Big Buchholz line wears down Lake Mary in Kickoff Classic; Winter Park wins

Defending Class 7A state champion Lake Mary jumped out early on Buchholz High Thursday night in a Kickoff Classic game, but the Rams eventually wore down. The huge Buchholz offensive line was too much for the Rams as the Bobcats ran to a 26-17 victory. “That’s a good team we just played. Offense and defense, they’re tough,” Lake Mary coach Scott Perry said. “We gotta do a better job of being tough, get in better shape and be better tacklers.” Lake Mary had things going early with new quarterback Remy Jarman, a transfer from Edgewater, driving the Rams down the field late in the first quarter. He eventually hit standout junior TJ Brundidge with a 6-yard scoring pass and Lake Mary had a 7-3 lead. The Rams got back on the board in the second quarter with a short Jarman touchdown pass to Malakaii Haliburton, and Lake Mary looked to be rolling, up 17-3 at half time. “The first half, I thought we played pretty well when we were fresh,” Perry said. “We just gotta build on that.” Things changed from there. Buchholz realized the running game was working and they attacked relentlessly in the second half. The offensive line, which easily weighs close to 1,500 pounds, laid the groundwork for running back Ashton Norris, who ran for nearly 200 yards. He scored two touchdowns and Lake Mary could not stop the run. “We’re not in very good shape yet. Some of these young guys gotta learn to tackle a little bit better,” Perry said of a team that lost 32 seniors from last season’s team, and has more than 10 transfers. “We gotta learn that we have to be set on the line of scrimmage. Our receivers kept moving. I don’t know how many off-sides we had and procedure penalties. We just had some tough stuff happen. Typical first game.” Offensively, things changed in the second half for Lake Mary. Buchholz made some halftime changes that seemed to befuddle the Rams and they could not move the football. The Rams did pick up some momentum in the third, after Jarman hit Brundidge with a short screen pass and he turned it into a 40-yard gain. But back-to-back penalties killed the drive. Back-to-back 3-and-out drives also didn’t help and Lake Mary only gained about 45 yards in the second half. “Offensively, what did we have? Maybe nine to 10 plays the second half, which is not enough,” Perry said. “Kept our defense on the field and they definitely got worn down.” Perry has two weeks to prepare for the Rams next game, at home against Oviedo, Aug. 28. Lake Mary is idle during the official opening week. Winter Park 28, Spruce Creek 7 Quarterback Onrique Archie ran for a touchdown and threw for a touchdown to lead Winter Park to victory in a Kickoff Classic game. Tristan Gunn caught the touchdown pass, and back-up quarterback Cade DePriest also had a touchdown pass to Smith Lessard. Josh Shaw scored on a rushing touchdown. Chris Hays can be found on X.com@OS_ChrisHays.