The Key West High School football team dominated last Friday night. The Conchs routed the Marathon Dolphins 50-0. This was Key West’s first victory of the season after two close losses to Lake Weir and University School.
Right from the start, the Conchs controlled the game. On the second play of the game, sophomore Alvin Howard intercepted the attempted screen pass by the Marathon offense and Key West quickly went up 8-0 just minutes into the first quarter.
Five minutes later, senior running back Mekhi Sargent would rush the ball straight up the Marathon defense and would score. With another successful two point conversion, the Conchs were up 16-0 mid first quarter. The fast paced offense would be too much for the Dolphins defense. By the end of the first quarter, Key West had a 22-0 lead.
Sargent would rush for 80 yards and scored three touchdowns just in the first half. By halftime, Key West had a 36-0 lead. Junior quarterback Michael Cleaver played the whole first half going two for five with a total of 66 yards, his longest pass of 40 yards. In the second half, sophomore quarterback Carson Hughes would take over as center. Hughes went two for three passing for 31 yards and a single touchdown. Senior John Mann rushed for 56 yards and a single touchdown, while sophomore Kolby Kelleher ran for 39 yards. The Conchs as a whole rushed for 338 yards on the night.
By the end of third quarter, the Conchs were up 50-0 and they would hold back on scoring again.
The entire fourth was scoreless as the Conchs allowed their third string offense to receive playing time. Marathon would never find success on offense the entire night. The high scoring win for the Conchs places Key West in the 22nd spot in terms of scoring in the state with 116 points.
Key West (1-2) will be traveling this Friday to face off against the North Broward Prep Eagles. The Eagles enter the game with a 2-0 record after their 39-0 non-league win over Ransom Everglades (Miami, FL).
The Conchs look to reach .500 in Friday night, while the Eagles look to extend their two game winning streak.
After the first three games, the Conchs are ranked second in the entire state of Florida in terms of a rushing yards with a total of 1,104 yards. After being voted as the statewide player of the week thanks to his week two performance, Sargent is ranked 28th in the state for individual rushing yards with 387 yards so far on the year.
The Conchs will have some work to do on defense as they will have to deal with the Eagle’s star studded offense. North Broward Prep has two key receivers on offense– Kevin Austin and CJ Riley. Riley, a senior, is a 4-star WR according to Yahoo!. Riley currently has offers from West Virginia, UCF, NC State, Duke and among 21 others.
Kevin Austin, a sophomore, currently holds offers from Syracuse and two other schools. The Eagles rushed for 208 yards last week against Ransom on just 21 carries. Junior running back Dymitri McKenzie rushed for 107 yards for his second straight week, while adding in three touchdowns.
North Broward Eagles enter undefeated and haven’t lost at home since 2013, with a current eight game home winning streak. Last season, Key West defeated the Eagles 54-14 in the Southernmost Point.
The Conchs look to end North Broward Prep’s eight game home winning streak as they travel up north this Friday night. Key West hopes for the same result as last season while North Broward seeks revenge under the lights at 7pm at Tom Marcy Field in a critical Gold Coast Conference match.
