By: J. Daniel Pearson
Positively Osceola
Eli Manning ran for 93 yards and two touchdowns and the St. Cloud defense limited Tohopekaliga to 17 total yards in the first half in a 38-7 win on Friday night. The game was delayed for more than 90 minutes by a 4th quarter lightning storm.
With the win, St. Cloud moves to 5-3 on the season and 2-1 in district play; the Tigers fall to 4-4 and 1-2 in district action. “Solid all around effort tonight,” Head Coach Mike Short said. “Our offense finished drives in the first quarter and our defense was lights out all night.”
St. Cloud’s offense, which struggled in a 24-13 loss to Windermere last week, started sharp – taking the opening kickoff and driving 51-yards in seven plays to take the lead on Manning’s 5-yard run. The Bulldogs had to overcome two holding penalties on the drive, with quarterback Jeremiah Lattier’s 21-yard completion on a fourth and 16 to TE Owen Sullivan being the key play.
“Owen is such a big target and he has great hands,” Lattier said after the game. “There’s a definite comfort level knowing you can throw one up and he’ll come down with the ball.”
After a quick three-and-out by the Dogs defense, Mathew Blenman extended the lead to 14-0, scoring on a jet sweep from 15 yards out. Manning set up the touchdown with a 24-yard run that was followed by a facemask.
Right before the end of the first quarter, Lattier hit Zeus Howard over the middle and the speedster raced past several defenders for a 45-yard score and a 21-0 lead.
Neither team would score in the second quarter, before the Tohopekaliga offense finally showed some life in the third. Taking the kickoff, the Tigers marched 85 yards on 13 plays –cutting the gap to 14 on a nine-yard scoring pass from Gabe Valez to AJ Wise.
But any momentum was short lived as St. Cloud drove the ensuing kickoff 51-yard on eight plays with Manning carrying it over from the 1. Tohopekaliga pushed the ball to midfield before lightning forced a halt in action.
When play finally resumed, St. Cloud would tack on two more scoring drives, with Leo Morales contributing a 1-yard touchdown run and Adriel Gomez booting a 20-yard field goal.
Although he was happy with all aspects of his team’s play. Short said the performance of his running backs was particularly satisfying. Playing a fourth straight game without starter Michael Cuyler, the Bulldogs still managed 200 yards and four touchdowns on the ground. “We should get Michael back for next week and that will be a big plus,” Short noted. “But we felt going in to the season we had three really good backs and they continue to do the job for us.”
