Playoff roundup: Lakeland Christian, Santa Fe Catholic are big winners
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LAKELAND — Lakeland Christian’s 1-2 offensive punch of Brody Brenneman’s passing and AJ Truedell’s rushing simply overwhelmed Zephyrhills Christian.
Brenneman threw for four touchdowns, and Truedell rushed for three scores and caught a touchdown pass in the Vikings’ 54-6 victory on Friday night in the Class 1A, Region 3 quarterfinals at Viking Stadium.
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Lakeland Christian (10-0-1) will play St. John Neumann at home on Nov. 20 in the regional semifinals, putting the winner of that matchup on a likely showdown against Carrollwood Day (8-3) after Thanksgiving.
The game was close briefly in the first quarter. After Truedell rushed for a 24-yard touchdown to give Lakeland a 7-0 lead, Zephyrhills Christian answered with a touchdown from Giorgio Baker. The extra-point was blocked and the Vikings maintained the lead.
Then Lakeland pulled away. Brenneman threw his first touchdown pass of the game, this one 62 yards to Cael Straub who missed three games with an injury.
Straub showed know ill-effects of his injury as he did most of the work on the touchdown play. With Brenneman scrambling he tossed the ball to Straub standing at the 39-yard line near the sideline. Staub made a move cut back to the middle of the field and outraced everyone to the end zone.
Brenneman and Truedell went back and forth on touchdown plays. Truedell scored next with a 34-yard touchdown run. Brenneman found Messiah Borders of a 33-yard touchdown pass. Truedell followed up with a 42-yard run, and Brenneman’s 2-yard touchdown pass to Jayden Wall capped the first half scoring.
Brenneman and Truedell the combined for the first touchdown of the second half as a scrambling Brenneman flicked a 10-yard touchdown pass to Truedell.
Backup quarterback JD McCoy’s 9-yard touchdown pass to Wall finished the scoring.
Truedell finished with well-over 100 yards rushing as his three rushing touchdowns accounted for 100 yards.
1A-3: St. John Neumann pulls away in 2nd half
Victory Christian led after the first quarter and went into halftime tied with St. John Neumann, 21-21. However, the Celtics shut out the Storm in the second half and scored 15 points in the third quarter to come away with the 36-21 victory.
6A-3: Haines City’s upset bid quickly fades
Haines City got off to a fast start and built a 16-7 lead over Sarasota Riverview but couldn’t maintain the momentum.
Riverview eventually got rolling and came away with a big 52-28 win to advance to the regional semifinals.
5A-2: Lake Gibson falls short in 4th quarter
Lake Gibson hung close with Tampa Gaither but fell short at Gaither prevailed 16-9.
Trailing 10-3, Caleb McFarlane found Lawrence Silas for a touchdown pass, but a missed extra point allowed Gaither to maintain a 10-9 lead early in the third quarter.
Gaither scored later in the quarter to take the 16-9 lead.
The Braves threatened in the fourth quarter but Gaither intercepted McFarlane at the Gaither 20. Late in the game, Lake Gibson again drove deep into Gaither territory but turned the ball over on downs at the 25.
Independent B: Korlacki’s big game leads Santa Fe Catholic
Santa Fe Catholic senior Reagan Korlacki rushed for 216 yards and four touchdowns on 21 carries to lead Santa Fe Catholic overcame a slow start and defeated St. John Paul II 52-20 in the regional semifinals.
Santa Fe will play host to Evangelical Christian on Thursday in the regional finals.
The Crimson Hawks trailed 14-0 after the first quarter but scored 17 unanswered points in the second quarter to take a three-point halftime lead.
Santa Fe Catholic then outscored St. John Paul II 35-6 in the second half.
The Crimson Hawks did most of their damage on the ground. They finished with 369 yards of total offense with 308 yards coming on the ground.
Bertran Bates, Cam Womack and Chase Sherwood also rushed for touchdowns.
2A-2: Tenoroc out
Merritt Island overwhelmed Tenoroc, 63-0, in the Titans’ first playoff appearance as a district champion.
This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Playoff roundup: Lakeland Christian, Santa Fe Catholic are big winners