Zephyrhills spoiled The Villages’ debut of a new stadium Friday night as the Bulldog shutout the Buffalo 27-0.
In what could be deemed as the most elaborate state-of-the-art high school football stadium in the state, the Range was more of a home to the Bulldogs as the defense did not allow the Buffalo to christen their new stadium with a touchdown.
After a scoreless first quarter with the Bulldogs getting off to a slow start, Zephyrhills lit up the video scoreboard with a two-yard towchdown plunge by Zephyrhills quarterback Brendyn Colella. On the next possession, the senior QB hit Jared Cason with a 59 yard TD pass to put the Bulldogs up 14-0 at halftime.
In the second half, the defense went on a scoring spree with a pair of inter caption returns for touchdowns. Defensive lineman Samarian Black took an interception 61 yards for a touchdown to put Zephyrhills ahead 21-0 over.
“I can’t wait to get home and celebrate with the family,” Black said. “My dad always told me that whenever I get the ball to just run, pick my knees up and run.”
In the final quarter, DJ Pickett dashed 83-yards on a pick six to wrap up the win.
“We have a lot of work to do,” head coach Nick Carroll said. “This game was cleaner. We’re a work in progress. Our offense is slow to maturate, come together and gather continuity. There are a lot of things we need to clean up before we play Wiregrass next week.
“It’s always nice to get a win, so I’m not going to complain about it all.”