Eastside Demolishes Hernando to Close Regular Season

Despite an Eastside football season where so much went wrong, nearly everything seemed to go right for the Rams on Friday night.

Fans at Citizens Field watched the Rams (3-7) wrap up their 2026 campaign with a 40-3 win against Brooksville Hernando on Senior Night.

Eastside quarterback Cade Sutherland played a clean game, throwing for a pair of touchdowns and staying turnover-free. 

Officials controlled the flow of the game early in a scoreless first quarter, calling a combined eight accepted penalties, including an ineligible-man-downfield penalty that negated a 35-yard Sutherland touchdown pass.

The teams traded punts before Sutherland tossed an end zone jump ball to senior wide receiver Jamarian Reaves, who reeled it in to give the Rams a 7-0 lead with 11:54 remaining in the second quarter.

The touchdown seemed to electrify the Rams, who capitalized on a mistake from Hernando quarterback Waylon Williamson 14 seconds later. On the first play of the Leopards’ ensuing drive, senior defensive back Jameer McCarthy jumped an errant Williamson pass and returned it for a score, extending the lead to 14-0 with 11:41 remaining in the quarter.

Hernando (4-6) posted its only points of the night with a Williamson field goal with 6:59 to go until the half. 

The Rams wasted no time responding. Senior Braeden Brockington returned the ensuing kickoff into Leopard territory before sophomore halfback Jayce Starke took it the rest of the way. Starke only needed two handoffs, breaking a 34-yarder before a 5-yard score to extend the lead to 21-3 with 5:56 remaining in the quarter.

Brockington’s contributions weren’t finished, as the Rams standout broke off a 55-yard touchdown run with 3:50 remaining in the first half, a 28-3 lead that held into the break.

Eastside opened the second half with a Gene Duffy-Massey field goal to extend its lead to 31-3.

Hernando’s offense continued to struggle in the second half. The Leopards fumbled the ball away with 34.7 seconds remaining in the third quarter and suffered a safety after Williamson committed intentional grounding in the end zone with 10:53 to go in the game.

The Ram defense proved to be an anchor all game. Eastside  coach Harold Hoskins emphasized its impact.

“We locked in. We did a great job studying the film,” Hoskins said. “I’d say these last couple weeks have been our best two weeks of practice.”

The Eastside sideline erupted when Sutherland hit sophomore receiver Kameron O’Neal on a goal-line fade with 6:10 left in the game. 

The Rams salted the rest of the clock away to reach the final score. The victory marked consecutive wins for the Rams for the first time since November 2025, when Eastside defeated Gainesville and South Sumter in blowout fashion.

The win capped Eastside’s regular season, but the Rams will keep their fingers crossed for a potential Florida Invitational Tournament appearance. 

“We got an opportunity. We’ll see how that goes,”  Hoskins said. “Hopefully we qualify. We got a really tough strength of schedule.”

Category: Eastside High School, Football, High School Sports