Apopka High School
Nov 30, 2007
Blue Darters 43, Spruce Creek 0

By John Peery
Apopka Chief Staff

It was complete domination from start to finish as the Apopka Blue Darters trounced the Port Orange Spruce Creek Hawks, 43-0, Friday, November 30, in the Class 6A, Region 1 final at Roger Williams Field.

The Blue Darters outran, outpassed, and outplayed the Hawks, who had made it to the regional final by pulling off a pair of road upsets in the first two weeks of the playoffs.

There would not be any such upset, or anything close to it, in the third round. “We jumped on them pretty quickly. It was a good night for us,” said Apopka head coach Rick Darlington.

The numbers speak for themselves in proving Apopka’s domination in this game. The Blue Darters rushed for 310 yards; Spruce Creek had a minus-17 net yards rushing. Apopka even outpassed the Hawks, 111 yards to 91.

In addition, the winners picked off four Spruce Creek passes while having no interceptions. More numbers to sooth the Apopka fan’s mind: the Darters ran 59 plays; Spruce Creek had just 27. And, one of the more impressive statistics from the romp; Apopka had the ball for 36 minutes, 11 seconds, while Spruce Creek kept it just 11:49.

Apopka spread around the rushing totals with Jeremy Rouse leading Apopka with 116 yards and 1 touchdown on just eight carries. Quarterback Jeremy Gallon had 73 yards and a touchdown on 12 attempts.

“It’s just amazing to have a good team like this to come out here and compete against a good team; just to come out and do a good job, because we practiced hard for this and I think we really deserved it. I think we deserve to be on top,” Gallon said.

Perhaps the only play of the game where Apopka didn’t perform well was on the first when a direct snap to running back Rouse went awry and the Darters found themselves with a second-and-26 from their own 7. Not to worry. Jeremy Gallon gained 21 yards on the next play, then a five-yard facemask penalty was added to give the Darters a first down at their own 33. Then, on the next play, Rouse ran over a Spruce Creek linebacker and outraced the rest of the Hawks for a 67-yard touchdown run just 1:19 into the game. Gallon added the 2-point conversion after a Spruce Creek penalty and the Darters had a quick 8-0 lead.

The Apopka defense then set its tone, forcing a three-and-out. For the game, Apopka allowed Spruce Creek just six first downs and two of those came on penalties. The Hawks didn’t get their initial first down until less than two minutes remained in the second period.

The second Apopka score took a little more time than the first as the Darters drove 72 yards in nine plays with Gallon running in from the 1. Jon Beary’s extra point with 4:44 in the first gave the Darters a 15-0 lead.

Apopka’s third possession produced the only Blue Darter turnover of the game, but the Apopka defense got the ball back two plays later when linebacker Pooh Bear Mars picked off a Spruce Creek pass.

Eight plays later, Caleb Nelson scored on a 16-yard reverse. Mars ran in the 2-point conversion and the Blue Darters had a 23-0 lead with 9:34 left in the second period.

The fourth touchdown of the game for Apopka came two possessions later when Travelle Davis scored from six yards out on a run around right end. Beary’s extra point pushed Apopka’s lead to 30-0 with 2:30 left in the second quarter.

Any chance of a Spruce Creek comeback was snuffed on the second-half kickoff as the Darters recovered a Spruce Creek fumble on the 27-yard line and scored six plays later when blocking back Tom Smith punched it in from the 1.

The crucial play of that drive was a fourth-and-11 pass completion for 16 yards from Gallon to Nelson. Beary’s extra point gave the Darters a 37-0 lead with just 2:47 gone in the third period.

With a running clock in the fourth period, the final score of the game came when many players from Apopka’s junior varsity team were in the game. Rusty Ketcham bulled in from the 1 with 6:56 left in the fourth period for the final touchdown of the contest.