Choctaw routs South Walton, 45-14

By ADAM PRUIETT

Florida Freedom Newspapers
(850) 315-4484 | adamp@nwfdailynews.com

FORT WALTON BEACH - To play off former NFL coach Dennis Green, the Choctawhatchee football team did what we thought they'd do.

Or maybe did what they should do.

Facing overmatched South Walton, a 2B school, the 4A Indians expectedly scored at will Friday night during a 45-14 victory at Etheredge Stadium.

South Walton's defense has struggled at times against like competition, so Choctaw's size, strength and athleticism posed an impossible challenge. That was particularly true of Le'Keefe Robinson. The senior tailback surpassed 100 yards on his seventh carry and finished the first half - and game for that matter - with 166 yards rushing and three touchdowns on 11 carries, the latter score coming from 41 yards out on his final carry.

Choctaw (4-3) scored early and often, needing only 19 plays to score its six touchdowns, all coming before halftime and taking less than 2 minutes. Quarterback David Weber connected with Devontee Lawson for a 37-yard touchdown and also scampered in from the 8, while Freddie Gray opened the scoring with a 41-yard burst.

The game affected the team's records, but meant little else in the big picture. Both teams have considerably bigger games to play, ones with postseason ramifications.

"We wanted to iron out some wrinkles in our game and get some of the players who haven't played this year some game-time experience," Robinson said. "Injuries or anything else could happen."

Perhaps most important for the Seahawks was that coach David Barron said the team came out of the game healthy. Still, even though his team couldn't expect to win the contest, Barron wanted to see a better overall effort.

"I was truly expecting us to play a little better than we did in the first half, give a better challenge," Barron said. "Our kids are better than what we played in the first half. That was disappointing."

South Walton (5-2) had one nice drive in the first half, going 77 yards in seven plays as Cody Adams threw a strike to Hunter Infinger on a 30-yard touchdown pass to cut Choctaw's lead to 21-7. But it was all Choctaw after that, as the Seahawks trailed 45-7 at intermission before Bryant Adams capped the scoring with a 6-yard plunge during a second half that featured a running clock.

South Walton had nothing to lose and played like it. The Seahawks attempted an onside kick, a wide receiver pass after a lateral and a fake punt. Only the onside kick worked, though.

Choctaw's Phillip Roebuck intercepted two passes and Dexter Zackery added another.