Ocoee Knights seek focus on Senior Night

OCOEE — Momentum was going Ocoee’s way on Homecoming Oct. 2, when it hosted Hagerty and scored 10 straight points to cut its halftime deficit to four points.

An in-sync offense that was doing all but scoring in the first half struggled in the third quarter, when Ocoee quarterback Steve Hogan followed a near-interception with another incomplete pass on third and 13 from his 30-yard line.

At least, that is what the Knights (2-3, 1-2) thought.

Officials converged and then determined the Ocoee receiver had caught the pass and fumbled, with the Huskies (3-2, 2-1) recovering.

“That’s always going to take the wind out of your sails a little bit, but with a sudden change defensively, you’ve got to be ready to play and be able to stop them when that happens,” head coach Ben Bullock said. “That’s the sign of a great defense and a true playoff team. Those things are going to happen.”

On the next play, Curtis Duren caught the winning touchdown with 4:44 left in the third quarter, just as the rain was subsiding.

But for Ocoee, a drizzle of mistakes became a storm.

A sack on third and eight forced another three-and-out. Then the Huskies blocked the punt attempt, plunging into the end zone from the Ocoee 2 on the next play to make it 28-10 just like that, still 2:25 left in the quarter.

“You just lost to a more disciplined team, who works harder and came ready to play,” Bullock told his players after the game. “That’s because they practiced. That’s not because they’re better than us.”

Contact Zak Kerr at [email protected].