By Kyle LoJacono
Academy at the Lakes running back Jarrett Harvey didn’t actually break the score board against Washburn, but it almost appeared that way in the Wildcats’ 67-57 victory.
Harvey put up eight touchdowns when the six-man football teams started play on Sept. 16 at the Land O’ Lakes Recreation Complex, but the field lights went out with 2:41 remaining and the Wildcats leading 61-57.
The squads had to finish the high-scoring affair on Sept. 20. Washburn (2-2) attempted an onside kick when play resumed, but it did not go the 10 yards needed to let the Clearwater school recover the ball.
The academy took over on the Washburn 39-yard line and put together a five-play, 2:20-drive capped by a 5-yard scoring run for Harvey, his ninth touchdown of the contest.
“I wasn’t expecting this,” Harvey said. “To score nine touchdowns is out of the question as far as I was thinking.”
In his 40 years of coaching high school football, Wildcats coach John Castelamare had never experienced anything like those two nights in September.
“We had games moved because of a hurricane or lightning, but not with 2:41 left over two days,” Castelamare said. “It drove us nuts. You think of all the things that could have happened. … I told my daughter 2:41; your dad is going nuts because of this 2:41.”
That 2:41 will also stick with academy quarterback A.J. Carlson.
“We knew we had to come out and play as hard as we possibly could for 2:41,” Carlson said. “I’m probably not going to ever forget 2:41.”
Castelamare came up with a game plan for the final 2:41.
“I had a playbook just for today; just for 2:41,” Castelamare said as he pulled from his pocket an index card with a few plays and 2:41 scribbled on it. “I called it that, 2:41. It was exactly what we wanted to do.”
Castelamare did not let the odd conclusion interfere with the Wildcats normal routine. The academy had practice on Sept. 20 at 3 p.m.
“With only 2:41 we thought we’d only be out here 15-20 minutes,” Castelamare said. “So we made it part of the practice, just more important than most practices.”
The academy got on the board first on a 45-yard touchdown run by Harvey to start a 27-point first quarter, but the Spartans inched back into the game.
Harvey finished with 345 yards on 33 carries and eight rushing scores, along with two catches for 50 yards and another touchdown.
“I think he played his hardest and I expect you’ll see a lot more of that from him the rest of this year,” Carlson said of Harvey.
Carlson went 4-for-5 passing for 98 yards and one touchdown.
Ahkil McGill had 114 rushing yards and a touchdown while adding another 48 yards on two catches. He also had five tackles and an interception.
The academy won its second game of the week 58-12 at Hernando Christian on Sept. 23, moving the Wildcats to 4-0 on the season.
The academy hosts Oasis Christian on Friday, Sept. 30 at 7:30 p.m.
