Rucker's big game ignites Lakeland football's offensive explosion

Editor's Note: This story has been updated to adjust D'Marius Rucker's rushing total. One rush was attributed to Rucker instead of Carlos Mitchell. Rucker finished with 278 yards in stead of the 351 yards as orginally reported.

LAKELAND — D’Marius Rucker’s senior season was hardly going as planned. He missed large chunks of the season because of injuries, but one game has instantly made this a memorable year.

Rucker fell just short of 300 yards rushing as he rushed for 278 yards in a game that likely set some school offensive records as the Dreadnaughts outlasted Lake Minneola, 77-48, on Friday night in the Class 4S, Region 2 finals at Bryant Stadium.

Lakeland (10-3) advanced to the state semifinals and will travel to Gainesville to play Buchholz at 7:30 p.m. at Citizens Field. Buchholz advanced with a 37-17 win over Bartram Trail. DeLand will play at Venice in the other semifinal game.

Rucker, who also had 58 yards on three receptions, had five runs of 20 or more runs. His 278 yards was just of joining Steward Butler and Chris Rainey with 300 yards in a playoff game. Butler’s has the single-game team record of 367 yards set against Hagarty in the 2010 playoffs. Chris Rainey's had the old record of 326 yards set against Daytona Beach Mainland in the 2006 state semifinals.

Postseason look: What you need to know for Polk County teams in Round 3 of the football playoffs

Playoff scores: Get Polk County high school football regional finals scores here

“We came out here with a plan,” Rucker said. “Early in the season, I faced adversity, and I just want to get all the credit to my O-line. They gave all effort for me. We just came here with a plan. I just want to execute that plan and be it for my team. My goal tonight was just put my team on my back, and let's get this win.”

Rucker, who missed the last six games of the regular season, now has 575 yards for the season, just 27 yards behind Markel Johnson.

“This is truly a blessing,” Rucker said. “It could have been worse. I could have missed all of them.”

Rucker’s peformance, however, just touched the offensive fireworks the two teams produced. Let’s take a look:

■ Lakeland rushed for 642 yards and finished with 766 yards of total offense, including 440 yards in the first half.

■ Minneola quarterback Jackson Hughes completed 24 of 44 passes for 457 yards, and the Hawks finished with 607 yards of total offense.

■ In addition to Rucker, who scored three times, Markell Johnson rushed for 103 yards and two touhdowns on nine carries to remain the Dreadnaughts’ leading rusher this season with 602 yards.

■ Jordan Henderson returned form injury and had a 53-yard touchdown run to finish with 89 yards on five carries.

■ Carlos Mitchell had an 83-yard kickoff return to go along with 74 yards rushing and receiving.

“We’re finally healthy,” Lakeland coach Marvin Frazier said. “We haven’t been healthy since the first game against Norland. So on a night like this, we felt good about running the ball. They gave us some things in the passing game, but until they stopped us, we had to stay with it."

Lakeland trailed 14-7 in the first half but scored three unanswered touchdowns to take a 28-14 lead before Lake Minneola scored late to make it 28-21 at the half.

Lakeland maintained at least a one-possession lead until late in the third quarter. Johnson scored to make it 49-35 before the Dreadnaughts made a rare defensive stop for either team.

A blocked punt gave Lakeland the ball at the Lake Minneola 14, and Mitchell scored three plays later to make it a three-possession game.

This article originally appeared on The Ledger: FHSAA football playoffs: Rucker's big game ignites Lakeland