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Tigers out 'big play' Dolphins

Joe Culpepper/Gulf Breeze News Kris Matsoukas lowers the boom on a PHS ballcarrier in the Dolphins' 28-7 loss Friday. For 10 minutes on Friday, the Dolphin football team looked prepared to be heading to a shootout.

Then the PHS Tigers would score on its next two possessions and never trailed again as they defeated the Dolphins 28-7 on Senior Night at Dolphin Stadium.

Coupled with Arnold's 47- 15 win over West Florida, the Tigers clinched the runner up spot in District 1-3A, with the unbeaten Marlins winning the district title. GBHS was eliminated from postseason play for the fifth consecutive year.

Kyle Schnackenberg, who went 13-for-29 passing for 151 and three interceptions, completed an 11-yard pass to Rhys Rinke on a third and 4 play. The game was Rinke's first in almost a month. He had a team-high 18 yards on six carries for the Dolphins, who had to punt four plays later.

The Dolphin defense would hold the Tigers to two yards in their first three offensive plays to get the ball back. Gulf Breeze would go 70 yards in 11 plays to score the game's first points.

Schnackenberg went 4-for- 5 passing in the drive, throwing passes of 20 yards (to Alex Duntz), 15 yards (Seth Hewerdine) and 12 yards (Rinke) before Warford, after a short catch, spun away from a Tiger defender and scored on a 17-yard pass play on third and 12.

Thomas Farmer's extra point with 4:48 left in the first quarter made it 7-0. It was one of the few successes GBHS had on third down, as they averaged only 2.9 yards per third down play the rest of the way.

Conversely, the Tigers averaged almost 13 yards per third down play after Gulf Breeze's score.

Hewerdine would pick off a fourth down pass, than became one after a bobbled punt snap. But three plays later, PHS' Ty Evans picked off a screen pass attempt by Schnackenberg and returned 35 yards for a touchdown. The extra point was good, tying the game at 7 with 1:16 left in the first quarter.

"That was a situation where a player make a mental breakdown was supposed to block and thought we were running a different play," coach Chris Nemith said. "That's something a quarterback doesn't read. He's got to trust that's going to get down. It's a snap throw to the back side. That's nothing he can do anything about."

Eric Adams caught a 24-yard pass from Schnackenberg on the first play of Gulf Breeze's next series, but the drive would stall and they'd punt four plays later.

Starting on their own 2-yard line, the Tigers would go 98 yards in only five plays to take the lead for good. On third and four, quarterback Kyle Lavoie completed a 58-yard pass to LaBarron Mallory before Lavoie scored from 27 yards out two plays later. Bobby McLaughlin's PAT made it 14-7 with 9:13 left in the second quarter.

Schnackenberg got sacked on second down, then was stopped five yards short of first down yardage after a 15-yard scramble. The Tigers got a pair of first down before Hewerdine broke up a third down pass play to force a PHS punt.

The Dolphins ended the first possession of the second half with a questionable 'no call.' Cody Warford, who caught three passes in the loss, appeared to have been interfered with, as the ball ricocheted into the air and was picked off.

The strange called continued on the next drive as the Tigers went on a nineplay drive, with Lavoie scoring from 2 yards out with 4:56 left in the third quarter.

The Dolphins appeared to have stopped Lavoie short of the end zone.

"The guy on our sideline spotted it at the 1-yard line. And the referee on their sideline walks in at the last moment, then signals a touchdown," Nemith said. "Defensively, we made a surge knocking him backward. His momentum stopped and then something happened, where maybe he fell into the end zone, I don't know. There was never a surge forward from their offensive line. I wasn't really excited about that, as the referee found out on our sideline."

The PAT made it 21-7.

The two teams traded punts as Kris Matsoukas broke up a third down pass.

Rinke converted a third down with an 8-yard run on third and 5 before Schnackenberg was intercepted two plays later.

Lavoie converted a third down with a 19-yard pass play before Quan Johnson broke free for a 32-yard run.

The Dolphin defense would stiffen in the red zone as E.J. Troup made a tackle on a low field goal snap.

The two teams traded punts again before PHS' Ronald Brill broke up a screen pass from Schnackenberg on fourth down with 3:59 left.

The Tigers added an insurance score in the final minute of play with Lavoie scoring from 2 yards out after another discussion between officials on whether he crossed the plane.

The two stats of the game:

1) PHS was 6-for-9 on third down in the second half.

2) The Tigers had 12 double digit yard gains after Gulf Breeze's score, compared to only four for the Dolphins.

Defensively, Troup led the Dolphins with 12 tackles, while Taylor Retherford, Wes Cross and Kyle Robinson had 10 each. Robinson, who had a total of 12 tackles in his first seven games, has 21 in his last two.

Tam Nguyen added eight tackles, while Jeff White had seven and Brandon Van Camp and Matsoukas six each.

"That's the best we've played Pensacola High in two years," said Nemith, whose Dolphins conclude their season Friday at Navarre (see related story).