Gainesville continues its winning streak in the 49-14 win over Santa Fe. alive

After three straight wins after losing their season opener at Vanguard on August 27, the Gainesville Hurricanes entered the game on Friday night with a hot streak – something they hoped alive with a win over the Santa Fe Raiders to obtain.

When the Raiders took over Citizens Field, they wanted to secure their first win of the season.

By the game’s final whistle, it was Gainesville to continue their streak while the Raiders’ skid stretched to four losses after the Hurricanes overwhelmed them at 49-14.

Here are four takeaways from ‘Canes’ fourth straight win:

John Cooper has a hat trick

If there had been hat-tricks in football, Gainesville junior running back John Cooper would have completed his first of the season after a performance of three touchdowns.

Gainesville (4-1) had a short field orchestrating a 31-yard, five-play drive topped by an 8-yard touchdown from Cooper.

Just 11 minutes after his first score, Cooper found the end zone again at the start of the second quarter after the Hurricanes created another touchdown scoring drive that began in Santa Fe territory.

Cooper’s second score came out of 21 yards.

But it was the third and final ranking of the evening’s junior running back that got everyone on their feet.

After the Hurricanes were pinned to their own 6-yard line, they eyed a long, 94-yard strip of grass – at 40 meters, the longest they’d see all night.

But for Cooper? It wasn’t a problem.

In Gainesville’s opening game from the Line of Scrimmage, Cooper took a handoff and slid down the Hurricanes sideline, winning the 94-yard foot race against the Santa Fe defender who was hot on his heels.

“John is who John is,” Gainesville head coach Dock Pollard said of Cooper. “He does the same in practice as here. He runs hard and does his best.”

Shooby can strike

The Gainesville offensive got off to a tumultuous start to the season as the Hurricanes ironed out their quarterback situation.

But now the only situation in Gainesville’s quarterback room is that the Hurricanes have a young quarterback who makes great strides each week.

“Shooby was our starting quarterback at the age of 14 last year,” said Pollard. “He’s only 15 years old. Most children are soccer players by the age of 15.”

Second year quarterback Shooby Coleman took apart the Santa Fe defense by blowing 9-for-14, good for 102 yards and three touchdown passes.

While Coleman’s favorite target was senior Khamari Frazier, who caught four passes for 48 yards and one touchdown, three different Hurricane receivers caught touchdown passes.

In addition to Frazier, Senior Brent King and Junior Camron Boykins also provided touchdown receptions.

Gainesville’s defense cannot be neglected

In the Hurricanes’ three wins before the competition on Friday night, their defense had kept their opponents down to a total of 25 points – five less than what the Hurricanes Vanguard scored in their opening defeat.

And Friday night’s defensive performance proved that the pieces are starting to fit together and that scoring goals won’t be easy at Gainesville.

Generating offense was difficult for the Raiders, who ended four drives in punts, three drives ended due to interceptions and one end when they flipped the ball on downs.

The Santa Fe quarterbacks wore a purple jersey on their face or tail all night while Gainesville’s defensive front dominated the line of scrimmage.

“I love this group,” said Pollard of his line of defense. “I really do.”

Senior outside linebacker and defensive end Brandon Bowden made a huge contribution to Gainesville when he got away with two tackles behind the scrimmage line and a handful of quarterback Eiles.

“Brandon has been kind of in a doldrums for the past few weeks,” said Pollard. “We didn’t know exactly what it was. We tried to find out, but he definitely showed up tonight and played with a lot of confidence.”

Playing behind Boykin and the Gainesville defensive line is a stingy defensive backcourt that has seen three interceptions.

Seniors Ahmad Strong and Dyoni Hill both scored one interception while freshman Mario Mitchell added the third.

The Raiders, who played quarterback through the committee, finished 11 of 22 through the air.

“We didn’t get it last year,” said Pollard of winning the sales battle. “And now we’ve got it. It’s very encouraging that we’re winning the sales battle. And I think if we keep making those sales and winning the sales battle, I think that will help us win some games.”

The Santa Fe season is plagued by staffing problems

The Raiders (0-4) were without a starter and their head coach.

Santa Fe head coach Jared Allen was off the sidelines at Citizens Field after being banned from a game in the Raiders’ loss to Fort White last week.

But the Raiders are feeling the absence of some of their starters even more.

Injuries have plagued the program since the start of the season, according to deputy head coach Randy Cook, who normally serves as Santa Fe’s defensive coordinator.

“We hurt a few people,” said Cook. “We had pretty good expectations at the beginning of the year and then we lose a linebacker to a shoulder injury, we lose a defensive end to hand surgery … and the list just goes on and on. We had four kids in a car accident that” were starters. “

Santa Fe senior quarterback Landon Rogers was the only player on the roster who attempted a pass header before Friday but he was unavailable.

Instead, the Raiders used a pair of quarterbacks in Austin Cardozo and Blake McCormick against the Hurricanes.

The Raiders’ biggest game of the night took place in the second quarter, when Cardozo sent a 35-yard heaven to the Santa Fe sideline, where Senior Devan Mitchum scored the trench.

Santa Fe’s point pair came from a 4-yard touchdown rush from Senior Keyon Carter and a 1-yard scoring run from McCormick.

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