Kole Stealy’s 4 TD passes helps Cypress Bay beat Western

Kole Stealy threw four touchdown passes — all in the first half — as Cypress Bay remains in the hunt in a tough District 12-8A race, breezing past host Western 39-20 on Thursday.

Sealy completed 8 of 17 passes for 147 yards to lead the Lightning (5-1, 2-1) before sitting out most of the second half after getting shaken up after a sack. He is expected to return to action next week when Cypress Bay faces St. Thomas Aquinas.

The Lightning steamrolled the Wildcats (0-6, 0-3) for 351 total yards and 20 first downs, and benefitted from 101 yards in penalties against the home team.

Cypress Bay outgained the Wildcats 254-100 through two quarters to take a 29-7 halftime lead. Western, however, was competitive early as the teams exchanged touchdowns in their opening possessions with Cypress Bay leading 8-7 with the difference coming on Mike Epstein’s run on the two-point conversion.

The Lightning started to pull away when it took a 15-7 lead on Stealy’s second touchdown pass, a 33-yarder to Ryan Dugan late in the first quarter.

Stealy threw two more TD passes in the second quarter. One went to Cole Moxie for 15 yards, and the other on a screen play to Epstein for 43 yards with 50 seconds remaining.

With the game already decided at 39-7 after a Jake Fuhrman 37-yard field goal, Western’s Mitchell Riorddan — who was cleared to play after being out of action for three weeks after a concussion — came off the bench to throw two touchdown passes to Elijah Moore to complete the scoring.

This story was originally published October 9, 2014 at 11:19 PM with the headline "Kole Stealy’s 4 TD passes helps Cypress Bay beat Western."