BOCA RATON, FLA. – On a windy night in the west side of Boca Raton, the atmosphere in the air was filled with excitement as it was officially opening weekend for the FHSAA Football Playoffs.
The visiting team from Lutz, the Steinbrenner School, quickly changed the mood and confused the crowd on the opening kickoff, as they won a decisive onside kick to start the game.
The momentum for Steinbrenner didn’t last long as they went three and out giving the ball back to West Boca.
The Bulls would get on the board first thanks to a QB keep from Mason Mallory. Giving West Boca a quick 7-0 lead.
West Boca would immediately get back on the board with another score as Trey Moran would find Billy Clancy III in the back of the endzone to give the Bulls a 14-0 lead.
Moving into the second quarter, the Steinbrenner offense continued to be dead silent, despite having success with moving the ball, no possession could ever result in points for them.
West Boca on the other hand would find themselves at the helm of another successful drive as Mason Mallory would get his second rushing touchdown of the day, capping off an impressive performance from the QB on the night.
Steinbrenner’s offense would finally wake up and get some points on the board as Memphys Garcia would connect with Jaydon Page on the screen pass to give the Warriors some leverage going into halftime and cutting the West Boca lead.
Although the momentum wouldn’t last long for Steinbrenner, the Warriors would recover yet another onside kick and give themselves time to score another touchdown. However, they ran into a slight problem, that problem was Xavier Reed. On a crucial spot in the drive a hot handed Steinbrenner offense was stopped by Reed and the West Boca defensive line to prevent a first down and would end up leaving the ball back with West Boca’s offense.
With the turnover on downs, West Boca would manage all the time they had left on the clock. With four seconds left in the half, Mallory let one fly to Mark Hanniford who came down with it in the endzone to give the Bulls a 28-7 lead going into halftime.
The offensive onslaught for West Boca wouldn’t stop there. Midway through the third quarter, Jayden Lockhart added to his impressive performance by rushing in for his first touchdown of the night.
At the end of the third quarter, West Boca would start the running clock on Steinbrenner as Mason Mallory would find Jaydin Broadnax to officially signal that this game was coming to an end.
With a fourth quarter that flew by and a game out of reach, West Boca High got to see the future of the program at work as the underclassmen got to taste what it’s like playing in a state playoff football game.
With the clock at zero, the PA announced that West Boca would be moving on to the next round of the State Playoffs, who we now know will be the Mitchell School from New Port Richey, in a clash of the undefeated squads next weekend at West Boca.
