The Wekiva Mustangs received a first-hand lesson about the impact of committing mistakes when facing the Edgewater Eagles on Friday, Aug. 22. Edgewater without fail converted a series of early Wekiva mistakes into points en route to a season-opening 65-8 victory.

Special teams buoyed the assault, directly scoring 16 of the Eagles’ points. The first two offensive possessions ending with touchdowns began at Wekiva’s 21- and 20-yard-line as well and were set up by the special teams play.

“Self-inflicted mistakes, mistakes, mistakes,” Mustangs’ coach Doug Gabriel said. “No matter how much talent and skill a team possesses, a loss is always far more likely than a win when committing more mistakes. Nor is losing more likely than winning when committing a lot of mistakes a secret.”

All five of Wekiva’s attempted punts during the first 7:38 of the contest were from inside the Wekiva five-yard line. The pressure was of equal intensity during the two punts the Eagles did not block, setting up distances of under 25 yards. Edgewater needed only a 10-yard gain during the returns to set up a drive on the edge of the red zone.

Denmark Azavier opened the scoring for the Eagles, blocking, recovering and returning a punt eight yards at the 8:20 mark of the first quarter. At the end of the next possession, the lead grew to 9-0. Another blocked punt traveled through the back of the end zone. The hat trick of blocked punts was completed by JJ Edwards, who caught the ball while standing on the plane of the end zone for the touchdown and a 23-0 lead.

“We committed three mistakes on special teams directly resulting in points and two more allowing the Eagles to take possession in the red zone,” Gabriel said. “The impact of self-inflicted mistakes goes beyond the direct result and surface though. Mistakes provided Edgewater with the situation of far from the maximum effort to score.”

Gabriel said the special teams struggles put the defense in an impossible position.

“When possessions start at an opponent’s 20-yard line, the defense is already playing on its heels,” he said. “The larger the margin at the beginning of a contest, the higher the odds of winning and losing. The team falling behind has more work to do and with more pressure. The Eagles were in the position of the odds for a victory steadily rising from the beginning because of the mistakes committed.”

All but the last Edgewater possession began at no worse than Edgewater’s 45-yard line, repeating a theme of lopsided field position that played out in Wekiva’s Kickoff Classic loss to Olympia.

Jaden Saint George scored the Mustangs’ first points of the season on a four-yard rush with 9:51 remaining. Saint George led the rushing attack for Wekiva with 40 yards on 10 carries.

Edgewater finished with 246 total yards and 15 first downs, while Wekiva gained 180 yards and six first downs.

“We moved the ball and gained some first downs during the second half,” Gabriel said. “The difference was the experience of playing a half for the first time. We began to understand how to manage what playing in regular season game feels like and entails. Even if only one half, gaining some first downs and scoring the touchdown are certainly something to build on moving forward.”

Wekiva’s Matthew Beachum also made a big play, picking off a Carter Emanuel pass in the end zone to end the Eagles’ first possession of the contest.

“This is a strong opportunity for learning the most basic and direct of lessons and a part of progression,” Gabriel said. “The inexperience and youth showed tonight. More than 75% of this roster had never played in a regular season game. There is no way to prepare a team for what playing in a regular season feels like and entails. The only way to learn how to manage what playing in a regular season game feels likes and entails is to actually go through the experience.”

Wekiva will play its first home game of the regular season next week against the West Orange Warriors. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. Friday, Aug. 29.