The Lake Nona Lions ran onto the Harmony Longhorn football field Thursday night having played 2 other district football teams within a week, but they showed no sign of fatigue as they scored two quick touchdowns in the first quarter, forcing the Longhorns to play catch up the entire rest of the game.
Harmony’s defense began slowing down Lake Nona’s quarterback Michael Kern in the 2nd quarter, although he still threw for 329 yards and 5 touchdowns. The Longhorns cut into the lead in the 2nd quarter with a touchdown of their own until Lake Nona scored within the final seconds of the first half with a 40 yard pass to Anthony Manning ending the half with a 21-7 lead over Harmony.
Harmony’s Longhorn Marching entertained the local crowd with high fashion as they featured 3 songs from this year’s field show. This year’s marching band show wowed the crowd with impressive marching skills, excellent musical showmanship and amazing synchronicity and flash from its color guard.
Harmony could be called a strong 2nd half team in the 2017-2018 and on Thursday night it was definitely the case. Nate Hersitch hit Lane Hickey in the third quarter with a 18-yard touchdown pass that narrowed the gap to 21-14 Lions, but the Longhorns would score again as Nate Hersitch found Lane Hickey on a 6-yard touchdown pass.
With the score being tied at 21-21 and the Longhorn crowd on its feet, Lions QB Kerns completed a 13-yard TD pass to Anthony Queeley for six points, but the point after attempt failed leaving the door open once again for the Longhorn with under 8 minutes left in the game. The Longhorns offense couldn’t seem to make it happen on the next series and turned the ball over on downs. Lake Nona’s Michael Kern sealed the deal with a 15 -yard scoring pass to Queely with under a minute left on the clock which ended the night. The Lions improved to 5-1, 4-0 in Class 7A, District 5, in front of East River (3-0).
Longhorn Quarterback Nate Hersitch also had a big night despite the loss. Hersitch passed for 297 yards and three touchdowns, all of which went to Lane Hickey, who finished with 111 yards.
Lake Nona hosts East River next Friday and Harmony will travel to Celebration. Celebration and Harmony will feature both of their marching bands next Friday, making the $5.00 admission an even better value. Hope to see you at the game which starts at 7pm!