- December 4, 2025
Mainland drove inside the DeLand 20-yard line twice in the fourth quarter, but the Bulldogs held the Buccaneers to zero points during both trips to preserve a 28-20 victory Friday, Oct. 3, in DeLand.
The Bulldogs snapped a four-game losing streak to their east county rivals with their first win against the Bucs since 2019.
Sophomore running back Taihj Moore had a hand in all four DeLand touchdowns. Moore ran for three touchdowns and threw for a 29-yard score on a double-pass play on fourth down late in the second quarter.
Moore rushed for 153 yards on 19 carries. Marceles Carey added 53 yards rushing on 12 carries for the Bulldogs, who improved to 6-0 and moved up to No. 2 in the Class 7A rankings behind Vero Beach.
Braylyn Simmons rushed for 97 yards with two touchdowns for the Bucs (4-2). Kadin Flores scored on a 60-yard kickoff return in the second quarter. Simmons scored on a 23-yard run on the last play of the third quarter. The Bucs missed the extra point to trail 21-20. But Moore scored his third touchdown early in the fourth quarter to extend the Bulldogs’ lead.
With a chance to tie, Simmons fumbled inside the 20-yard line. The Bucs got the ball back and moved inside the Bulldogs’ 10-yard line with under three minutes left, but were held to 1 yard on four plays.
Mainland coach Jerrime Bell said DeLand and Coffee, Georgia, were probably the two best football teams the Bucs have played this season.
“They’re a really good football team,” he said of DeLand. “They’re about on par with Coffee. They’re both tough in the trenches, have really good running backs and stout defenses. They have similar style offenses as well.”
The Bucs defeated Coffee 14-7 on the road on Sept. 19.
Bell said linebackers Tamaj Woodard (12 tackles) and Dennis King (10 tackles) had big games even with the Bulldogs piling up 315 yards of offense.
“They both played lights out,” Bell said. “Your’e not going to stop that offense. They did a good job of containing the run game.”
Mainland quarterback Sebastian Johnson completed 10 of 18 passes for 126 yards. It was the first game this season that the Bucs were held to under 200 yards passing.
Mainland has a bye this week. The Bucs will be back home on Oct. 17 against Palm Bay Heritage.
“We need (the bye week) to get healthy,” Bell said. “With a schedule like we’ve had, it’s good to rest and get healthy and get ready for another deep playoff run.”
