Eastside denied district title at South Sumter

The Eastside football team entered its final game of the regular season with a chance to win its third straight district title under head coach Harold "Gator" Hoskins.

But on Thursday night at Inman Sherman Field in Bushnell, mistakes were costly in a 21-7 loss at South Sumter in a Class 3A-District 5 game.

"Poor performance, undisciplined by us, something I've been saying all season," Hoskins said. "South Sumter is a good football team, hats off to them, but they didn't do anything that was special that we didn't expect...we had opportunities to score and dropped some passes and just missed some throws."

The defense kept the Rams (7-3) in the game though.

South Sumter began its first offensive possession at Eastside's 28-yard line after pressuring the Rams into a bad punt.

However, the Raiders (4-6) ended up settling for a missed 40-yard field goal attempt.

Eastside began its next possession on its own 20-yard line and moved the ball to the South Sumter 37-yard line.

But on 3rd-and-10, freshman quarterback Cade Sutherland's pass to junior wide receiver Marcus Coefield was dropped inside the 5-yard line, denying Eastside a potential touchdown.

The Rams went for it on fourth down but Sutherland's pass in the end zone was incomplete.

A couple of South Sumter possessions later, the Raiders drove the ball to the Eastside 23-yard line, but a tipped pass was intercepted by junior Orian Ellis, Jr., who returned it to the 36-yard line.

A personal foul penalty tacked on 15 more yards to give the Rams the ball at the 49-yard line, but Eastside was unable to capitalize on the turnover and was forced to punt.

Following a scoreless first quarter, the Eastside defense bent, but didn't break, as South Sumter marched from its 34-yard line to the Rams' 3-yard line.

An unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on South Sumter, one of many by the Raiders, moved the ball back, where it was first-and-goal from the 18-yard line.

In fact, South Sumter had more penalty yards (168 yards on 14 penalties) than Eastside had total yards of offense (149 total on 126 rushing and 23 passing).

Once again, the Eastside defense made a big play.

South Sumter senior running back Ja'Kyrian Turner fumbled the ball inside the 5-yard line where freshman Malicah Williams recovered to end the drive.

Eastside gave it right back though as a bad exchange from Sutherland caused a fumble and South Sumter's Ismael Rodriguez recovered at the 16-yard line.

Turner, a Pittsburgh commit, ripped off a 10-yard run down to the 6-yard line and capped the short drive with a 2-yard touchdown run to give South Sumter a 7-0 lead with 2:42 to play in the half.

The Rams began one final drive in the half at their own 28-yard line and drove to the ball down to the South Sumter 20-yard line.

But in an effort to stop the clock with no timeouts, Sutherland mistook the down and spiked the ball on 4th down to stop the clock, ending a potential chance to score before the half.

Then, on the second-half kickoff, Turner fielded the ball at the 6-yard line and raced 94 yards down the Eastside sideline for a 14-0 lead just 18 seconds into the second half.

Eastside put together one of its best drives of the night following the score.

The Rams were backed up to their 8-yard line, but the ground game came to life.

Freshman running back Javaris Gardner (15 carries for 63 yards) had runs of 22, 5, 3, 4, and 9 yards, and junior running back Kenneth McClellan had an 18-yard run as Eastside moved the ball into South Sumter territory.

However, Sutherland's pass was intercepted by Michigan State commit George Mullins at the 15-yard line to end the drive.

South Sumter turned it into points, driving 85 yards and finishing the drive with Turner's third touchdown of the night, a 24-yard scoring run for a 21-0 lead with 2:19 to play in the third quarter.

Eastside avoided the shutout with a 13-yard touchdown pass from Sutherland to senior wide receiver Victor White with 4:10 to play in the game.

"Disappointing loss man, that's all I can say," Hoskins said. "I'm proud of these guys, they fought their ass off, especially the seniors. Whether the season is over or not we don't know but I'm proud of those seniors."

Eastside, which had a six-game winning streak snapped, will find out on Friday night during the FHSAA's bracket release show whether or not they will make the postseason as an at-large team.

The Rams were seeded fifth in 3A-Region 2 last week with the top eight teams receiving a bid.