After five straight road games to start their season and a game against Buchholz at Citizens Field last week, the Gainesville Hurricanes finally got a real home game against Leesburg on Thursday night.
Mistakes on offense and special teams ruined the Hurricanes’ homecoming as they went down in a 17-7 defeat.
The loss in a district game dropped Gainesville to 2-5 and 0-2 in 4A-5 and eliminated them from district title contention.
Gainesville committed two turnovers and numerous penalties, including poor center snaps, that negated some big plays on a rainy and windy night at Citizens Field.
“I don’t know what our numbers were on fourth down, but they (Leesburg) made more plays than us tonight,” Gainesville coach Ian Scott said. “That happens in games sometimes, and unfortunately, we came out on the short end of the stick tonight.”
The Hurricanes went three-and-out on their opening drive, and Leesburg (4-3, 1-1) took over on its own 42-yard line. After a Gainesville penalty gave the Yellow Jackets a first down, senior quarterback Jacob Kinsy found junior wide receiver Dominique Beatty open down the right sideline for a 45-yard scoring pass and a 7-0 Leesburg lead.
Gainesville again punted on its next possession and Leesburg drove back into Hurricanes territory before kicker William Henderson had a 55-yard field goal blocked.
Gainesville moved inside the Leesburg 10-yard line, but on first-and-goal, senior quarterback Jaishawn Sanford was called for grounding at the 45-yard line. Sanford was picked off on the next play and Leesburg returned it to the GHS 7-yard line.
But Gainesville’s defense stiffened once again, and Henderson missed a 27-yard field goal attempt wide right to keep the score at 7-0.
Leesburg finally got back in the end zone late in the second quarter, as Kinsy hit freshman receiver Tramell Richardson with a 10-yard scoring pass to extend the Yellow Jackets’ lead to 14-0 at the break.
“Our guys gave up a couple of big passes in the first half that led to them moving the football and they were able to score off that,” Scott said.
Gainesville’s defense was much better in the second half, allowing only a 47-yard field goal to Henderson in the third quarter following a fumble by GHS senior running back Dwight Jenkins.
Leesburg led 17-0 heading into the fourth quarter, but Gainesville finally got on the board with a 7-yard scoring pass from Sanford to junior wide receiver Jyquan Wooden-James. And after getting a three-and-out defensively, the Hurricanes blocked a Henderson punt and recovered it at the Leesburg 13. But GHS went backward and senior kicker Moris Guardado missed a 35-yard field goal.
Following another three-and-out, Hurricanes senior Aric Welch returned a punt to the Leesburg 20-yard line with five minutes left. But Gainesville turned the ball over on downs and that was it.
“Our defense fought all the way to the end and made a lot of good plays,” Scott said. “They got a lot of stops and blocked a punt, and they fought and fought and fought, but unfortunately, we didn’t come out on the winning end tonight.”
Gainesville will be back home next Thursday at Citizens Field against Williston.
