Lightning derails Westminster Christian High School’s comeback against Sebring High
By David Furones Sept5, 2019
Westminster Christian had all the momentum against visiting Sebring before its comeback attempt was struck short by lightning Saturday.
Down by three touchdowns at halftime, the Warriors scored twice and recovered a fumble to get the ball back before a second lighting delay eventually ended the contest.
With the second half already underway, the non-district game was called official, and Westminster, ranked No. 4 in the Associated Press Florida Class 3A rankings, took the 21-13 loss.
Down 21-0 at halftime, Elbre Gaiter scored twice in the third quarter to get the Warriors (1-1) back in the game. First, he reached the end zone on a 44-yard pass from Christian Matos a minute and a half into the second half, and later capped a 10-play, 58-yard drive with a 1-yard touchdown run on fourth-and-goal.
Junior linebacker Daniel Duasso fell on a fumble to give Westminster possession with 32 seconds remaining in the third quarter, but that was when the lightning alarm went off, creating more than an hour-long delay and ultimately finishing the game as it was accompanied by heavy rain.
There was another short delay at halftime.
With five catches, Gaiter finished with 101 receiving yards. Matos threw for 167 yards, a touchdown and an interception, completing 12 of 19 passes, including his last six before the game was called.
Along with Duasso, Darian Stephenson also recovered a fumble for the Warriors. Sebring (2-0), which plays in Class 6A, let Westminster know it wasn’t going to see a repeat of its blowout Week 1 victory against Champagnat early.
The Blue Streaks drove for the first six minutes on an 11-play, 80-yard drive resulting in a Duran Randolph touchdown run. Randolph scored later in the first quarter to go up by three scores on a screen pass that went for 64 yards. In between the two Randolph touchdowns, Sebring’s DyGeriyan Barge returned an interception 40 yards for a touchdown.
