Lake Gibson denies Auburndale in OT

AUBURNDALE — Lake Gibson coach Robert Paxia said it twice, and he was right.

“Big players make big plays in big games,” Paxia said after the Braves’ 26-20 overtime win over Auburndale in a big early season Class 6A, District 9 game at Auburndale’s Bruce Canova Stadium.

Both teams came into the game 3-0 overall. It was the first district game of the season, so the win gives the Braves a leg up in the Class 6A-9 district race. The two teams are in a district with Palm Bay Bayside, Palm Bay Heritage and Kissimmee Gateway.

While there were big plays by several players on both teams, none were bigger than two plays made by Lake Gibson running back Jaylon Glover and two by safety JyVonte McClendon.

Glover scored a game-tying touchdown with 10 seconds left in regulation on a 16-yard pass from Logan Hackett, then scored on a 10-yard run on the Braves’ first play in overtime.

McClendon had a 95-yard interception return for a touchdown in the third quarter that not only stopped an Auburndale scoring threat but gave the Braves a 14-6 lead at the time, then he sealed the game with an interception at the goal line in overtime.

“I saw it coming,” said McClendon, a 6-foot-2 sophomore, of his game-clinching interception. “They tried it the first time, I saw it coming the second time.”

On the 95-yard interception, McClendon said, “I just read the slant and my coach told me it was coming. I read it good and just caught it and took off.”

For Glover, it was a workmanlike night. He finished with 75 yards and two rushing touchdowns on 24 carries, and he also had the big 16-yard touchdown reception in the closing seconds to send the game to overtime.

“It was overtime and we had to get the win,” Glover said of his overtime touchdown run. “Our defense played a heck of a game.”

There was little doubt the Braves wanted the ball in Glover’s hands with the game on the line.

“Big players make big plays in big games right? We put the ball in one of our best player’s hands and we got some great blocking; that play in overtime, you don’t block any better than that and he just made it happen.”

The overtime TD was Glover’s third touchdown of the night. He also scored on a 7-yard run in the second quarter, helping the Braves take a 7-6 halftime lead.

Not all of the big plays were limited to Lake Gibson, though.

Auburndale also produced its share of big plays throughout the game.

The biggest came with 1:50 to play when Norman Babers took a pass in the flat from quarterback Sabata Bridges and made several Lake Gibson defenders miss him on his way to a 62-yard touchdown that gave Auburndale a 20-14 lead.

For the night, Bridges finished 18 of 27 for 274 yards, and Tadarius Thomas had 50 yards and a pair of touchdowns on runs of 2 and 11 yards. His 11-yarder and Merari McCullough’s two-point conversion run tied the game at 14 early in the fourth quarter.