- Gainesville Hurricanes won their first district game in 5 years, beating Lecanto, 34-27, in their 4A-District 5 opener on Friday.
- Javaris Gardner had over 130 rushing yards in the game and an 80-yard kickoff return touchdown to tie the game 7-7 at halftime.
- The Hurricanes will face rival Eastside next Friday at Citizens Field.
Like Gainesville’s game last Friday night in Live Oak, the Hurricanes’ home football game against Lecanto opened as a defensive battle.
The offenses broke through after halftime.
The Hurricanes scored four touchdowns in the final 15 minutes and held on for a 34-27 win against the Panthers in the Class 4A-District 5 opener for both teams at Citizens Field.
“I think it gives them hope; that’s the main thing,” said first-year head coach Ashour Peera. “You know, we hadn’t won a district game in I think five or six years, so this one was big for us. Last year, we lost to this team 42-0, so it meant a lot to us to be able to come out and show improvement. I think we still have a long way to go…but credit to Lecanto and the job that they were doing. They never gave up. It was a great battle, another good battle for us.”
It was Gainesville’s first district win since a 17-14 win at St. Augustine in 2021, which gave the Hurricanes their first league championship in seven years.
Both teams turned it over on their first possession of the game.
Peera’s son, Tyler, recovered a fumble at the Gainesville 48-yard line, but on the very next play, Gainesville gave it right back.
The hook-and-ladder could have gained big yardage if Javaris Gardner hadn’t fumbled. Lecanto freshman Cam Tibbets recovered the fumble at the Panthers’ 37-yard line.
Gardner, who finished with over 130 yards rushing, would eventually make up for it.
The game was scoreless midway through the second quarter when the Panthers (1-3, 0-1) put together a time-consuming scoring drive.
Lecanto marched 61 yards on 14 plays and capped the nearly six-and-a-half-minute drive with a 5-yard touchdown run by senior running back Terence Hollis with just seven seconds left in the half.
However, the Panthers elected to kick it to Gardner, who fumbled the kick at the 20-yard line before picking it up and taking it back 80 yards for the score on the final play of the half. Juan Roman’s extra point tied the game at 7-7.
“It was an electric return,” Peera said. “You saw him hit a different gear that I don’t know if he’s brought yet this year.”
Gardner also had a 69-yard kickoff return the previous week against Suwannee.
“On the play, right before that happened, I told the coach the game ain’t over,” Gardner said. “I’m fixing to take it to the crib. I saw him kick it that way. The ball dribbled, I picked it up, and didn’t see nothing but green grass, and I took it home.”
Coming into the season, Gainesville’s approach under Peera was to take things quarter by quarter. That’s exactly what they did at the half.
“We just talked about the first two quarters and how those went and how we measured them by our standards, and then we talked about the second half, playing the third quarter first, just worrying about that,” Peera said. “Let’s focus on the end of the game at the end of the game, and that’s what we did. We found a way to win, and we hadn’t done that before. They’re starting to learn that process.”
On Gainesville’s second possession of the second half, junior quarterback Joshua McClellan found Gardner on a screen pass for a 31-yard touchdown to give the ‘Canes their first lead, 13-7, following the missed extra point.
Then, on their next possession, junior running back Keihonest Perry (160 yards rushing) scored on a 67-yard run. McClellan’s 2-point conversion pass to Sy Jones gave the Hurricanes a 21-7 lead with 1:51 left in the third quarter.
On Lecanto’s next possession, Tyler Peera knocked down and almost intercepted a pass, forcing a punt at the end of the third quarter.
After a false start against GHS, Gardner broke free for a 45-yard run to the Lecanto 25-yard line. Four plays later, he appeared to score on a 20-yard run, but officials ruled he fumbled out of the end zone for a touchback.
“That’s one of those mysteries they might make a movie about,” Ashour Peera said. “I have no idea. He looked like he was clearly in. We didn’t have a lot of calls going our way, and that’s okay. We prepare for that adversity.”
Both teams turned it over on downs on their next possessions, and with 6:02 to play and Lecanto backed up to its own 4-yard line, GHS appeared to be headed toward its first victory of the season.
However, Hollis took a handoff and raced 96 yards to the house. The kick failed on a bad snap, but the Panthers were down only one score, 21-13, with 5:43 remaining.
That was the first of five combined touchdowns in the final six minutes of the game.
On the next play from scrimmage, Gardner ran 43 yards for another score and a 27-13 lead after a failed 2-point conversion.
“When I took the counter step and cut back, I saw my lineman push him outside; I didn’t see nothing but grass…and I just took it to the crib,” Gardner said.
Gainesville’s Zohnray Rochelle intercepted Lecanto senior quarterback Kayden Koehl a few plays later, but once again the ‘Canes would leave the door open for Lecanto.
Sophomore defensive end Jack Grannan scooped up a fumble at the Lecanto 28-yard line and returned it 72 yards for a touchdown. The 2-point conversion failed, but Lecanto remained within one possession, 27-19, with 51 seconds to play.
However, Gainesville recovered the onside kick and intended to run out the clock.
But on the first play from scrimmage, McClellan picked up a fumble and handed it to Perry, who raced 50 yards for the score. Sebastian Jimenez got his first points since his return home when he kicked an extra point for a 34-19 lead with 28 seconds left.
A deep pass from Koehl was tipped into the hands of freshman Elijah Morgan, who completed the 59-yard score as time expired. With no time remaining, Hollis ran in the 2-point conversion for the game’s final margin.
Gainesville will play host and rival Eastside at 7 p.m. next Friday night at Citizens Field.
“Man, I’m coming here with straight dog mentality,” said Gardner, who rushed for over 1,100 yards as a sophomore at Eastside last year. “I’m not sparing nobody.”
Thursday, Sept. 10
Buchholz 21, West Port (Ocala) 0
Hawthorne 16, Miami Northwestern 12
Friday, Sept. 11
Bell 1, Harvest Community (Jacksonville) 0 (FF)
Bishop Verot (Fort Myers) 59, Williston 0
Bradford (Starke) 49, Trinity Catholic (Ocala) 0
Branford 58, Oak Hall School 26
Chiefland 25, Lafayette (Mayo) 10
Columbia (Lake City) 49, Ribault (Jacksonville) 0
Dixie County (Cross City) 57, Zarephath Academy (Jacksonville) 28
Eastside 13, Belleview 9
Fort White 33, Union County (Lake Butler) 0
Gainesville 34, Lecanto 27
Interlachen 59, Bronson 7
Newberry 49, Halifax Academy (Daytona Beach) 6
Saint Francis Catholic Academy 56, Cornerstone Academy 6
Suwannee (Live Oak) 20, Palatka 6
Trenton 49, Umatilla 20
OFF – Keystone Heights, P.K. Yonge, Santa Fe (Alachua)
