JACKSONVILLE-On a night when both teams defenses stole the show, ironically the game was decided by a defensive play.
Clinging to a 16-12 lead with under two minutes to go, the Mandarin defense came up with the big play needed to secure a 16-12 win over host Ribault at Alvin White Stadium.
Dominick Santiago picked off his fourth pass in the last two games, as Ryan Williams desperation pass sailed right over the middle of the field and into Santiago hands ending the Trojans potential upset bid.
His heroic effort was needed after the Trojans cut the lead to just four points just minutes before on Mike McCrays 25-yard touchdown catch from Williams.
Mustangs kicker Randy Smith seemed to put the game away with a 25-yard field goal putting the Mustangs ahead 16-6 with 3:15 left in the game.
However, the Trojans got a huge kickoff return from Shannon Brown putting them well inside striking distance at the 31-yard line.
Two plays later, Williams found McCray wide open, McCray zig zagged his way around defenders and down the right sideline untouched bringing the home crowd back into the game.
Ribault needed its defense, which had been on the field for nearly the whole game, to make another stop to have a chance to win.
They delivered holding the Mustangs to a quick three and out series as well as taking all three timeouts to preserve time.
The final five minutes of the game were perhaps a great metaphor of how the game played out. What could have been, if the defense wasn’t on the field for so long and if our offense would have scored a little more.
After holding Ribault to a quick three and out to start the game, Mandarin didn’t waste any time establishing the lead and momentum.
Mandarin went 57 yards in 12 plays capping the long drive with a Mekhi Jackson 4-yard touchdown run up the middle giving the Mustangs a 7-0 lead with 6:03 remaining in the first quarter.
Ribault tried to answer on its ensuing drive but the Mustangs defense led by Terrance Curry stuffed Jon Singleton on a fourth and short play turning the ball over on downs.
The combination of Jaalen Ford and Jaylen Joyner proved to be a lethal combination for the Trojans defense as the two were consistently in the backfield and putting pressure on quarterback Spencer Mollnow.
The two sacked Mollnow on a third and long play forcing the Mustangs to punt the ball back.
Curry sacked Jamal Marsh two plays later putting the Trojans into a third and long play which eventually led to another punt.
Both defenses bent a little but wouldn’t budge much forcing the other to punt the ball back to each other.
Joyner put a lot of pressure on Mollnow two possessions later to again force another punt.
Ribault put together its best drive of the half and appeared destined to score after chewing up nearly six minutes of the clock with a 10 play 45 yard drive. However, Williams fourth and 10 screen pass was well read by the Mustangs defense and Singleton dropped the short pass.
A possession later, the Trojans were back in the red zone again and this time capitalized on it.
Aided by a helmet to helmet call on Audre Kearney, the Trojans moved inside the 35-yard line. Following two incompletions, Williams connected with Rio Nelson in the right corner of the end zone for a touchdown pass.
The PAT was no good and the Mustangs were clinging to a 7-6 lead with 1:12 left till half.
That looked like that might be the score going into the half but the Trojans made a bad mistake and the Mustangs made them pay.
On the ensuing play, Mollnow hit DeQuante Showers on a quick route down the sideline but the defensive back went for the interception and fell down and with no safety help, Showers was able to get down the sideline untouched for a easy 64-yard touchdown pass giving the Mustangs a 13-6 lead with under a minute left till half.
The third quarter began how much of the game went with three and outs and the punting team getting a lot of work.
Curry sacked Williams on the Trojans third play of the half forcing another punt.
Ford and Joyner terrorized Mollnow on the Mustangs next drive putting pressure on him nearly back-to-back plays to force another punt.
A Mustangs possession later, ended with Antonio Hagans picking off Mollnow at midfield.
The Trojans appeared on their way to potentially tying the game after the turnover but the Mustangs defense rose to the occasion.
Williams connected with McCray on a third and long play to set the Trojans inside the 5-yard line.
However, the Mustangs defense wouldn’t be denied and stopped Singleton on three straight runs including a fourth and goal from the 1-yard line to turn the ball over on downs.
Tony Syrakis caught a deflected pass off a Trojan wide receiver and picked off a Williams pass near midfield.
Hagans picked off his second pass in 5 minutes off a deflection as well giving the Trojans the ball back again.
Two plays later though the Mustangs took advantage of a dazed wide receiver who didn’t bother to attempt a Williams backwards pass and the Mustangs recovered the loose ball.
The wacky play set up Smith potential game clinching field goal and 16-6 lead late in the fourth quarter.
A tired and perhaps exhausted and overwhelmed Mandarin head coach Quinn Gray laid on the ground following the game but still had plenty to say about the game.
“Yeah its kind of fitting how the game ended after such a defensive battle,” Gray said. “Our offense has been struggling to find an identity and our defense is well ahead of our offense right now.”
Gray went on to say, “The defense stepped up and at the end of the day we are 2-0 and trying to get better.”
He went on to add, “we need our offense to break out and find our identity and trust each other.”
Despite being on the field for what seemed to be the entire game, the Trojans were not fatigued at all.
“To be honest we weren’t tired at all, we were still flying to the ball, we run a lot so we were ready for the next play,” Joyner stated.
You might think continually seeing their offense struggle and having to consistently go back out on the field might have the Trojans frustrated on the sideline but that isn’t the case.
“We try to keep things positive and tell each other to keep our heads up that its okay the offense will score and we will be ready to get back on defense,” Joyner said.
Joyner had to be a little disappointed after seeing his offense drive inside the 5-yard line only to be turned away four consecutive plays.
“You saw how close we were to scoring,” Joyner said. “I wasn’t mad I told the team lets go get this safety and get the ball back. I always try to keep it positive and keep the energy up as my team plays off my energy level.”
Ribault head coach Kelvin Smith summed up the game as “That’s just how the ball rolls sometimes and today wasn’t our day.”
“We didn’t take advantage of their mistakes and punch them in,” Mandarin is a great team and you can’t make mistakes against them. It was a close contest we just didn’t take advantage of our opportunities.”
Smith had this to say about his offense, which has struggled to score points in its first two games.
“We are struggling to find an identity, we need to figure out what we do best and learn from this.” Smith said.
Like last season, Smith isn’t worried about another 0-2 start and reminded everyone they rebounded well last season.
“We started similar to this last season and was able to bounce back. It all starts with district games next week (at Paxon), ” Smith added.
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