Seahawks Get Only Halfway There Against Centreville

After nearly every game this season, South Lakes High Coach Jason Hescock has reminded his team that the goal is to play its best football game at the end of the season. The Seahawks met him halfway on Saturday.

They played perhaps their best half of football this year in the first half, but Centreville responded with a 28-point third quarter to defeat South Lakes, 31-21, on Senior Day at South Lakes.

The Seahawks lost their fifth straight and now stand 2-7 on the season, 0-4 in the Concorde District going into the season finale next Friday at Westfield. Centreville improved to 4-5 overall but 3-1 in the Concorde District with a Week 10 matchup Friday at unbeaten Madison.

“We were dominating for a half,” Hescock said after the game. “But 28 points in the third quarter … that was the difference. That can't happen."

The start of the game had all the makings of a repeat of last year, when the Seahawks trounced Centreville 45-3. South Lakes drove 72 yards in seven plays on its first possession – six of them, including the 4-yard touchdown – runs by Cody Wood. The Seahawks gave up a first down on Centreville’s next possession, but a penalty stalled the drive for the Wildcats.

South Lakes then marched in again, getting 41 yards on a double-reverse run by Nicholas Picarelli to set up a 1-yard scoring run by Dalton Blakeney, his second touchdown of the season.

Even when the next drive stalled, Nicholas Bertoni got off his best punt of the year – a perfect spiral that hit on the nose and rolled 15 yards for a 49-yard punt.

The Seahawk offense cooled down some after the hot start – Hescock said Centreville changed the look of its defensive front, and it took away some of the running lanes South Lakes had capitalized on.

But the defense was dealing three-and-outs until nearly halftime, when the Wildcats got first-and-goal on the six only to be pushed back five yards and have to settle for a 29-yard field goal by Emiliano Lucero Gonzalez that made it 14-3 South Lakes at the half.

The Seahawk defense had done its part, limiting Centreville to four first downs and 76 total yards in the first half. And the offense had provided a lead. Senior quarterback Mohamed Shuaib hit seven of his first 10 passes on the way to a 13-of-22 day, Wood had 77 yards rushing and Alec Saunders had three of his seven catches on the day.

But things came undone shortly after intermission. Centreville’s Jackson Rakes returned the second half kickoff 48 yards to the South Lakes 33. A defensive pass interference penalty by South Lakes’ depleted secondary moved the ball to the 18, and the Wildcats scored two plays later on a keeper to the right by quarterback Will Shields.

The Seahawks clapped back with a drive of their own, reaching the Centreville 24 before they ran out of downs on an incomplete pass to Matthew McArthur.

Two plays later, Shields hit wide receiver Cardin Stover with a pass, and Stover rambled 32 yards until Sebastian Blanco hauled him down at the South Lakes 35. Stover landed hard on Blanco, and the game stopped for about 20 minutes for an ambulance to take Blanco to the hospital.

There were no head or neck injuries, Hescock wrote in a TeamSnap message to South Lakes parents.

When the action resumed, the Wildcats seemed to find another gear. Six plays later, they took the lead for good with a 2-yard run by James Marion with 4:30 to go in the quarter.The Wildcats were back in the end zone less than three minutes later after they forced a 3-and-out then scored on a 34-yard pass down the middle from Shields to Jahan Denny to make it 24-14 Centreville.

The Wildcat defense also stepped up. It sacked Shuaib four times in the fourth quarter, three on his final drive. “Our pass protection broke down,” Hescock said. “We were moving the ball, but then they began to get to us. We didn’t finish blocks. We didn’t execute.”

Centreville 0 3 28 0 – 31
South Lakes 14 0 0 7 – 21
SL-Cody Wood, 4 run (Nicholas Bertoni kick)
SL-Dalton Blakeney, 1 run (Bertoni kick)
C-Emiliano Lucero Gonzalez, FG 29
C-Will Shields, 3 run (Lucero Gonzalez kick)
C-James Marion, 2 run (Lucero Gonzalez kick)
C-Jahan Denny, 34 pass from Shields (Lucero Gonzalez kick)
C-Denny, 25 pass from Shields (Lucero Gonzalez kick)
SL-Wood, 6 run (Bertoni kick)

C SL
First Downs 12 12
Rushes-Yards 25-67 33-88
Passing Yards 191 152
Passes (A-C-I) 22-15-0 22-13-0
Punts-Avg. 6-31 5-32
Fum-Loss 2-1 2-1
Penalties-Yds 4-30 3-25

Rushing – Centerville: Marion 16-53, Cardin Stover 3-30, Shields 6-minus 16. South Lakes: Wood 19-80, Nicholas Picarelli 3-38, Blakeney 3-8, Alec Saunders 2-4, Mohamed Shuaib 6-minus 42.
Passing – Centreville: Shields 22-15-0, 191 yards, 2 TDs. SL: Shuaib 22-13-0, 152 yards.
Receiving: Centreville: Menyelek Pilgrim 3-22, Denny 5-80, 2 TDs; Stover 4-52, Matthew Walker 1-17, Marion 1-9. South Lakes: Saunders 7-57, Picarelli 3-56, Blakeney 1-2, Sammy Alfred 1-18.