VENICE — In a tune-up game before the real fun begins, Venice used its mulligan to get some mistakes out of its system.
On Friday against Gadsden County — a 2A school from the panhandle — the Indians committed their fair share of penalties and turnovers during a 34-19 victory that took nearly three hours to complete.
After sleepwalking to a 12-10 deficit at the half, the Indians hit the reset button in the third quarter, scoring 17 unanswered points to move ahead by a couple of scores with one period to play.
Despite the lengthy trip to Venice, Gadsden County came out as the hot team in the first quarter.
The Jaguars drew first blood with a 13-yard, pitch-and-catch from quarterback Landon Dougherty to wideout Jeremiah Thomas for a 6-0 advantage with 3:28 left in the first quarter.
Venice’s offense kicked it into high gear during the following drive, answering with a touchdown of their own — a 24-yard score from quarterback Jayce Nixon to wide receiver Ryan Matulevich — for a 7-6 lead with just five seconds to spare in the opening quarter.
The Indians had three turnovers in the contest, and none more critical than the special teams miscue that put the Jaguars on Venice’s doorstep midway through the second period.
On fourth down, a botched snap flew over the head of punter Brunno Reus and was eventually recovered by Gadsden County at the Venice 1.
One play later, running back Tristen Davis barreled into the end zone, pushing Gadsden ahead, 12-7, with 4:59 to go in the half.
The Indians trimmed the 12-7 lead to three on a 34-yard field goal by Reus — his first of two made field goals in the game — but Venice still found itself in unfamiliar territory: trailing at the half.
The Indians would hit Gadsden County with a gut punch in the third quarter, though, outscoring the Jaguars, 17-0, in the frame to regain control of the contest.
The Indians scored a pair of touchdowns on the ground — a four-yard scamper by Dorien Jones and an 11-yard score from Jamarice Wilder — to go up 24-12 with 6:30 left in the quarter.
Reus’s 30-yard field goal made it a 15-point game with 3:42 left in the third.
From there, Venice would ice the game on Jones’s second rushing touchdown — a one-yarder with 9:11 to play — giving the Indians an insurmountable 34-12 lead.
KEY STATS: The Indians did most of its damage on the ground against the Jaguars, rushing for 223 yards and three touchdowns in the win.
The two-headed monster — Wilder and Jones — combined for a majority of it, with Wilder running for 111 yards and a score, while Jones added 96 yards and two scores.
Nixon had an efficient game passing the football, going 15-of-18 for 141 yards with one touchdown and one interception. He did have two would-be passing touchdowns nullified due to penalties.
In the receiving game, Winston Watkins Jr. led the way with seven catches for 92 yards, while Matulevich added four grabs for 39 yards and a TD.
KEY PLAYS: The Venice defense played an underrated brand of football, coming up with multiple game-changing plays throughout Friday’s contest.
The first was a goal-line stand on a fourth and goal at its own one-yard line midway through the second quarter. The stop helped Venice hold on to its 7-6 lead at the time.
The second was a timely fumble recovery by defensive end Eli Jones in the third quarter. The turnover helped setup Wilder’s 11-yard rushing TD just a play later.
One other key play that really made a difference was the fumble recovery inside their own five with 2:30 to go. The Jaguars were threatening to make it a one-score game late when the Indians pounced on a botched exchange behind the line of scrimmage.
QUICK HITS: The Indians have themselves a kicker.
Reus — A USF commit — transferred into Venice during fall camp and instantly took over the kickoff, punting and place-kicking duties for the team.
Reus was busy in his first game as an Indian, going for 2-for-2 on field goals, forcing a number of touchbacks on kickoffs, and tacking on a couple of PATs as well.
The five-star kicker will be a huge weapon for Venice as the season goes on.
QUOTE: “There are definitely some things we have to clean up and get better at, but at times, we played really well,” Venice head coach John Peacock said. “[Gadsden] is a good football team. They have some fast and physical players, but in reality, we had two touchdowns called back because of penalties.
“We had too many holding calls, we made too many mistakes, and we have to clean that stuff up. We’ll get back to work, because we have a big test coming up next week against Tampa Bay Tech.”
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