Hear Cocoa head football coach Ryan Schneider after Seminole win
Cocoa head football coach Ryan Schneider spoke after his Tigers’ Week 7 Seminole win, Oct. 6, 2023.
COCOA – Cocoa High football coach Ryan Schneider’s third-quarter ejection on Friday night seemed to galvanize his team, but it remains to be seen how many future Friday’s he’ll miss.
Cocoa, the No. 1 team in Class 2S, beat Seminole, the No. 2 team in Class 4M, 28-3 behind a pair of touchdown passes from Brady Hart to Jayvan Boggs, but the celebration was somewhat subdued because of Schneider’s ejection.
The state-championship-winning coach was ejected with 8:51 remaining in the third quarter after the Cocoa sideline was flagged for the fourth time. Schneider could be heard telling the official he was going to send the game film into the Florida High School Athletic Association, but the officiating crew claimed he cursed. Cocoa athletic director Mark Carstens said Schneider did not curse and the school would be appealing any suspension. Defensive coordinator Matt Diesel was the acting head coach for the remainder of the game.
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“I thought it was a herky-jerky game,” Schneider said. “Both teams were playing hard; both teams were competing at a high level. I’m proud of our kids. We always talk about, ‘How do you handle adversity? How are you going to handle it when bad things happen?’ The kids handled it well. I’ve never been so proud to be a coach at Cocoa High School.”
Cocoa led 7-3 when Schneider was ejected and Seminole was driving deep in Tigers territory, but defensive back C.J. Hester responded by intercepting his first of two passes in the end zone to give Cocoa the ball back.
Cocoa (5-1) padded its lead on the first play of the fourth quarter when Hart connected with Boggs for a 16-yard score. Boggs finished with seven catches for 170 yards, including a 42-yard touchdown in the first quarter.
“We had to fight a little adversity, but we had to flip that switch for Coach Schneider,” Boggs said. “It was hard to see him go, because we want our head coach get the ‘W’ with us, but once he left we turned it up another notch.”
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Running backs Malachi Toney and Latrison Lane added fourth quarter touchdown runs for Cocoa. Seminole dropped to 5-2 on the year. It’s the first time this season the Seminoles offense was kept out of the end zone.
Game suspensions usually follow ejections. The Tigers play 7-0 Titusville, No. 10 in 2S, on the road next week for first place in District 12-2S.
Jon Santucci is the high school football recruiting reporter for the USA Today Florida Network. He can be reached at jsantucci@gannett.com.
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