WESLEY CHAPEL — Friday night’s postponement of the rivalry battle between Wiregrass Ranch and Wesley Chapel took away a lot of fire and emotion, turning the War on 54 into mostly a Saturday morning snore.
But after a sluggish first half, Wiregrass Ranch Junior quarterback Ryan Browning was a perfect 5-for-5 in closing touchdowns, allowing the Bulls to pull away for a 52-7 victory, their first of the season as well as a key win to start district play.
Proving it’s hard for players to be asked to hit their peak twice within about 16 hours, playing in front of about half of the crowd and none of the spirit from the stands and to do so in hot and humid conditions, the two squads struggled through a lackluster first half. The two teams combined for eight fumbles and five turnovers, resulting in a shaky halftime lead for the Bulls.
Wiregrass Ranch outscored Wesley Chapel 35-0 in the second half.
“I wanted to play (Friday) night but I got trumped,” said Wiregrass head coach Mark Kantor, echoing the sentiment of most of his staff and squad. “We had them get in by 7:30 a.m. so we could wake them up for the game, but they didn’t wake up until the second half.”
Browning agreed.
“We were just kind of out of it early,” he said. “What was important was that we responded. We came out at halftime, we executed, we found what we were messing up, fixed the mental mistakes, and secured the victory that we should have secured in the first half.”
Wiregrass Ranch safety C.J. Stroud had a 45-yard pick-six in the first half, and senior wide receiver Jonah Gonzalez blew past a Wildcat defender and caught a long Browning pass in stride for a 59-yard touchdown to make it 17-0 late in the first half.
The Wildcats (now 1-3), mainly quarterback Levi Pavlikovic, showed some life to close out the half. Aided by a Bulls penalty to start near midfield, the junior signal-caller (responsible for 145 of his team’s 166 offensive yards on the day) hit his first two passes before covering the final 30 yards himself on three plays.
Finding the end zone on a physical 5-yard run with 28.5 seconds left before halftime cut the gap and opened the door for Wesley Chapel to recover.
But Wiregrass Ranch (1-2) closed that door in the final two quarters.
“The players realized, hey, this is a football game and we had to play,” Kantor said. “And that’s what we did.”
On the opening possession, Browning found junior hit Jarvis Warren with a back-shoulder fade on the left sideline. Warren saw the defender slide out of bounds, so he cut back into the clear and sprinted to complete a 54-yard score.
Junior linebacker Michael Harris stripped a Wildcat ball carrier near midfield on the ensuing possession. Looking to add to a two-sack, one tackle-for-loss resume, senior defensive end Chase Cobb scooped up the loose ball and sprinted 45 yards to the house for a 31-7 lead just two minutes and 30 seconds into the second half.
“Oh, yeah, Chase is a certified dawg,” a smiling Kantor said. “I’m real happy with our defense, we played a great game.”
After another defensive stop led by Cobb and Raheem Fashola, Browning went deep to Gonzalez again, this time covering 54 yards. And after an interception by sophomore Jermarion Williams set up the Bulls at the Wildcats’ 37, a trio of strong carries by junior Isaiah Orr (85 yards on 11 carries) ended with a muscle-bound 15-yard sweep to the end zone.
Rodney Jones forced Wesley Chapel’s fifth and final turnover, a fumble recovered by teammate sophomore Gaddiel Torres. Browning quickly wrapped up his day’s work with a long toss to fellow Gaither transfer Kamoni Dotson, who leapt to snag the ball before sprinting home to complete the 83-yard scoring play.
“We haven’t had a full week of practice in weeks, so we just needed reps,” Kantor said of playing his starters most of the game. “We had two full days this week and one practice before playing Berkeley Prep. We just haven’t had great rhythm without being able to be together. You’ve got to get touches to people so we’re still a work in progress.”
On Wiregrass Ranch’s last seven possessions, Browning was 6-of-7 passing for 246 yards and four touchdowns. In all, the junior was 14-of-18 for 314 yards.
“I think Ryan’s getting that kind of rapport with Jonah (four catches, 149 yards, 2 TDs), he has a rapport with Kamoni (four for 116, TD), and he’s starting to develop it with Jarvis (six catches for 49 yards), and he’ll get it with Jermarion,” Kantor said. “The more reps we get, the better off we’ll be.”