November 1 was a big night in the Southernmost City. The Conchs celebrated senior night, homecoming, and then a victory over rival Coral Shores in a 28-7 win which put Key West in solid contention for a playoff bid.
The Conchs started their scoring onslaught early in the game, taking a 7-0 lead in the first quarter. The first touchdown came from a short run by Jaden Fox, who was seemingly unstoppable despite playing under the weather. Coral Shores managed to drive the ball against a bend-but-don’t-break Key West defense, but stalled short of the end zone.
Five seconds into quarter two, Fox did it again, putting the Conchs up 14-0. With just under a minute left in the second, Coral Shores had great field position after holding Key West on defense, but a fumble was picked up by the Conchs, who immediately began a 70-yard march down the field. Roman VanLoon, who has been carrying the quarterback duties for an injured Teak Guyet, connected with Jayden Gist to give Key West a 21-0 advantage heading into the locker room for the half.
Coral Shores is not the sort of team to give up the fight, though, and the third quarter belonged to them. The ’Canes started the second half with their typical grit and fire and quickly went to work, driving down the field. Yemcel Moreno was good for a 14-yard pass caught by AJ Putetti, narrowing the gap to 21-7.
The ’Canes held Key West the entire third quarter and continued to move the ball, but Key West’s defense refused to give up the big plays, which inevitably won them the game. A final score on an 8-yard run from Shane Lavalle put the game out of reach for the Hurricanes, who will end their season 8-2 with a shared Florida Independent Football Conference title.
By securing the win, Key West gave themselves the best possible advantage in the FHSAA playoff brackets. The 7-3 Conchs must now wait it out while other teams in their region play this week to see where their chips fall. Depending on the wins and losses of the rest of the region, Key West could get a bid to the playoffs the following week.
Marathon all but lost its hopes of a playoff spot in the FHSAA 1A Rural brackets in a trip to Pine Crest on Nov. 1 to take on the Panthers in Fort Lauderdale. An uncharacteristically low-scoring game went more than three quarters before either team saw any points on the board.
Marathon’s typically relentless offense could not capitalize in multiple visits to the red zone, and three missed field goals kept them off the board for most of the game. The Fins’ defense kept their hopes alive, however, preventing the Panthers from hitting paydirt until quarter four when Pine Crest kicked a field goal, making it 3-0 as the minutes ticked off the clock. Marathon kept fighting, and in the final moments, Fabbianho Louis Jeune managed to split the uprights late in the game, sending the game into overtime.
The Dolphins were unable to move the ball on their overtime possession, allowing Pine Crest to win the game with an overtime field goal on their OT possession. Marathon finishes the season 5-5 and is not in contention for a spot in the playoffs due to a change in how playoffs will be handled this season. The change occurred midway through the season after many teams in the Rural classification were affected by a pair of hurricanes and lost games.
Photos by RAE TORRES/Contributed
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