Week 2 Roundup: Merritt Island, Titusville capture big road wins

Merritt Island traveled to Melbourne on Aug. 28 for a Week 2 showdown after both teams secured blowout road wins in Week 1.

The Mustangs showcased its balanced and dynamic offense with explosive passing plays and powerful runs as they earned another road win 35-7 over the Bulldogs.

“I think it was an overall team win. We came out firing on all cylinders. They have a really good football team over there,” Merritt Island head coach Tyler Murray said. “The (Tyrese) Jefferson kid is unbelievable. He’s all over the place, but we came out, we had a game plan, we executed on both sides of the ball. I’m happy that we got it done.”

For the second straight week, Merritt Island scored 5 rushing touchdowns. Senior quarterback Kevin Verpaele found the end zone three times and junior Zaylan Chapple scored twice.

The starting offensive line of seniors Andrew Metcalf, Diego Alford and Joey Sonnenberg and juniors Bryce Phillips and Antwann Smiley spearheaded the success on offense.

“The running game has been awesome. These guys have been working so hard in practice and it’s really showing off,” Verpaele said. “They just keep doing their job and everyone’s doing their job. When we’re all doing our job together, we are one and that’s going to be a successful football team.”

After not scoring a touchdown in Week 1, Verpaele rushed for a career-high 3 touchdowns. He sported 4 career rushing touchdowns entering Aug. 28.

“It felt awesome. I haven’t been in the end zone for a while, so it felt great. My vision has grown tremendously,” Verpaele said. “I see that hole, I hit it whether it’s a pulling guard or whether I can maybe juke someone. I know when I should juke and I know when I should run and I know when I should slide.”

Verpaele opened the scoring with a 19-yard touchdown run with 3:58 remaining in the first quarter after a 39-yard completion to senior DeShaun Thomas put them in scoring position.

Just 41 seconds into the second half, Merritt Island extended its lead to 21-0 on a 12-yard touchdown run by Verpaele. On the first play of the second half, Chapple gained 56 yards while also drawing a face mask penalty.

The lead expanded to 28-0 on a 45-yard touchdown run by Verpaele with 3:43 left in the third quarter.

“It’s something we do with (Verpaele). We don’t do a ton of it, but we do it. Against Carrollwood Day, we ran him a bunch last year,” Murray said. “We just took advantage of what they gave us. Made teams prepare for another thing.”

The running game has been the perfect complement to the passing game, taking some of the load off Verpaele. Chapple has led the running game with 4 touchdowns in his first two games with the Mustangs.

Chapple scored on a 13-yard backwards pass from Verpaele to make it 14-0 late in the second quarter. He pushed the game to a running clock with a 31-yard touchdown run with 10:40 remaining.

“Zaylan Chapple is elite. When you have elite running backs, it opens up the passing game much better,” Verpaele said. “Shout out Zaylan, shout out the O-line. When the running game is good, the passing game is even better.”

Merritt Island’s defense was tasked to limit Melbourne sophomore running back Tyrese Jefferson after he rushed for 314 yards in Week 1. The Mustangs held Jefferson to just three runs of at least 20 yards.

“I think we may have kept him under 100 (yards). It’s going to be really close, so that’s a fantastic job,” Murray said. “We got a really good game plan going for them. We’re a 1-0 kind of guy. We’re trying to go 1-0 every week. We achieved our goal and we’re onto the next.”

Merritt Island improved to 2-0 and will end its season-opening road trip at Ponte Vedra on Sept. 4. The Sharks are 0-2 with a pair of one-possession defeats. They reached the Class 5A state semifinals last year.

“We don’t get a break. I’m excited to get the opportunity. They’re a good team. They’re a playoff-ready team,” Murray said. “They went to a final four last year. I’m just excited for our guys to compete against another really good opponent.”

Melbourne hung in there for a half, but Merritt Island’s depth proved to be too much for a shorthanded Bulldogs team.

“The score tells you enough. We got our butts handed to us. That’s a great football team. There’s no moral victories in that. Doesn’t feel good. Losing stinks. You got to find a way to respond adversity,” Melbourne head coach Jeff Pannucci said. “That’s probably a state-contending football team. We wanted to see where we’re at. No excuses. They put it on us from the jump. We had opportunities, we couldn’t finish and they took advantage.”

Bulldogs junior Will Reinhold started at quarterback for the injured CJ Hall. Hall picked up a shoulder injury and was held out as a precaution.

Reinhold ended the game completing 6-of-13 passes for 94 yards and 1 touchdown. The junior ended the shutout with a 43-yard touchdown pass to senior Howard Dewitt with 6:20 remaining in the fourth quarter.

“(Reinhold) did a great job. He stepped up. He did exactly what we asked him to do,” Pannucci said. “You can’t ask for anything more. That’s not a matter of even anybody’s performance. They just put it on us.”

Melbourne moved the ball deep into Merritt Island territory on its first two possessions, but the drives stalled out and the Bulldogs turned it over on downs both times. They turned it over on downs three times and fumbled the ball once.

“We moved the ball effectively and then we just kind of stalled out every single time. They took advantage of that. We needed to dictate the tempo of the game,” Pannucci said. “We did a good job at first, but by not finishing they have a lot of athletes, a lot of good players. That quarterback is special and he was special (tonight).”

The Bulldogs dropped to 1-1 and they’ll remain home to face Winter Springs on Sept. 4.

“It’s Week 2. We got young kids on the team,” Pannucci said. “They got to learn how to respond to adversity. We just got to turn the page, pick ourselves up and keep go...