Braden River avoids letdown, rolls past St. Petersburg Gibbs in finale
By the time halftime arrived Friday at Gibbs High School, visiting Braden River had all but put a bow on its regular season on its way to defeating the Gladiators 35-14.
With both teams already owning a playoff berth, Braden River (8-1) pulled several starters midway through the second quarter with a 28-0 advantage and a running clock was used for the second half.
Pirates quarterback Louis Colosimo was as effective as he could be in his limited time on the field, completing 4 of 4 passes for 87 yards and two touchdowns.
In what was essentially a tune-up game for the playoffs, Braden River coach Curt Bradley said he was pleased with his team’s focus against a team that’s had a losing season.
“It’s tough because at the end of the day, they know it doesn’t technically mean anything, but you still want to win football games,” Bradley said. “Any time you strap it up, you want to win the football game. The kids were motivated, they came out here and executed well when there could have been a lot of other things on their minds, thinking about Gulf Coast next week.”
Gibbs had a difficult time moving the ball early, accounting for 17 total yards in the first quarter as the Gladiators (2-6) watched game slip away.
Colosimo opened the scoring with an 11-yard touchdown to tight end Travis Tobey on the Pirates’ first drive. Braden River followed that score with a 6-yard touchdown run by running back Deshaun Fenwick on the next drive. Fenwick, taken out of the game toward the end of the first quarter, finished with 10 carries for 62 yards and a score.
On the Gladiators’ third consecutive punt, the ball bounced down to the 15-yard line before Demetrius Lawson scooped it up the ball and took off toward the other sideline, outrunning everyone to give Braden River a 21-0 lead.
“That was huge, special teams flipped the field position,” said Bradley. “We played most of the game on their end and they played most of their offensive plays backed up, so that’s huge for field position and short fields. Our offense was able to execute and score some points.”
Braden River 34, Gibbs 14
Gibbs | 0 | 0 | 6 | 8 | — | 14 |
Braden Rivers | 21 | 7 | 7 | 0 | — | 35 |
First quarter
BR — Travis Tobey 11 yard pass from Louis Colosimo (Tyler McCauley kick), 12:18
BR — Deshaun Fenwick 6 yard run (McCauley kick), 2:54
BR — Demetrius Lawson 85 yard punt return (McCauley kick), 0:00
Second Quarter
BR — Taj Speight 57 yard pass from Colosimo (McCauley kick), 6:14
Third Quarter
BR — Cam White 6 yard run (McCauley kick), 10:07
GH — Quandale Inmon 2 yard pass from Jermaine Ivery (Two-point conversion fails)
Fourth Quarter
GH — Inmon 6 yard pass from Ivery (Two-point conversion succeeds)
Individual statistics
Rushing: Braden River: Fenwick 10-62, Craivon Koonce 1-17, Cam White 4-14, Jake Hepler 1-5, Totals: 16-98. Gibbs: Ruben Hughes 3-64, Ivery 8-56, Trajan Trueblood 2-20, Lamar Harden 7-5, Khaliq Blackman 6- -1. Totals: 26-144.
Passing: Braden River: Colosimo 4-4- 0-87, Hepler 5-8- 2, 41. Totals: 9-12- 2-128. Gibbs: Ivery 7-10- 0-46, Blackman 3-8- 0-14. Totals: 10-18- 0-60.
Receiving: Braden River: Speight 3-66, Koonce 3-28, Tobey 2-24, Daveon Wortham 1-10. Totals: 9-128. Gibbs: Inmon 3-17, Aaron Golden 4-15, Trueblood 2-14, Cameron Canfall 1-14. Totals: 10-60.
Up next
Who: Braden River at Gulf Coast
Where: Gulf Coast HS, Naples
When: Friday, 7:30 p.m.
This story was originally published November 5, 2016 at 12:31 AM with the headline "Braden River avoids letdown, rolls past St. Petersburg Gibbs in finale."