A stretch of lighting in the area could not prolong Island Coast picking up a win over Mariner Friday night at home, as the Gators pulled out a 12-6 decision.

A 7:30 p.m. kickoff was pushed back more than an hour, as both teams took the field right around 9.

A quartet of fourth down stops propelled Island Coast (2-3) to the win, coupled with another stellar outing for senior running back Gervaris Leaphart, who galloped for 163 yards on 26 carries, including a touchdown.

“I think we battled tonight,” said Gators head coach Tyran Jones. “We finally got over the hump of being in a tight game and us coming out on top.”

The Tritons’ (1-4) offense came out with some firepower, as a long pass from Kaelan Davidson found Steven Carter to set up Mariner in Island Coast territory. But the defense stood strong, and came up with the first of four fourth down stops with their backs against the wall.

Mariner got the ball back after an Island Coast punt, starting the drive on the Island Coast 43 and working all the way down to the 13 yard line. The Gator defense again bent, but did not break, as a sack on fourth down turned Mariner over once again.

“For us, we were finally able to battle adversity,” Jones said. “We took practice so serious this week and hit the ground running. We worked on a lot of tackling, and facing our small errors.”

The third drive was the charm for the Gators offense, as Leaphart led the way down the field and capped it with a 7-yard score to give the home team a 6-0 advantage, with a 2-point conversion attempt unsuccessful.

On the Tritons’ first possession of the second half, a long snap sailed over the head of the Mariner punter to give Island Coast a first-and-goal situation from the 9-yard-line.

On the first play on the drive, it was Christian Hender-son who found an edge and ran into the end zone to extend the lead to 12-0.

The third turnover for the Gators came after they fumbled a punt return, giving Mariner the ball on the Island Coast 8 yard line. Once again, the defense was up to the task, held strong and did not allow the opponent to score on four downs.

The Tritons did not give up, though, as Mariner’s Marvens Saintil came up with an interception on the Gators’ ensuing possession. Though it was the same story once again for the Tritons offense, as the team this time worked its way down to the Island Coast 3 yard line and not cashing in.

“A couple times I thought about maybe kicking a field goal,” said Mariner head coach Brian Staats of the red zone opportunities. “But, you know, it’s a ‘could’ve, would’ve, should’ve’ kind of thing.”

Mariner wasn’t quite ready to throw in the towel, as another big pass play set the Tritons up inside the Gator 10. Kameron Wilcox eventually scored from 3 yards out to cut the deficit to 12-6 with 5:35 left, but Island Coast was able to run out the clock behind the running prowess of Leaphart

Of his senior back, who is averaging more than 132 rushing yards per game and has eight total touchdowns thus far, Jones had high praise.

“He never ceases to amaze me,” Jones said. “You think he’s stopped in the backfield, and boom, there’s another 70 yards. It’s just every week. That’s who he is.”

Of the combination of Leaphart and Henderson, Jones called them “lightning and thunder.”

“That’s who they are. It’s about getting Christian involved and him stepping up only being a sophomore and getting those real game-time touches and putting the ball in his hand so he can make plays.”

Staats called it a “lackluster effort” from his squad on the night.

“I don’t know why, we kind of just at times went through the motions, and when we tried to turn it on, it was either too late, or just wasn’t there,” he said. “We wanted to try and throw the ball a bit to open it up so we could open up the running game, but we didn’t execute very well in the passing game. We’ve got to keep working at it and get better.”

Next week, Mariner hosts Ida Baker (0-5) in a district contest, while Island Coast travels to Lemon Bay (1-3) also in district play.

1 2 3 4 F

MARINER 0 0 0 6 — 6

ISLAND COAST 0 6 6 0 — 12

2nd Quarter

IC: Gervaris Leaphart, 7-yard run (2-pt fail); 2:43

3rd Quarter

IC: Christian Henderson, 9-yard run (2-pt fail); 7:36

4th Quarter

M: Kameron Wilcox, 3-yard run (2-pt fail); 5:35