Lake Gibson's stars too bright for Melbourne

MELBOURNE — Lake Gibson's stars shined bright for the Braves on Friday night.

Jaylon Glover, Sam McCall and Cormani McClain each came up with big plays to lead Lake Gibson to a 48-14 victory over Melbourne on Friday night in the FHSAA Class 7A, Region 2 final.

The Braves (9-3) will play at Tampa Bay Tech in the state semifinals next Friday.

Despite being slowed at times early, Glover finished with 248 yards on 24 carries and scored three touchdowns on runs of 1, 62 and 12 yards. He passed Chris Rainey on Polk County’s all-time rushing list and went over 6,000 yards for his career.

Sam McCall had five receptions for 45 yards, which included a big 16-yard reception that set up Lake Gibson’s third touchdown, and he intercepted a pass in the end zone along with a couple more big pass breakups. McCall also had a big kickoff return to start the second half, but the Braves’ drive stalled.

McClain broke open the game with a 56-yard touchdown catch, and capped the game with his ninth interception of the season that he returned 60 yards for a touchdown.

“We just played together as a team,” McClain said. “We’ve been playing together since little league.”

Not to be overlooked in the Braves’ rout is a defense that shut down Melbourne’s running game. The Braves had lost their leading tackler, linebacker Landon Brown, before the game when he sustained a knee injury in warm-ups.

“More than his stats and his ability to make tackles and find the ball, he’s a leader,” Lake Gibson coach Keith Barefield Jr. said. “He’s kind of the calm in the storm. He gets everybody directed. He’s the voice of reason. Not having that out there, you could see the struggles early on, but he’s invaluable. With him not out there hurts us, but we have gelled into a great team so when they saw one of their brothers out, they came together in the locker room and told Q.J (Moore), we’ve got your back. We’re going to play this game for Landon.”

Moore filled in for Brown.

The Bulldogs never could get a sustained drive going. Melbourne’s only score when the game still was in doubt came on Hunter Turner’s 38-yard touchdown pass at 3:51 of the second quarter.

Then McClain made his presence felt.

After scoring on their first drive of the game, the Braves’ offense began to sputter as Melbourne sacked Lake Gibson quarterback Logan Hackett five times in the first half. The fifth time came on the first play after Melbourne scored, and Lake Gibson on its own 44.

On the next play, Hackett threw a quick pass to McClain, who put a move on the Melbourne defensive back then scampered 56 yards down the sideline for the go-ahead touchdown.

“It was an RPO hitch, and I was always taught at a young age that when you get to big moments and big playoff games like this, think players not plays,” Barefield said. “Just get it into the hands of your guys. They came through, McClain, Jaylon, McCall. Tyson (Gast) came through. We’re playing together as a team. We’re not getting greedy. We’re not force-feeding it to them. When they have the opportunity, they take it.”

Lake Gibson forced a three-and-out, and the Braves quickly put together a five-play, 60-yard scoring drive. McCall had two catches for 22 yards, and in between, Glover ripped off a 29-yard gain. Glover ran the last two plays on the drive and scored from the 1 with 31 seconds to play in the half.

Melbourne nearly got back in the game early in the second half. The Bulldogs drove from their 25 to the Lake Gibson 32. On third-and-10, McCall made a leaping interception in the end zone to end the threat.

Five plays into the Braves’ ensuing possession, on third-and-5 at the 38, Glover broke loose down the left sideline for a 62-yard touchdown run to make it 28-7 with 1:37 to play in the third quarter.

In the fourth quarter, Hackett, who scored the first touchdown of the game on a 1-yard run, threw a 12-yard touchdown pass to Tyson Gast, and Glover ran for a 12-yard touchdown before McClain’s game-ending interception.

Roy Fuoco can be reached at roy.fuoco@theledger.com or at 863-802-7526. Follow him on Twitter: @RoyFuoco.

This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Lake Gibson's stars too bright for Melbourne in 48-14 win