The Royal Palm Beach High School football team hosted Lake Worth High School on Monday, Oct. 28 for a makeup game rescheduled for one cancelled by Hurricane Dorian. The Trojans defeated the Wildcats 20-7.
Royal Palm Beach’s defense kept them in the game early when Lake Worth moved the ball steadily down the field, 52 yards inside the red zone, only to be stopped by the ferocious Wildcat front four. What the Trojans did accomplish during the drive was to eat up most of the first quarter clock, leaving less than two minutes before the Wildcats even took a snap on offense.
Royal Palm Beach (5-4) suffered from turnovers through the night. The first was after a reception for a first down was coughed up, giving Lake Worth possession in Wildcat real estate. A few plays later, the Trojans punched in the game’s first score from 18 yards out on a ground attack to go up 6-0 late in the first quarter.
To start the second quarter, Royal Palm Beach went three-and-out, but the Wildcat defense forced the Trojans into a punt situation, giving them another opportunity to make something happen, but they could not get a rhythm going. Lake Worth, on the other hand, began to grind out yardage, en route to another score with a three-yard touchdown run. The two-point play after lifted them to a 14-0 lead in the second quarter. The Wildcats drove to midfield but could not muster points to close the margin before the end of the first half.
Lake Worth extended their lead in the third quarter with an 11-yard touchdown run after another three-and-out Royal Palm Beach series. The Wildcats now found themselves trailing 20-0 deep in the third quarter.
Again, the Wildcat defense responded with a goal-line stand on a fourth-and-goal from the four-yard line, which gave life to the Royal Palm Beach offensive unit. Quarterback Peyton Mainolfi led the offense near midfield and linked up with De’juan Tolbert on a 60-yard touchdown pass.
Dominick Grosso’s kick narrowed the Lake Worth lead to 20-7. The Wildcats recovered an onside kick immediately after the score, with a chance to make it a one-score game, but the offensive unit failed to move the chains on a fourth-and-five, turning over possession to the Trojans.
Turnovers plagued the Wildcat offense and stopped them from closing the gap late in the game, and the Trojans were able to run out the final seconds on the game clock to claim the 20-7 victory.
Royal Palm Beach hosts Spanish River High School on Friday, Nov. 1. Kickoff is at 6:30 p.m.
