By PATRICK CASEY
The Walton Braves rolled up almost 500 yards of total offense as they defeated the South Walton Seahawks 41-0 on Friday night at Everette Yates Memorial Stadium.
The Braves won their 2010 Homecoming game while also breaking a two-game losing streak as senior Steven Myrick caught three touchdown passes while rushing for 197 yards on the night.
Walton built a 28-0 halftime lead as the Braves defense posted 10 tackles for negative yardage in the game while adding one sack in holding the Seahawks to 120 total yards on the night. The Seahawks were only able to penetrate inside the Braves 40-yard line on their final possession of the game.
Senior Jay Gatto led the Seahawks with 65 rushing yards as the visiting team played the contest without quarterback Dylan Asbury and wingback Zack Parker. Walton senior quarterback Liam Miller threw for 200 yards and had five touchdown passes before giving way to Brendan Leach, who tossed a touchdown pass of his own to Conona Tarrant for the last score of the contest with 6:01 remaining in the fourth quarter for the final margin of 41-0.
Walton defensive ends Chris Hall and Deon Lee each had three tackles for loss as they led a stout defense that jammed the line of scrimmage to try and stop the running of Gatto and fullback Keith Stewart. The Braves were successful as they forced eight punts on the night and had good field position for a majority of the game.
The game was played on a chilly evening but that did not keep the Walton fans from turning out for the game. At halftime, drum major Zambia Campbell was named the Homecoming Queen with Luke Andrews chosen as the Homecoming King.
Walton (6-3) will play their final regular season home game on Friday night as they host the Vernon Yellowjackets (7-2) at Everette Yates Memorial Stadium at 7 p.m.
Vernon was denied a playoff berth on Friday night as the Yellowjackets were defeated by Northview 47-19, giving the Chiefs the runner-up spot to Freeport in District 1 of Class A.
Walton earned a playoff spot as runner-up to Pensacola Catholic in District 1 of Class 2B after the Crusaders rallied to defeat Chipley 14-7 on Friday.