PHOTOS/RECAP: Ocoee suffers late heartbreak in 14-13 loss to Wekiva

With four seconds remaining in the game, the Ocoee Knights had a chance to win the game with a field goal — the kick would wind up being blocked though as the Wekiva Mustangs sealed up the 14-13 win to stay undefeated. 

In the game’s opening drive, Wekiva (5-0) drove right down the field and scored on a two-yard run by Larry Preston. After Ocoee was forced to punt, the Mustangs ran right down the field again, this time scoring on a 15-yard run by Preston to go up 14-0 with 2:24 remaining in the first quarter. 

The Knights (3-2) responded on the ensuing drive, scoring on a 10-yard run by Nick Wright. 

Following a huge stop on fourth down deep in their own territory, Ocoee got all the way inside Wekiva’s 10-yard line with 48 seconds left in the half. Coming out of a timeout before a critical third down, Nick Wright threw a pass intended for Tae’quan Johnson — the ball would be deflected off of Johnson and landed in the hands of Corey Jackson for a 9-yard touchdown. The two point conversion would be no good, as the Knights went into halftime down 14-13. 

Later in the second half, with 1:41 left in the game, Ocoee got the ball back with a chance to win the game. 

After two first down conversions and three pass interference penalties, the Knights were deep in Mustangs’ territory with just under 20 seconds left in the game. Wekiva would get a sack on the next play, forcing Ocoee to spike the ball to stop the clock with four seconds. With a chance to hand Wekiva their first loss of the season, the 35-yard field goal attempt was blocked as Wekiva held on to win by one point. 

“They put forth a hell of an effort,“ said Ocoee head coach Aaron Sheppard. “They hit us quick with 14 (points)… At the end we still had a chance, (but) just couldn’t make the play we needed.”  

Ocoee will look to snap their two game losing streak next week when they go on the road to take on the Evans Trojans (3-1) in a crucial district contest. 

“We gotta stop making mistakes,“ Sheppard said. “Once we fix that we’ll be good.”