DeLand crushes Treasure Coast, reaches FHSAA football Final 4 for first time since '09

PORT ST. LUCIE — Rick Darlington induced a few cheers as he addressed his players, perhaps none bigger than when he said he would see them for practice Monday.

For the first time since 2009, DeLand will play into December.

TJ Moore threw for 247 yards, rushed for 107 yards and accounted for five touchdowns as the Bulldogs prevailed 37-6 in a single-wing showdown with Treasure Coast in Friday night's Region 3-4S final. Javon Ross caught eight balls for 208 yards and three scores, and DeLand's defense limited the host Titans to just 9 yards of offense in the first half.

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DeLand (11-2) will travel to Venice next week in one FHSAA Class 4S semifinal, while Buchholz hosts Lakeland in the other. The winners will head to Tallahassee the following week for the state championship game.

"This is why I came," said Darlington, a three-time state champion at Apopka who took the job two Decembers ago after a three-year run at Enterprise High in Alabama. "I thought this is what DeLand could be. I saw them do it in 2009 and thought, 'Man, that could be special.' There were times where I wanted to come, but the timing wasn't right. We finally got it worked out.

"It's been great. The community's gotten on board, the players have gotten on board. I've got a great staff. I'm thankful on Thanksgiving."

Treasure Coast, which won rematches against both Osceola and Vero Beach the last two weeks, ended with a 9-3 record.

"It's almost like we just came out flat, the flattest we could be," Titans coach Irvin Jones said. "It's almost like our kids didn't have any energy about themselves at the beginning. Maybe it was a turkey hangover."

DeLand, meanwhile, marched down the field out of the gate with a composed, 10-play, 83-yard scoring drive that spanned nearly half the opening quarter. Moore broke loose for runs of 23 and 33 yards, and then hit Jonathan Baker for an icebreaking 4-yard TD pass on third-and-goal.

Moore, a 6-foot-2, 215-pound senior, connected twice with Ross within the opening six minutes of the second quarter. The senior quarterback saw his primary target streaking all alone up the seam for a 55-yard score to put the Bulldogs up 21-0.

"We knew if we dominated in the single-wing that those passes were going to be there," Moore said. "My coach said he wanted to take some shots, and I completed them.

"Javon told me he didn't know he was going to be that wide open. He said he was going to drop the ball, but he didn't. I'm happy he caught it and made the touchdown."

DeLand put another 10 points on the board on opposite sides of halftime. Christian Baez split the uprights for a 20-yard field goal, and Wyatt Darlington recovered a fumble to set up Moore's 19-yard fourth-down strike to Ross.

Wyatt Darlington, typically used as the team's H-back and tight end, was deployed at linebacker due to his familiarity with the opposing offensive scheme.

"I didn't expect to go every snap on defense, but it happened to be that way," said Wyatt, a senior who played all of last season on a torn ACL. "It was worth it, definitely."

Treasure Coast scored its lone touchdown in the third quarter as Ahmar Atwell scrambled 23 yards to the end zone on a fourth-and-long. The Bulldogs bottled up a ground game that averaged 199 yards per game and scored 29 rushing touchdowns.

Next up, DeLand will take on one of the state's hottest teams. Venice (11-2) has reeled off 11 wins in a row since starting the campaign with consecutive defeats to Armwood and Cocoa.

Venice features an explosive offense under the controls of Central Michigan commit Jadyn Glasser, and one of Florida's most lethal secondaries, led by Florida State commit Charles Lester III.

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: High school football: DeLand beats Treasure Coast in Region 3-4S final