By Brittany Llorente
Bllorente@hometownnewsol.com
VERO BEACH — The Saint Edward’s Pirates varsity football team shut out the Calvary Christian Academy Lions at the Pirates home field last Friday, 47-0.
The Pirates came out strong in the first few minutes of the game, quickly putting the first points on the board with a six-play drive scored by Brock Miller.
The Lions had trouble on the field from the start. Executing passing plays was difficult for quarterback Deyon Tucker, who had troubles connecting with his receivers.
The Lion’s running game, gained them the most yards and the most first downs to keep plays alive.
Tucker was responsible for most of the rushing plays, followed by Derek Zak and Antonio King, who were the offensive work-horses with Cody Pryde.
“It feels great being able to do everything for my team,” said Tucker. “I just wish I could have done more to get us a win.”
The Pirate’s defense was a wall against the Lion’s offense. They kept on the receivers and applied pressure to Tucker, who still performed well.
“Deyon is such a hard worker and never quits, I take my hat off to him tonight,” said Lion’s Coach William Glenn. “But tonight we did terrible. We had bad executions and … they wanted it more than we did. We need to regroup and get back to the basics.”
In smaller divisions, players often play both sides, defensively and offensively and usually play through the entire game.
“You have to be mentally tough to be in a league like this. It is tough,” said Coach Glenn.
Pirates’ Daryl Norwood, who had an elbow injury in early September, was a star running back last year and played his first full game against the Lions for the first time since his injury.
Norwood made his presence known by making the next touchdown, bringing the team to a 13-0 lead.
Anderson Proctor made six of his seven extra-point attempts for the night, including two instances where he scored his own touchdown and then kicked for the extra point.
Miller and Norwood scored another touchdown each in the first half to lead into the half 33-0.
Pirate’s quarterback Carson Proctor had a successful night, twice connecting with his older brother, Anderson, on the field for points and multiple times for yardage.
“Well, we had a lot of fun out there tonight,” said Carson. “I have to give props to my offensive line. They blocked really well and I was able to execute better.”
At the beginning of the second half, the mercy rule was invoked, by using a running clock that does not stop to speed up the game. This happens when teams are ahead by 30 points or more, according to the rules of the Florida High School Athletic Association. With another touchdown by Anderson and Norwood, the game finished with a Pirate celebration, their first win of the season.
“Feels much better to win,” said Pirates’ Coach Bill Motta. “We blocked well, played well and executed well. Tonight we were very balanced in our attack. We controlled the ball well instead of just big plays and big plays. Scoring as high as we did and winning builds everyone’s confidence.”
The district win was important to the players and the staff.
“We really wanted to come out tonight and show everyone that this is real football we’re playing over here and this was a big district win for us,” said Anderson Proctor.
The Pirates will play the South Florida HEAT at home at 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 5.