Carol City batters Mainland 38-3 in season opener

A two-and-a-half hour lightning delay and four ejections hamper the Bucs' contest with the nationally ranked Chiefs.

  • By Michele Meyers
  • | 8:00 a.m. August 25, 2026
  • Ormond Beach Observer
  • Sports
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Penalty flags flew in the first quarter of the Mainland and Miami Carol City matchup on Friday, Aug. 21, as players took out their aggression on each other at Daytona Stadium.

The intensity escalated following a two-and-a-half-hour lightning delay, with three players and one assistant coach ejected. Buccaneers left the field battered and bruised after a 38-3 loss to the Chiefs.

Mainland head coach Jerrime Bell said most of the penalties were aggression-driven, and, he said, as a football coach, he could not be mad about it.

“It’s good physical football with two physical teams,” he said. “One team just imposes its will. Nothing more. Nothing less. What we have to clean up is the stuff that wasn’t aggression penalties, like doing stuff after the play just because, or talking to the sideline, or snatching a mouthpiece, and throwing it to the sideline. We have got to clean up that kind of stuff. That is not football.”

Carol City is currently ranked 11th nationally and fourth overall in Florida by MaxPreps. The Chiefs have multiple four-star recruits and five-star wide receiver Nick Lennear, who has committed to the University of Miami. In 2024, Lennear led Miami Northwestern to the Class 3A state championship and helped Northwestern to a runner-up finish last season before transferring to Carol City.


We’re not as good as we thought we were after Osceola, but we’re nowhere near as bad as what we showed tonight.
— JERRIME  BELL, Mainland football coach

Bell said he scheduled Carol City for the first week of the season to assess his team.

“We challenge ourselves to play a top-25 opponent just to see where we are,” he said. “We didn’t schedule them week 10 or 11. We play them week one for a reason. Now we regroup. We’re not as good as we thought we were after Osceola, but we’re nowhere near as bad as what we showed tonight.”

With under a minute left in the first quarter, Seabreeze transfer Casen MacDonald kicked a 43-yard field goal to give Mainland a 3-0 lead. MacDonald’s mom, Amie, missed the Seabreeze game being played across the street at Father Lopez High School to watch her son kick. She is the head cheer coach for the Sandcrabs. 

“He definitely was excited about being able to score in his first game with Mainland,” she said. “It was hard for me with my (cheer) girls across the street and me at the Mainland game. My normal resting heart rate is like 58 to 62. It was 95 sitting in the stands watching.”

Carol City answered with back-to-back touchdowns in the second quarter, a 5-yard run by Za’khari Johnson and an 8-yard reception by Lennear, to go ahead 14-3 with 4:20 left in the first half before the lightning delay.

After conferring at 10:05 p.m., Mainland Principal Dr. Melissa Fraine and Carol City Principal Dr. Bridget McKinney decided the game would continue following a 20-minute warmup. 

After a 98-yard kickoff return for a touchdown by Carol City's Santana Blount was called back for holding, Chiefs running back Arwin Jackson muscled his way 7 yards into the end zone to give the visitors a 21-3 lead at the half. In the third quarter, Blount came back to score on a 90-yard punt return.

Carol City defensive lineman Michael Williams Jr. and linebacker Tron Ledbetter, Mainland offensive lineman Chevin Davis Jr., and an assistant coach for the Bucs were ejected toward the end of the third quarter after Williams flipped Mainland quarterback Patrick Miller backwards over him as Miller threw a pass. 

With Davis out, the Bucs relied on the remaining upperclassmen and quite a few inexperienced offensive linemen. Bell said the O-line is very “thin” at this point. 

The Chiefs had three interceptions in the game. With a little over five minutes left, Mainland defensive lineman Ayden Lewis picked off a pass for the Bucs and broke several tackles before reaching the Chiefs’ 17-yard line. Teammates and coaches congratulated Lewis as he ran down the sidelines, shaking his head in disbelief.

Carol City finished with a field goal by Alexander Lima and a 32-yard touchdown reception by wide receiver Marvin McDonald.

Mainland has a bye this week, which will give the Bucs extra time to recuperate, regroup and rally. They travel to Nease on Sept. 4.

 

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