Prep Football 2016: Lely scores late to beat Cypress Lake; Trojans can win district Friday
The Lely High School football team made the most of its opportunities Friday night and moved even closer to a district championship. Barely.
Lely coach Maurice Belser felt it was far from a championship-caliber win.
The Trojans recovered four Cypress Lake fumbles and got a last-minute touchdown to register a 24-18 win over the Panthers at Cypress Lake High. The win kept the Trojans unbeaten in District 5A-12 play (5-3, 3-0).
Yet Belser was disappointed by his team’s play.
“We did not deserve to win that game,” Belser said. “We didn’t play well enough. Because we have some athletic ability, we were able to pull it out. I am disappointed that, although we’ve cleaned some things up, we haven’t been able to do it as quickly as I wanted.”
Lely quarterback Jacquez Carter tossed a 21-yard touchdown pass to Jean Joseph with only 21 seconds left for the game-winner.
The Panthers rallied from 11 points down in the final quarter to take an 18-17 lead in the final three minutes.
Once again,Carter had a solid all-around showing, throwing for 154 yards and rushing for 72 more.
“I’m glad we got the opportunity to move forward and hopefully improve,” Belser said. “I guess a win is good no matter how you get it. But I didn’t want to get it this way. It’s up to us what happens from now on, and hopefully we can come out and play a good game against Immokalee.”
The Trojans will play Immokalee next Friday night at Lely and can win the district title by defeating the Indians.
The Panthers, at the opposite end of the spectrum, are winless in 5A-12 play (3-5, 0-3).
“This is a heart-breaker, that’s for sure,” Cypress Lake coach Richie Rode SAID. “Except for the turnovers, I couldn’t be happier about how we played. It’s a shame to have to lose this one, because our defense played a pretty good game against a great offense.”
Cypress Lake scored easily on its first drive of the game, moving 63 yards in only four plays to take a 6-0 lead. Quarterback Kelsey Demps scored on a 6-yard bootleg to put the Panthers ahead only 1:43 into the game.
But the Trojans responded with a TD only 34 seconds later. Taejon Wright hauled in Carter’s deep pass over the middle, shed two tacklers, and romped the rest of the way for a 58-yard score to give Lely a 7-6 advantage.
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Late in the first quarter, the Trojans took advantage of a Panther turnover to score again. Lely made a recovery near midfield and that led to Noah Reich's 31-yard field goal to give the Trojans a 10-6 lead early in the second.
Lely forced two more Panthers fumbles, including one from inside their own 10-yard line when Cypress Lake was driving and looking to take the lead.
It was a 10-6 Lely lead at halftime.
Lely recovered another Cypress Lake fumble early in the third and proceeded to score again. A big chunk of yardage on the drive came on a Cypress Lake pass interference penalty and, when Andy Duprat scored on a 1-yard run, the Trojans were ahead 17-6.
A touchdown run by Chris Joseph, and Keyon Brawner’s scoring pass to Roosevelt Bryant in the fourth put the Panthers ahead by one with 2 ½ minutes left to play.
LELY 24, CYPRESS LAKE 18
L 7 3 7 7 -- 24
CL 6 0 0 12 -- 18
First quarter
CL - Kelsey Demps 6 run (kick failed), 10:17
L - Taejon Wright 58 pass from Jacquez Carter (Noah Reich kick), 9:43
Second quarter
L - Noah Reich 31 FG, 11:52
Third quarter
L - Andy Duprat 1 run (Noah Reich kick), 9:23
Fourth quarter
CL - Chris Joseph 50 run (run failed), 5:31
CL - Roosevelt Bryant 32 pass from Keyon Brawner (run failed), 2:56
L - Jean Joseph 21 pass from Jacquez Carter (Noah Reich kick), :21