Friday’s Kickoff Classic presented a case of sibling rivalry as Wekiva head coach Doug Gabriel faced off against his brother, Olympia head coach Travis Gabriel.

In some key ways, it was not a fair fight.

Travis Gabriel is entering his eighth season, and his Titans used their superior experience and depth to pull away from Wekiva with a big second half in a 38-0 victory.

Doug Gabriel, entering his second season at Wekiva, said the game was a good learning opportunity for his younger team, which played Olympia tough for two quarters and trailed 9-0 at halftime.

“The first half, everything was cool,” Gabriel said after the game. “They must have went in there (at the half) and played on their cellphones or something—I don’t know…We’ve just got to do better. The game wasn’t over.”

Gabriel said Wekiva played its main guys in the first half but was still missing a few key players due to injury and a suspension.

“But, again, it’s next man up,” Gabriel said. “Especially with the schedule we got, you’ve got to come to play.”

Gabriel pointed to senior defensive linemen Lukenson Morancy and Josiah Greer as players who both performed well.

“They did great on the D-line,” he said.

On Olympia’s first drive of the game, Greer sacked Titan quarterback Noble Davis and broke up another play with a hard hit as Noble released a pass. Those big plays helped the Mustangs put together an impressive stop after Olympia started its first drive at the Wekiva 20 following a fumble.

“Our defensive line did pretty good,” Gabriel said. “[Olympia] couldn’t run as much.”

Olympia’s second drive, which also started in Wekiva territory, ended when senior Matthew Beacham picked off Noble’s third-down pass in the end zone.

Wekiva’s offensive struggles put the team’s defense in difficult positions throughout the night. Six out of Olympia’s eight drives started in Wekiva’s side of the field—two after botched punts.

Wekiva’s quarterbacks, Justin Sessler and Charles Chukes, each threw interceptions that were returned for touchdowns.

“They’re both young,” Gabriel said. “I think they need to understand that you’ve got to overcome stuff and go on to the next play. This is football. We can’t be stuck on one play.”

Following Becham’s interception, Sessler engineered the best drive of the game for Wekiva’s offense. The Mustangs moved from their own 20 to the Olympia 31 yard-line with the help of two Titan penalties and a pair of 12-yard runs by Sessler. But three Wekiva illegal procedure penalties in a span of two plays backed up the offense and killed the drive.  

Penalties were a problem for Wekiva throughout the night, as the team committed 17 infractions, compared to nine for Olympia.

Sessler led the Wekiva offense while splitting time with Chukes, rushing seven times for 24 yards and completing four of five passes for 15 yards.

Davis led the Olympia offense with 132 yards on 12-of-19 passing.

On Friday, Aug. 22, Wekiva will open regular season play at Edgewater, which defeated Bishop Moore, 36-27, in its Kickoff Classic on Friday. Edgewater is ranked No. 21 in the state, according to MaxPreps, and is coming off a 10-2 season.