Lely Defense Shines but Panthers Prevail

Something had to give Friday night, October 9, at Trojan Stadium when winless Lely hosted winless Cypress Lake. And for much of the game, it looked like neither team wanted their first win, with the teams fumbling the ball back and forth and penalties snuffing out momentum for both teams. And the strange game had a strange ending, with Lely being called for holding in the end zone, resulting in a game-deciding safety. Then a pick-six in the waning moments sealed the Trojans’ fate in a most unusual 20-12 loss.

The loss overshadows an outstanding performance by the Lely defense, who held the Panthers’ offense to a touchdown and two field goals.

“The defense was awesome,” said Kit Fowler, co-interim head coach, who is in charge of the offense. “Just a really great job by our defense. They made stop after stop after stop. We had a bunch of standout defensive performances. It’s unfortunate; fumbles happen. They fumbled the ball and then we go right back and fumble it back to them. And it was just back and forth with penalties.”

“I’m proud of our kids for fighting to the end, though,” said Carlos Cornelio, co-interim head coach who oversees the defense. “Even with adversity, we got through it to the end.”

The game was tied 12-12 when Lely was charged with a safety with 1:20 left in the game. Down 14-12, Lely punted the ball back to Cypress Lake and promptly held them to a three-and-out to give themselves one last chance. Alas, Cypress Lake added a final odd twist to the game when they returned an interception for a touchdown, adding insult to injury for the beleaguered Trojans.

The game was called by the referees with nine seconds left on the game clock following the pick six. Coaches, school officials, and police officers took the field to calm things down. There was no handshake line following the game as the Trojans marched two abreast to the locker room.

 «Just mouthing off,” Fowler said of the incident. “Our guys obviously are emotional. They put their heart and soul into it. Our defense was unbelievable tonight. I can›t tell you how many turnovers we got. The offense just didn›t uphold their end of the bargain. That›s all it is chalked up to really. And the emotions just got the best of the boys. That›s all it was.”

Cornelio is proud of the team’s deportment overall, considering what they’ve been through with the firing of two head coaches since December.

“I think we’ve done a better job of staying levelheaded,” Cornelio said. “But at the end of the day, we’ve got to remember that they’re kids and they’ve been through a very rough six or seven months. And emotions run high. I think all that boils up and then you see it. Life lessons. I’ve been around football long enough to know that if we take our bumps and bruises now, give us a year or two and we’ll see what we can do.”

Lely’s offensive highlights came on a beautiful 15-yard touchdown pass from Cannon Boyd to Mike Liberal with 1:31 left in the first half. It was the first score of the game. Cypress Lake fought back with two field goals to tie the game at halftime.

The Trojans’ other score came when they turned a fumble recovery at the 16 into a two yard Billy Bornelus touchdown run with 2:35 left in the third quarter.

“Billy had a good game,” Fowler said. “He started playing within himself and hitting holes hard.”

Fowler said his offensive line is showing improvement.

“We’ve really made some great changes on the o-line,” Fowler said. “The o-line for the majority of the game played really well. It was really just in the fourth quarter they started to have breakdowns. Other than that, it was a great job by them.”

The loss was hard to take since the Trojans felt they had an opportunity to get their first win.

“We had a lot of things that did not go our way,” Fowler said. “They could have given up but they stayed with it. Unfortunately, it just ended that way, it’s kind of unfortunate. If we just had something on offense. Every single time we had a fumble or a dropped pass. I feel like we had more dropped passes than carries tonight by our running back. And the pass plays were open. We’re hitting the guys right in the hands. It’s not even like we’re missing them. We’re hitting them right in the hands, and we’re dropping the ball all night long.”

The Trojans (0-7) host Monsignor Pace (6-2) from the east coast on Friday, October 16, at 7:30 PM.