Eastside outclassed by Gainesville 40-0

GAINESVILLE | It was pretty much over before it started as the Hurricanes of Gainesville High, in dominating fashion, showed the Rams of Eastside why they’re the top-ranked team in 6A and best in the city.

The Canes (5-0, 1-0) playing with confidence, and speed got out of the blocks fast with a 50-yard pass from Mark Cato to Larry Prunty on the second play from scrimmage. Cato then connected with Kendric Young for a 10 yard TD pass to go up 14-0. Cato finished off the first half scoring with a short 2 yard run to push the score to 20-0.

Cato again got the scoring going in the second half. He capped the Cane’s first drive of the half with a 10 yard run for a touchdown. Cato finished the night with 184 yards though the air and accounted for 4 TD’s.

Ralph Webb and Tony James also got in on the action. The running back duo combined for 235 yards on the ground. Webb rushed for 126 yards on 15 carries including a 50 yard TD. While James used 10 carries to run for 109 yards and a score.

The Canes leading ground gainer wasn’t shy in vocalizing the confidence he ran with during the game. As his confidence spilled over to the post-game with a simple, straight-forward message for GHS’s other in-county rival. “We’re going to beat Buchholz too!”

The Rams (2-3,1-0), which looked uninspired and out of sync, did the thing that Coach Jeff Parker said they couldn’t do if they were to win the game, make mistakes. “We made a lot of mistakes and the score is evident of that.”

The Canes jump back into district play next week, traveling to Citrus (3-2, 1-1) while Eastside will look to rebound, as they host Belleview (1-3, 0-1) on Thursday in District 5-5A play.