Riverdale quarterback Daniel Ulmer throws the ball during Friday night’s district game against Gulf Coast High School.
Looking like Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski, Gulf Coast High’s Kaden Frost and Carson Genal couldn’t be stopped in the Sharks’ 39-21 win at Riverdale in the District 7A-12 opener for both teams.
The 6-foot-2 junior quarterback and 6-5 senior tight end connected for three touchdowns in the first half alone despite mostly strong coverage by Riverdale to open a 32-7 lead at halftime.
The most impressive of the scores was a 14-yarder on 3rd-and-13 just before halftime of a game that didn’t start until 10 p.m. because of storms and ended at 12:42 a.m.
Frost, who was 21-of-33 passing for 301 yards and three scores with one interception, zipped a perfect back-shoulder throw over the outstretched hands of a defender who timed his leap perfectly and still couldn’t deflect the ball. Genal finished with nine catches for 109 yards.
In just a three-team district that also includes South Fort Myers, Gulf Coast (3-3, 1-0) assured itself at least a three-way playoff. Gulf Coast hosts South Fort Myers on Oct. 28.
Riverdale (1-4, 0-1) has to win at South Fort Myers on Oct. 14 to have a shot at the postseason.
Gulf Coast, which had 260 yards of offense in the first half on the way to 374 total yards, shot to an 18-0 lead a little more than nine minutes into the game.
Demarcus Townsend, who had 10 runs for 61 yards in the first half and finished with 62 yards on 17 carries, capped the Sharks’ opening drive with a 1-yard plunge.
Frost and Genal hooked up on their first score from the 9 with 5:07 left in the first quarter before Townsend scored again from the 3 for an 18-0 lead at the 2:52 mark of the opening quarter.
Riverdale totaled 8 yards on its first 10 plays, including 5 yards on a Gulf Coast penalty.
Riverdale running back Zachary Sanders is tackled by Gulf Coast’s Reid Fermon during Friday night’s district game at Riverdale.
Senior quarterback Daniel Ulmer finally got the Raiders moving to close the quarter. He connected twice with Charles Codie before finding junior Deishan Layne on 3rd-and-7 for a 14-yard score, the first of two from Ulmer to Layne for the game.
Ulmer, who was 15-of-24 passing for 159 yards and three scores with one interception, hit junior Dante Quintela for a 3-yard score to cut the deficit to 32-14 with 6:25 to play in the third quarter.
Riverdale’s defense forced three straight punts from Gulf Coast. But Riverdale, which had only 23 yards rushing on 22 carries, didn’t score again until Layne scored again from 30 yards out despite defensive pass interference with 3:10 left in the game.
After recovering an onside kick, Gulf Coast scored quickly on Lounceny Keita’s 7-yard run to lead 39-21.
GC 18 | 14 | 0 | 7 — 39
R 0 | 7 | 7 | 7 — 21
First quarter
GC – Demarcus Townsend 1 run (kick failed), 8:40
GC – Carson Genal 9 pass from Kaden Frost (pass failed), 5:07
GC – Townsend 3 run (kick failed), 2:52
Second quarter
R – Deishan Layne 14 pass from Daniel Ulmer (Jean Pier D’Alessandro kick), 11:15
GC – Genal 22 pass from Frost (Nate Elgin kick), 2:55
GC – Genal 14 pass from Frost (Elgin kick), 0:22
Third quarter
R – Dante Quintela 3 pass from Ulmer (D’Alessandro kick), 6:25
Fourth quarter
R – Layne 30 pass from Ulmer (D’Alessandro kick), 3:10
GC – Lounceny Keita 7 run (Elgin kick), 2:01
INDIVIDUAL STATS
Rushing — GC, Demarcus Townsend 17-62, Lounceny Keita 8-14, Kaden Frost 1-(-3); R, Zach Sanders 4-(-1), Malcolm Spencer 9-1, Daniel Ulmer 9-23
Passing — GC, Kaden Frost 21-33-1, 301; R, Daniel Ulmer 15-24-1, 159
Receiving — GC, Carson Genal 9-109, Alex Guillen 2-33, George Takacs 3-62, Maddux Kintz 2-25, Ryan Carroll 4-62, Townsend 1-10; R, Deishan Layne 7-84, Spencer 2-7, Dante Quintella 2-14, Charles Codie 3-37, Jaylin Cochran 1-17.
