VENICE — Points weren’t at a premium on Friday night at Powell-Davis Stadium.
Both teams combined for 103 points across 15 total touchdowns as Venice came out on top against Tampa Bay Tech, 63-40, in what was a sloppy shootout of a regular-season opener for both squads.
After starting last week’s Kickoff Classic on the slower side, Venice (1-0) came out ready to play against the Titans (0-1).
The Indians took advantage of some early undisciplined mistakes from Tech, scoring touchdowns on three of their four offensive drives in the opening quarter.
The first came from quarterback Jayce Nixon, finding consensus four-star wideout Winston Watkins Jr. for a 20-yard touchdown with 9:18 in the first.
One drive later, on a short field, running back Dorien Jones got things going on the ground for Venice, bulling his way from four yards out to push his team’s advantage to 14-0 midway through the first.
Following a Tech score — a 19-yard rushing touchdown by Titans running back Javari Barnett with 2:56 in the first — Venice upped its lead to 21-6 with running back Jamarice Wilder juking his way to paydirt on a 35-yard touchdown.
At the seven-minute mark of the second quarter, Wilder found the end zone again — this time from 10 yards out — helping the Indians open up a seemingly insurmountable 28-6 lead.
While Tech struggled with turnovers and penalties for much of the first half, the Titans put their talented offense on display prior to halftime.
Titans quarterback Darryon Jones struck for three passing touchdowns late int he second quarter, trimming a 22-point deficit to three, 28-25, at the break.
Two of those scores went to five-star wide receiver Dallas Wilson, while the other went to Jovarious Lundy.
The second scoring connection between Jones and Wilson — a four-yard pass on a slant with 30 seconds to play in the half — capped a drive that started at the Venice 34 following an Indians fumble.
The Titans may have entered halftime with the momentum, but that didn’t stop Venice from answering with a right hook out of the locker room.
In less than four minutes, Venice struck for 14 points.
Both touchdowns came through the air, with Nixon hitting Watkins Jr. for an 11-yard score at the 9:31 mark before finding wideout Ryan Matulevich streaking down the middle of the field for a 30-yard touchdown roughly a minute later for a 42-25 lead.
With 8:30 left in the third, the Indians led, 42-25.
The Titans would answer with a 24-yard rushing touchdown from Barnett — his second of the game — to cut Venice’s lead to 42-32 with 2:33 in the third, but that would be as close as Tech would get.
The Indians scored 14 unanswered from there, moving ahead by 24 following touchdowns by Watkins Jr. and Malakai Corbett.
Watkins Jr. turned a simple screen into a 20-yard score, then early in the fourth, Corbett took advantage of a special teams miscue by the Titans, picking up a blocked punt and steamrolling into the end zone, making it 56-32.
From there, Tech and Venice exchanged touchdowns — the latter being Wilder’s third rushing score of the night.
KEY STATS: Venice racked up close to 500 total yards of offense behind a balanced attack.
Through the air, Nixon went 14-of-22 for 228 yards and four touchdowns. Watkins Jr. had 10 catches for 157 yards and three touchdowns, while Matulevich and Noah Chieffo combined for four catches, 71 yards and a score.
On the ground, Wilder put on a show, picking up 148 yards and three touchdowns on 19 carries. Dorien Jones finished with 94 yards and a score on 11 carries.
Defensively, Asharri Charles (15 tackles, one forced fumble, one sack) and Landon Marsters (16 tackles) were machines.
Tech did end up gaining 552 total yards of offense in the loss.
Overall, penalties were a concern for both teams. Venice had 16 for 145 yards, while Tech committed 21 for close to 200 yards.
KEY PLAYS: What wasn’t a key play in this one?
Perhaps the biggest one that set the tone for the contest was the big play by the Venice special teams early in the first quarter.
After the Indians went three-and-out to open the contest, Tech muffed a punt, leading to a Venice recovery. On that drive, the Indians marched down the field and scored the game’s first points.
Lastly, look at the opening sequence to start the second half.
In what was a three-point game at the time, Venice’s defense forced Tech into a three-and-out to start the third before the Indians offense made it a 35-25 contest.
QUICK HITS: Special teams was a thing of beauty for Venice on Friday night.
The unit forced two turnovers — one turning into Corbett’s touchdown — and kicker Brunno Reus was flawless once again.
Reus converted all nine of his point-after attempts, delivered a couple of booming punts and forced touchbacks on all 10 of his kickoffs.
Offensively, Watkins Jr. has 17 catches for 249 yards and three touchdowns over the past two weeks. He’s been as advertised.
Defensively, Marsters has combined for 32 total tackles the past two weeks in the middle for the Indians.
QUOTE: “We responded really well there to start the second half. And, overall, we did some really good things. When you score 63 points, you know you did a lot of good, especially on offense. But giving up 40 points is too much. We need to clean that up. We had too many penalties, we gave up two fake punts and that helped them extend drives. We’ll get with the defensive staff and clean some stuff up, because it doesn’t get any easier next week with Miami Northwestern and their explosive offense coming in.” - Venice head coach John Peacock
Local News
Comments / 0