“2-0 definitely feels better than 1-1.”
Those were the thoughts of South Walton Head Coach Phil Tisa after the Seahawks defeated the Vikings 35-0 at Steve Riggs Stadium to trigger running clock and improve to 2-0 on the season.
It was a complete team effort from everyone involved.
South Walton overcame an early drive that stalled after a failed fake punt, and after a Fort Walton Beach drive got into Seahawks territory before stalling out, quarterback JD Brown led a drive all the way down the field, capped by a 23-yard touchdown pass to Treiy Crenshaw to put the Seahawks up 7-0.
Following another stalled Vikings drive, Brown led another scoring drive, this time connecting with Carter Hawk from 27 yards out to make it 14-0 before the first quarter ended.
In the second quarter, South Walton drove all the way to the Vikings’ one-yard line before Connor Rooney took it in on the wildcat to put the Seahawks up 21-0 heading into halftime.
In the second half, Fort Walton Beach began to play better. The Vikings defense tightened up entering the third quarter, but the Seahawks would not break. With five minutes remaining in the third, Max Madden scored a rushing touchdown to push the lead to 28-0.
After that, the Vikings offense began to show signs of life.
What looked like another Seahawks stop with two minutes left in the third turned into a first down when Eli Crozier converted on a fake punt. Then, Lavin McDaniel hit Logan Smith, who took it to the Seahawks’ 32 as time expired in the third quarter, and Fort Walton Beach moved to the South Walton 18 off a pass-interference penalty.
But as was the case all game, the Seahawks defense had an answer for the Vikings offense in the end.
Fort Walton Beach nearly scored on third-and-10, but Luc Ritchie broke up a McDaniel pass. McDaniel’s fourth-down pass fell short, and Madden added another rushing touchdown with six minutes remaining to trigger running clock and put the exclamation point on a dominant Seahawks victory.
Through two games, the Seahawks offense has put up 85 points. Brown has a talented cast of playmakers in Crenshaw, Hawk, Madden and Gabe Parenton, plus what might be one of the best offensive lines of the Tisa era.
“We’ve got some talent and some playmakers,” Tisa said.
“Those guys make me look good sometimes,” Brown added. “Offensive line is actually the most impressive thing so far, getting more time in the pocket.”
The players on the field see it too.
“Offense has been doing great. We have a lot of talent, we have a great QB, our RB is doing really well, we have an o-line we’ve never had at South Walton before,” Rooney added.
The Seahawks defense has not given up a point through two games.
“Defense is phenomenal,” Tisa said. “You look at it right now, we’re 85-0 on the season so far, so that’s a heck of a performance.”
It is a unit that keeps getting deeper.
“Every week it’s getting better and better,” Rooney added. “We’ve got a group of 12, 13 guys who can go out there anytime. We’ve got depth that we’ve never had, and they can all play.”
“Whenever a defense shuts out teams, it makes it easy to win games,” Brown added. “The last two games, we’ve only had to score once each game and we would’ve won.”
