakes before winning the last two. After last year’s victory, coach Bill Browning told his squad there was a new sheriff in town. He had a similar message after the W this season.
“The sheriff got re-elected,” Browning said to his squad, which erupted in cheers.
The Seahawks marched their opening drive 78 yards capped off by a 10-yard run by senior running back Eddie Burgos.
The offense slowed from there in large part because of mistakes. Sunlake committed 14 penalties for 105 yards.
The Gators scored on a 27-yard field goal by Andrew Dowler before halftime and added a 33-yarder on their first drive of the third quarter to cut the deficit to 8-6.
Browning opted to go for a fake punt with 9:29 left in the game on fourth-and-three. Connor Gilboy took the snap and sprinted to the right side to pick up the first down by inches.
“Oh my gosh, I was thinking if there’s a time to be great in this football game, the time is right now,” Gilboy said. “I have to use some athleticism to get this ball three yards down the field. Once it was snapped I didn’t think of anything. I just ran my heart out and hoped I had it.”
Browning said he went for the fake because of how well his defense was playing.
“We came here to win, and it was a thing where you hope you can pull a rabbit out of your hat,” Browning said. He added, “If our defense was playing lousy, then you have to punt because of the field position. The defense has come up big all year for us.”
Gilboy hit a 21-yard field goal with 2:31 left to stretch the lead to 11-6. The senior came up with another big play on the ensuing kickoff after his squad jumped offside.
“Conner Gilboy still kicked it into the end zone,” Browning said. “Otherwise they might have had some decent field position. Field positionwise, that was huge.”
The lack of time and good field position forced Land O’ Lakes to abandon its run-heavy offense on its next drive in favor of four straight pass attempts. The first three fell incomplete. The last resulted in Wood sacking sophomore quarterback James Pensyl to turn the ball over on downs with 2:11 remaining.
“It was just pure bliss,” Wood said. “You can’t get a better feeling than that. You come out here and play four quarters as hard as you can. To get a clear shot at the end, you’re just thanking God.”
Burgos gutted through the contest to rack up 87 rushing yards on 14 carries despite being visibly shaken by a right leg injury.
“That was huge,” Browning said. “Senior out there against a neighborhood rival. Just his presence on the field helps us. Let’s face it, he’s one of our main offensive weapons, and he’s been that way all year.”
Sunlake quarterback Josh Zifer went 8-of-10 passing for 72 yards and an interception while adding 100 rushing yards on 23 attempts.
Land O’ Lakes senior running back Harrison Wood carried the ball 19 times for 133 yards.
The Seahawks must win their remaining 6A-6 games against River Ridge and Central the next two weeks and have Nature Coast beat Hernando next week to have a chance at a tiebreaker for the district runner-up spot.
“I told the players after the game we’ll worry about our scoreboard,” Browning said. “It doesn’t really matter. We just want to finish the season strong; finish 8-2 and let the chips fall where they may.”
Sunlake hosts River Ridge Oct. 26, while the Gators travel to Central. Both games start at 7:30 p.m.
—Follow Kyle LoJacono on Twitter: @Kyle_Laker
