East Lake defeated Sunlake 34-19 in a preseason classic game on a night both teams came together on the field to support Seahawks linebacker Xavier Johnson who returned wearing his number 42 jersey in a wheelchair as he fights to recover from a traumatic brain injury from a May tubing accident.

Eagles senior quarterback Bobby Goldinak hit on 19 of 29 passes for 240 yards and 2 touchdowns including a 40-yarder to junior wide receiver Bryce Miller with 19 seconds left in first half to go up 21-11 and a 35-yard screen pass to junior running back Xavier Jackson in fourth quarter to extend the lead to 34-11. Jackson had 16 carries for 107 yards including a 43-yard touchdown run in first quarter to put East Lake up 7-0 and also finished with 2 catches for 30 yards and a TD. Miller had 5 catches 87 yards 1 TD and 2 rushes for 25 yards.

On defense, the Eagles got a 60-yard interception return for a touchdown by Bryce Miller, 2 sacks from senior defensive lineman Logan Moleni, and tackle-for-losses by junior defensive back Tupac Blanch and by senior defensive linemen Julian Santos, Michael Del Duca, and Anthony LaRosa. Blanch also had a key 40-yard kickoff return in the last minute of half to set up a score after Seahawks pulled within 3 points.

Seahawks junior quarterback Justin Hall hit on 10 of his 21 passes for 150 yards including a 15-yarder to junior Cris Galdos with a minute left in the half to close the gap to 14-11. Junior wide receiver Tyler Peretti had 3 carries for 43 yards including a 35-yard touchdown run and had 5 catches for 51 yards. Senior wide receiver Nick Valdes had 183 all-purpose yards (all in the first half) – 2 catches for 69 yards and 3 kickoff returns for 114 yards including a 69-yard return late in first half to set up Sunlake’s first touchdown. Junior Ryan Clark added 82 all-purpose yards (60 Kick Return Yds, 12 Rush Yds, 10 Receiving Yds).

Defensively, senior defensive back Justin Beazley had 3 fumble recoveries and a forced fumble, junior defensive linemen Heyward Golden had 3 tackle-for-losses and Carson Reavis had a sack and a tackle-for-loss, and sophomore Adam Jarvis had 2 tackle-for-losses.

Next week, Sunlake will host Gulf and East Lake will have to travel to Palm Harbor University as the Eagles home field was resodded this week and will not be ready to be played on for a few weeks.