Gainesville Routes Forest: Are The Canes For Real?

The Gainesville Hurricanes defeated the Forest Wildcats 33-15 Thursday night.

Hurricanes Head Coach Ian Scott has flipped the script in his second season. Gainesville has already won four games this year. Last year, the team managed a single victory. The year before that - nothing.

However, it’s hard to tell how good Gainesville is at this point in the season. At the halfway mark, the Canes are 4-1. However, the opponents they’ve defeated have a combined record of 2-15. They scored 30 points in all but three of their wins.

Their next opponent will be no slouch. In two weeks, they will face city rival Buchholz. The Bobcats have won the last five meetings against the Canes. Buchholz is also coming off of a state-semifinal appearance last season. The game will be a true test to see how far of a jump Scott’s program has taken.

Canes Strike First

No one scored in the opening quarter as both teams struggled to move the ball down the field. Gainesville alternated between juniors Nelson Tambling and Jaishawn Sanford at quarterback on their first four drives of the game. Running back Devin Johnson ran well in the first, but the offense seemed to go away from him at times.

Tambling quarterbacked all of the drives for Gainesville in the second quarter. On the second drive, he led his team down the field and handed the ball off to Johnson for a two-yard touchdown run. After the defense forced a three-and-out, Tambling showed off his dual-threat capabilities. He rolled out right and then took off for a 35-yard touchdown run. Gainesville led 13-0 at halftime.

Canes Run Away

Gainesville led 20-0 going into the fourth after Johnson scored his second touchdown. He would finish with three rushing touchdowns.

Forest moved the ball well toward the end of the third quarter. In desperate need to score, they went four it on fourth down and failed to convert. However, they dove deep into their bag of tricks on their first possession of the fourth quarter. Quarterback Caleb Sanford rolled out left and threw a pass to Armani Macfarland behind the line of scrimmage. Macfarland then took a few steps and let one fly to a wide-open Desean Freeman to put the Wildcats on the board. While still down by three scores, the Forest sideline erupted.

The teams would trade scores over the final possessions of the game.