Inverness, Fla. — The Villages High School football team earned its most lopsided win ever Friday night in Inverness.
The Buffalo defeated Citrus, 72-0, posting the largest margin of victory in program history to remain unbeaten this season. The 72 points were also a new single-game record, besting the previous mark of 70 points scored in a 70-14 win over Out-of-Door Academy back in 2010.
VHS (4-0) found the end zone on all nine of its offensive possessions — excluding a kneel-down to end the first half — and added an interception return for a touchdown in the runaway win over the winless Hurricanes (0-4).
"I'm really pleased that we came out and did what we said we wanted to do," said VHS head coach
Richard Pettus. "We said we wanted to come out, win every play and go dominate, and we did that for the most part. There's no question — there's still a lot of things we can clean up — but I'm happy with our effort and the way we played as a team tonight."
The Villages led 36-0 at the end of the first quarter, having scored three touchdowns near the opening period's halfway point.
Jadence Kennedy sandwiched two touchdown passes — one each to
Ja'Marian Clark and
Antwon Johnson — around a 19-yard interception return for a score by
Devonte Huff, giving the Buffalo a 22-0 advantage with 5:36 left in the first. VHS added a 55-yard touchdown run by
Kevonte Corbin and a throw-back touchdown pass from Corbin to the quarterback Kennedy for a 22-yard score and a 36-0 lead through the first 12 minutes.
Kennedy added three more passing touchdowns in the second quarter — finding
Brady Hunt,
Omari Hill and
Daniel Brant for scores — to set a new VHS single-game record with five passing touchdowns. The junior broke his own mark of four passing scores set in a 55-0 win over Citrus last season.
The Buffalo added a 16-yard touchdown run from
Maguire Mellinger to close out a 65-0 halftime lead, establishing new single-game records for the most first-half points and the largest halftime lead.
"You have to go let your players go play, and I thought we did that tonight," Pettus said. "Dominating the first half like we did and executing how we wanted to, that allowed us to get some of our younger guys in to get them experience. That means more to me right now than any record or the score."
The single-game points mark was broken with 5:50 to play in the fourth quarter, as
Christian Drain tallied a 3-yard rushing touchdown to cap a seven-play, 68-yard scoring drive. It was the only VHS offensive possession of the second half, which was played in its entirety with a running clock.
Kennedy finished 9-of-9 passing for 192 yards and the record-breaking five touchdowns, with Hunt hauling in three receptions for 96 yards and Hill adding 51 yards on three catches. Drain finished with 52 yards rushing on seven attempts.
Mellinger and Brant each had five tackles to spearhead the VHS defense, which recorded five sacks and forced three turnovers as a unit. The Buffalo outgained Citrus, 375-75, in total offense on the night.
In total, 10 different players scored touchdowns for VHS — also a new school record.
The Villages will now turn its attention toward its third and final road game in as many weeks, as the Buffalo take on Tavares (2-1) at 7 p.m. next Friday night in Lake County. The Bulldogs beat the Buffalo, 22-0, last season in Middleton.
"We've got to get back to work against a good football team," Pettus said. "We've got one heck of a challenge in front of us and we've got to be ready for it. (Tavares) got us pretty good last year and we're looking forward to it."
Cody Hills can be reached for questions or comment via email at cody.hills@tvcs.org.
