The Bulldogs scored first and intercepted two passes in the first quarter, but it was a 24-point second-quarter flurry by Oviedo that propelled the Lions to a 48-24 victory over the Bulldogs.
“Terrible,” Melbourne head coach Jeff Pannucci said. “Not good at all.”
Melbourne struggled to limit Oviedo on big plays as the Lions finished the night with 12 plays of over 15 yards. The Lions scored touchdowns of 27, 30, 50, 61 and 88 yards.
“We didn’t limit anything. I’m not going to make excuses. We got beat,” Pannucci said. “They took advantage of every opportunity. They made more plays than us. Couldn’t cover anything. Couldn’t get pressure on the quarterback. We got it hand it to us.”
Melbourne led 3-0 after one quarter on a 34-yard field goal by junior Jazz Sheibani. After Oviedo equaled Melbourne with a field goal, the Lions recovered a surprise onside kick.
On the next play from scrimmage, Oviedo quarterback Sebastian Galeano threw a 50-yard touchdown pass to Jordan Donahoo to make it 10-3.
After sophomore Tyrese Jefferson scored on an 80-yard touchdown run to tie the game, Oviedo returned the ensuing kickoff 88 yards to the house. The Lions scored again with 1:20 remaining in the first half on a 4-yard touchdown run by Johnnie Rollins.
They opened the second half with a 61-yard touchdown pass from Galeano to Carmari Solomon 53 seconds into the second half. In total, the Lions scored 31 points in 7:14 spanning the second and third quarters.
“Their onside kick took the momentum. It was like a turnover and went from being a 3-0 game and then the kick return. We got our tails kicked in all three phases of the game,” Pannucci said. “There’s no excuses. I got to do better. I got to find a way to do better. I got to find ways to stop people. I got to find ways to make special teams better. I did not do a good job.”
Melbourne forced Galeano interceptions on the first two drives of the game. Senior DJ Scott intercepted a pass in the end zone on a jump ball along the sideline, setting up the Sheibani field goal.
Bulldogs sophomore Julian Baxter intercepted a pass in the middle of the field, returning it to the Oviedo 34-yard line. The offense went on to turn the ball over on downs.
“Obviously you want to score on those turnovers. We had momentum and you want to capitalize but hats off to them," Pannucci said. "They did a good job making sure that we didn’t capitalize on those turnovers. We had momentum. They took it right away.”
Jefferson increased his touchdowns total to 8 this season, scoring a 2-yard run in the fourth quarter. He finished the night with 28 carries for 257 yards and 2 touchdowns.
Scott scored his first offensive touchdown of the season by tiptoeing down the sidelines and staying in bounds for a 78-yard touchdown.
“(Scott) is incredible. Tyrese (Jefferson) is incredible,” Pannucci said. “They made incredible plays all night.”
In junior Will Reinhold’s third-straight start, the Bulldogs passing game built some rhythm in the second half after completing 1 pass on 9 attempts for 9 yards in the first 24 minutes.
Reinhold threw for 243 yards and 1 touchdown on 12-for-17 passing in the second half.
“The offense did fine,” Pannucci said. “Will’s (Reinhold) getting comfortable, Tyrese (Jefferson) ran for probably 200 yards. It wasn’t an offensive struggle. This was a I can’t get stops.”
Melbourne dropped to 2-2 and it returns home on Sept. 18 to play Palm Bay in a non-district game.
“If you want to play football and compete, you come back on Monday ready to work,” Pannucci said. “That’s not really a hard thing to do with this group. Our motto is train’s rolling. It’s going to continue to be that. You’re either on the train or off.”
Viera at Lyman, Canceled
Viera’s game in Longwood at Lyman was canceled due to weather. A rescheduled date has not yet been announced.This article originally appeared on Florida Today:
