After a long wait, two of the best football teams in the Lake Okeechobee area are finally back on the field.

The Pahokee Blue Devils and Glades Central Raiders kicked off their 2020 season on Oct. 31.

Palm Beach schools opted out of the Florida High School Athletic Association state championship this year and will instead compete in a tri-county postseason with Miami-Dade and Broward. The usual 10-game season will now be only four games.

The Blue Devils were originally scheduled to play Seminole Ridge in their opening game. But a positive COVID-19 test in the Seminole Ridge program a day before the game led to it being canceled.

Thankfully Pahokee was able to quickly reschedule another opponent for the date — the Dwyer Panthers.

Pahokee wasn’t able to take its first lead against the Panthers until near the end of the third quarter. Trailing 17-14, the Blue Devils scored on a 20-yard touchdown pass to go up 22-17 following a two-point conversion.

Midway through the fourth quarter, the Panthers responded with a touchdown of their own on a 2-yard quarterback sneak. After their own successful two-point conversion, the Panthers led 25-22. Dwyer held on to that lead for the remainder of the game.

The Glades Central Raiders game wasn’t as close.

The Raiders dominated their opponent, the Palm Beach Central Broncos, 41-0.

Glades Central quarterback Zo’Marion Harper threw three touchdowns against the Broncos, while the defense forced six turnovers over the course of the game.

One of those turnovers was an interception returned 80 yards for a touchdown by senior Jacob Camacho.

The 41-0 rout was Raiders’ coach Rashad Jackson’s first game as after taking over the program earlier this year.

“I told our kids all week that it’s not going to be easy,” said Jackson in an interview with New Era Prep. “You’re going to make some mistakes. And we did make some early, but we capitalized on their mistakes late. They’ve worked hard all week. They put the time in. And we just came out and made plays when it was time to make plays.”

Next the Blue Devils face the Wellington Wolverines on Nov. 6 while the Raiders play the Royal Palm Beach Wildcats on Nov. 7.