Photo by Dana O'Connor
Key Points
The Apopka Blue Darters flew past the Horizon Hawks with a dominant 28-7 victory on Friday night for their second straight win. They sit at 2-3 with momentum on their side.
Though Apopka controlled the game from start to finish, head coach Marcus Neeson knows his team can play even better.
“It’s always nice to win, but the fashion that we won isn’t to the standard yet,” Neeson said. “I’m starting to see change in the guys. We’re starting to become more selfless.”
After a scoreless first quarter, the Blue Darters hit Horizon with back-to-back touchdowns. Freshman quarterback Kai Goodling capped off a 14-play, 53-yard march up the field, scoring on a 1-yard run to put the Blue Darters up 7-0.
On Horizon’s first play of the ensuing drive, senior linebacker Le’melle Griffin recovered a Horizon fumble, giving Apopka the ball from the Hawks’ 34-yard line. This would be the first of three turnovers the Blue Darters forced.
Goodling and the offense wasted no time capitalizing on the Horizon mistake. On their first play of the drive, he slung a dart to senior wide receiver Aiden Bolden on a dig across the middle. After cutting up the sideline, he slipped past and out of the grasp of the last defender for a 33-yard touchdown to put his team ahead by two touchdowns midway through the second quarter.
The Bolden touchdown was a special moment for a team that is learning to be selfless.
“Before, everyone was worried about their stats and catches and all the me me me. Now it’s hey, we need to get Aiden Bolden a catch. We need to get him out of the zero bracket,” Neeson said. “When he scored, everybody was celebrating. They’re like, ‘Hey, coach, we finally got him one!’ So that’s what it’s all about. These guys are caring about each other, not just themself. We’re turning in the right direction.”
The third quarter started and showed more of the same. Apopka’s defense dominated Horizon and was able to extend its lead late in the quarter.
After a shanked, 10-yard punt that bounced and landed at Horizon’s own 20-yard line, the Darters were licking their chops with great field position. On the first play, sophomore wide receiver Jaylen Laster took the snap in wildcat formation. He faked a reverse handoff and busted up the left side to the 4-yard line. Junior running back Jakyvion Kemp scored on a 4-yard touchdown run, extending Apopka’s lead to 21-0.
Goodling continued his domination with his second passing touchdown of the game. After the Blue Darters secured their second turnover of the game with an interception from Ezra Dady, Goodling looked left and launched a ball into the end zone for Laster in stride on a 24-yard touchdown connection to extend the lead to 28-0 on the very last play of the third quarter.
On the third play of Horizon’s next drive, the Darters’ defense had their hands in Horizon’s cookie jar once again. Apopka junior defensive back David Wimberly forced the third and final turnover for his dominant defensive unit, intercepting a pass and preventing the Hawks from gaining any momentum.
The Hawks added a late touchdown on a 10-yard pass to avoid the shutout in their final drive. Apopka finished the game in victory formation, kneeling out to win the game and celebrate with their home crowd.
Goodling had his best game of the season. Based on his passing metrics, he had a perfect quarterback rating of 158.3. He completed 9 out of 11 passes for 144 yards and two touchdowns, along with a rushing touchdown. Laster found the end zone on two catches for 43 yards, Bolden had two for 39 yards and a touchdown, while junior wide receiver Nyzier Collington had six receptions for 60 yards.
Kemp continued his strong presence in the run game with 22 carries for 114 rush yards and a touchdown. He even had a chance for a second touchdown, but after he failed to rush one in from short yardage, he gave his teammate achance to find pay dirt.
“Kemp got us down into the red zone and a timeout was called,” Neeson said. “They came to the sideline and I was like, ‘All right, Kemp, you got one more shot.’ He said ‘Coach, I already had my shot. Give it to somebody else.’”
Coach Neeson had high praise for what Kemp has been able to do this season along with the strength of their defense.
“Kemp has been our bread and butter, our workhorse on offense. Defensively, they’ve been a solid unit, I can’t pick a single guy out,” Neeson said.
Apopka will look to win its third straight game at 7 p.m. Friday night when it travels to Sanford to take on the (5-0) Seminole Seminoles, who are a top 30 team in Florida and ranked #5 in the Orlando region according to MaxPreps.
