Eastside Dominates Rival Gainesville 63-0 on Senior Night
By Matthew Montalto, Jisel Nuevo, Ethan Feinberg
The Gainesville Hurricanes were driving down the field in the third quarter against rival Eastside. Senior quarterback Jai-Shawn Sanford needed to make a play. On third-and-long, he fired a pass into the end zone … into triple coverage and the resulting interception kept them off the scoreboard.
Unfortunately for Gainesville High, it would be blanked the rest of the game Friday in the 63-0 win for Eastside at Citizens Field.
On this cold Halloween night, there were no treats for the Hurricanes (2-8). They were reminded that their season would come to an end. For the fourth straight season, the Rams shut out GHS and outscored it 174-0.
The scoring started early and often for the Rams (8-2). On their first drive of the game, Rams quarterback Nelson Tambling rifled one over the middle to senior receiver Antonio Cortez, who pinballed off four defenders en route to the end zone.
Tambling finished with six touchdown passes on Senior Night.
“I think it truly would be a blessing for my name to be down in the Eastside record books,” Tambling said. “Yes, it’d be my name, but it’s a team accomplishment because I’m throwing it. If they don’t run their route and they don’t catch it, then it doesn’t matter if my line doesn’t block; it doesn’t matter. If my running back doesn’t block, it doesn’t matter.”
It seemed like everything worked on both sides of the ball for the Rams. On Gainesville’s first possession, an overthrow led to an Eastside pick-six by sophomore cornerback Malicah Williams.
GHS fumbled at its 37-yard line on the ensuing possession. The Rams cashed in the mistake with a 15-yard strike from Tambling to senior receiver Kaleb McKinnon for his first of two touchdowns on the night.
McKinnon has continued to stand out. Last week against North Marion he had 104 receiving yards and three touchdowns.
Another receiver who has gotten it going down the stretch for the Rams has been Marcus Coefield. The senior picked up another big touchdown in this game to keep the scoring going in the second quarter. Tambling said the team struggled to keep players on the field. However, with these playmakers coming back, he believes the offense will continue to get better.
“Everyone is firing on all cylinders right now,” he said. “I think when everybody’s firing at 100%, that’s when you feel that connection the most.”
The Rams put up four more scores before halftime to take a 56-0 lead.
GHS had no answer on either side of the ball. With three interceptions and even more three-and-outs, the Hurricanes couldn’t find the end zone or ways to stop the Rams.
With four minutes left, Cameron Woods took the ball deep from Rams territory all the way to the GHS 6-yard line on a huge run to set up senior running back Kamaryion Mack for a 6-yard touchdown.
“He was the only senior that didn’t have a touchdown,” Eastside coach Harold “Gator” Hoskins said about the play call. “I tried to go in and make sure all the seniors got a touchdown, and we did that tonight.”
Hoskins also said another goal for the night was to get sophomore running back Javaris “Boobie” Gardner more than 1,000 rushing yards on the season. Gardner came in with 885. He broke it on a long touchdown run in the second quarter.
The Hurricanes started the season 2-1, but lost seven straight to end it.
The Rams go on a bye this week before the playoffs start. They will find out Thursday where and when they play their first round of the state playoffs. This includes a potential rematch with Bushnell South Sumter (6-4), which Eastside defeated 27-21 in an overtime thriller last month.
Category: Eastside High School, Gainesville High School, High School Sports
