Week 11 Brevard County high school football roundup, including the Barbecue Bowl
Cocoa, Heritage, Eau Gallie and Titusville each finished the 2023 high school football regular season with nine wins on Friday, Week 11 of the 2023 season.
At Palm Bay, legendary coach Dan Burke hit a career milestone.
Honors: Brevard coaches name FACA All-District 12 Football 2023
Cocoa 26, Rockledge 0
The Tigers won the Barbecue Bowl for the fourth year in a row, this time at McLarty Stadium.
Cocoa built a 17-0 lead by halftime, but both defenses controlled the second half.
Nicholas Teeter scored on a 26-yard run and a 22-yard pass from Brady Hart, who also threw a scoring pass to C.J. Bragg. Hart enters the postseason with 31 touchdown passes.
Cocoa completed its regular season at 9-1 and should be the No. 1 seed in Region 3-2S when FHSAA pairings are announced Sunday. Rockledge, expecting a berth in the Class 3S field, dropped to 5-5.
Palm Bay 35, Satellite 21
The Pirates' home victory likely assured the team of a Class 2S playoff spot and gave Dan Burke his 250th career win as well as his 221st at Palm Bay, the most by a high school football coach at a Brevard County school.
Now 7-3, Palm Bay got three rushing touchdowns from Bradyn Cook.
A Noah Flores 70-yard scoring run midway through the third period brought Satellite (5-5) within 28-14. Then, with the visitors threatening to draw within a score in the fourth, Antwuan Fedrick returned an interception 90 yards for a Pirates touchdown and a 35-14 lead with 7:25 to play.
Heritage 47, Bayside 7
The Panthers jumped on the Bears in this crosstown rivalry game and finished their season at 9-1.
Tayshawn Benson ran for a pair of touchdowns, and Joe Tenta threw two touchdown passes, including a 30-yarder to Axzavian Alexander, his seventh of the season. Now, the District 11-4S champs will wait for Sunday's announcement of FHSAA playoff pairings.
Eau Gallie 50, Melbourne 0
The Commodores cut their deficit in the neighborhood series to 38-20-1 with the shutout on the road.
Jay Latson, who came off the bench to throw the winning touchdown pass against Rockledge last week, recovered a fumble on a punt attempt in the end zone to start the scoring. Mari Crooms went on to throw three touchdown passes, including one to D.L. Hardison that covered 73 yards.
Tay Welch nearly matched that distance on a 62-yard scoring run, and Redman Thompson returned a fumble 12 yards to the end zone.
Eau Gallie improved to 9-1, and Melbourne dropped to 2-8.
Titusville 35, Viera 28
The Terriers claimed their ninth win of the season with the road victory.
Titusville scored the final two touchdowns in the tight game that was determined largely by turnovers. Each of the four first-half scores was set up by a turnover. When the Hawks tried to drive the field for a tying score in the final minutes, Davionte Strozier intercepted a pass tipped by Ray Wilson-Polydor to clinch the win.
Titusville improved to 9-1, and the Hawks finished the regular season 5-4 with longshot hopes for a Class 4S playoff spot.
Finals: Week 11 Brevard County high school football scoring summaries
Eustis 32, Merritt Island 28
The Mustangs gave up a 96-yard kickoff return touchdown to start the game, and it was back-and-forth from there.
Merritt Island led, 28-21, following a Kaseem Ross 1-yard run with 6:43 to play, but the visitors scored twice in the final 3:21.
Now 6-4, the Mustangs will learn of their postseason fate on Sunday.
Calvary Christian 56, Holy Trinity 13
The Tigers fell behind quick in the loss to the team from Clearwater.
Holy Trinity finished the regular season 7-3.
Cocoa Beach 28, Interlachen 7
Thursday at Cocoa Beach, the Minutemen built a three-touchdown lead and held on in a Sunshine State Athletic Association game.
Aaron Garber, Zane Sherrer and Logan Silvea scored on the ground to give Cocoa Beach a 21-0 lead early in the third quarter. Santi Chavez added a fourth-quarter rushing touchdown to keep the visitors at bay.
Merritt Island Christian 24, Countryside Christian 22
The Cougars won their Sunshine State Athletic Association game Thursday and will host Hernando Christian on Nov. 10.
Against Countryside, Genesis Grimstead scored on a 15-yard rush, a 66-yard passing play from Bode Handwork and ran for a 2-point conversion.
In Hernando, 7-4 MIC will face a team that handed the Cougars one of their four losses (21-6 on Oct. 13).
Old Plank Christian 30, Calvary Chapel 14
In this Sunshine State Athletic Association 8-man game, the Eagles fell at home to 6-5.
This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Brevard County 2023 Week 11 high school football roundup
