JULINGTON CREEK-For the seventh straight year, the St. Johns Middle School Athletic Association held its annual spring football jamboree Saturday at Creekside High.
All ten members representing Pacetti Bay, Liberty Pines, Valley Ridge, Patriot Oaks, Swiss Point, Landrum, Murray, Sebastian, Fruit Cove and Gamble Rogers were on hand.
Among the teams playing were the defending county champions the Switzerland Point Raiders and the county runner-ups Landrum Lions.
Teams were given 20 days of practice culminating with the annual jamboree to officially end the spring.
Liberty Pines Academy getting ready for their game against Landrum Middle! St John's County Spring Jamboree pic.twitter.com/J8Yx50AGCs
— Duval Sports ™️ (@DuvalSports) May 20, 2017
Click here for the entire St. Johns Middle School Jamboree photo gallery
Game 1: Fruit Cove Flyers 51, Valley Ridge Hawks 12
The jamboree began with a bang at 9 a.m. as Valley Ridge Kevin Weenhoff took a handoff and raced 75 yards untouched on the first play of the game giving the Hawks an early 7-0 lead seconds into the game.
That would be the only lead of the game though for the Hawks, as the Flyers answered with 51 straight points.
Following a 15 yard touchdown run from Preston Strope, the Flyers would add a 10-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Garret Stewart to Carter McEachean and a 5 yard touchdown run by Strope to take a 20-6 lead.
The Flyers cleared the bench but kept scoring as the backup quarterback Mana Wilheim took a bootleg 20 yards for a score and Strope broke off a 24 yard touchdown run for a 32-6 halftime lead.
Fruit Cove leads Valley Ridge 32 -6 Halftime St John's County Spring Games! pic.twitter.com/SqDVSLzUZx
— Duval Sports ™️ (@DuvalSports) May 20, 2017
From there it only got worse as Stewart came back in the game in the third quarter and tossed a 55 yard touchdown pass to Landen Frazier for a 39-6 lead.
Wilhelm came back in and broke off a 24 yard touchdown run and threw a 25 yard touchdown pass to Paul Wood for a 51-6 lead with 1:40 left to play.
Valley Ridge ended the game how they started the game as quarterback Grant Stephens hit Weenhoff for a 75 yard touchdown pass on the final play of the game to bring the first game to a close.
Game 2: Patriot Oaks Chargers 14, Murray Bulldogs 6
The second game of the jamboree might have been the best played game of the day at least defensively as both teams battled a lengthy rain down pour and several fumbles due to the poor field conditions at the time.
Patriot Oaks pic.twitter.com/iRgPObybhG
— Corey Davis (@ByCoreyDavis) May 20, 2017
Before the rain fell, quarterback Keaton Thomas broke a 20 yard touchdown run and followed with a 30 yard touchdown run five minutes later to give the Chargers a 14-0 lead in the second quarter.
Murray cut into the lead in the third quarter as Bulldogs quarterback Jaquan Smiley broke loose for a 32 yard touchdown run and followed with a two point run to cut the lead to 14-8 in the third quarter.
Patriot Oak's Keaton Thomas has scored twice in the spring Jamboree vs Murray 14-0 3rd pic.twitter.com/qwoYs32mAq
— Duval Sports ™️ (@DuvalSports) May 20, 2017
Game 3: Switzerland Point Raiders 25, Sebastian Eagles 6
Sebastian surprised Swiss Point early on as fullback Hunter Skinner scored on a short pass giving the Eagles an early 6-0 lead.
Hunter Skinner of theSebastian Eagles FB scored for them today in the St John's County Middle School Jamboree @andreellis55 @ByCoreyDavis pic.twitter.com/0MqfHSimso
— Duval Sports ™️ (@DuvalSports) May 20, 2017
The momentum would be short lived though as the Raiders closed out the game on a 25-0 run to take the 25-6 win over the Eagles.
Click here for the entire St. Johns Middle School Jamboree photo gallery
Game 4: Gamble Rogers Stingrays 42, Pacetti Bay Wildcats 20
After losing several starters off last years 9-2 team, fourth year head coach Matt Potak wasn’t sure what to make of this upcoming team with just 8 starters back. Needless to say he got answers quickly.
With skill players like quarterback King Benford, tailback Aaron Wynn, fullback Seth Stamps, tailback Terrell Newsome and receiver Liam Terrell, Potak doesn’t have to worry anymore.
Benford threw for a touchdown and ran for two touchdowns accounting for 100 yards passing and 100 yards rushing on the day.
Wynn finished with a receiving touchdown and three rushing touchdowns to go along with his 300 all purpose yards on the day.
Incredible!! This kid Aaron Wynn has scored 3 TDs in the first Quarter for Gamble Rodgers Middle
St John's County Spring Jamboree! pic.twitter.com/VOiAhAK80x— Duval Sports ™️ (@DuvalSports) May 20, 2017
Pacetti Bay finally put something together as Anthony Permaul broke a 70 yard run cutting the lead to 21-7 late in the first quarter.
Anthony Permaul scores on a 60 yard scamper! Wow he is fast! 21-7 Pacetti Bay trails Gamble Rodgers @andreellis55 @ByCoreyDavis pic.twitter.com/btFS2t4jFm
— Duval Sports ™️ (@DuvalSports) May 20, 2017
Just when you thought Wynn might be done he scored again on a 55 yard touchdown pass from Benford extending the lead to 28-7 early in the second quarter.
You are not going to believe this.. Gamble Rodgers Middle Aaron Wynn has scored 4TDs with 9:23 still to play in the FIRST HALF!! pic.twitter.com/2LZsxhMGgJ
— Duval Sports ™️ (@DuvalSports) May 20, 2017
Permaul broke loose again from 30 yards to cut the lead to 28-14 minutes before the half perhaps giving them some momentum heading into the break.
Pacetti Bay Scores on a long run to close their deficit against Gamble Rodgers 28-14! pic.twitter.com/YkBFfwxZzP
— Duval Sports ™️ (@DuvalSports) May 20, 2017
Defensively the Stingrays were led by Stamps, Newsome and King in the shut out win.
“We are very proud of the effort and result,” Potak said. “We need to take another step this summer and get ready for a big season. There are a lot of talented teams in this county this coming year and we have to remain focused taking one game at a time.”
Game 5: Liberty Pines Wolves 42, Landrum Lions 0
It what might go down as a shocker to some, the final game of the day wasn’t close at all and was a miss match.
The defending county champions Lions graduated a huge eight grade class and appear to be rebuilding this year perhaps.
Newcomer Liberty Pines whooped them in the trenches and on the edge as Eric Weatherly nearly matched Wynn’s performance on the day in the rout.
Lined up at quarterback for most of the game, Weatherly bolted down the sideline untouched 65 yards for a 6-0 lead barely three minutes into the game.
Seconds into the second quarter, Weatherly hooked up with Alex Billings for a 17 yard touchdown pass and 14-0 lead.
Billings broke off a 30 yard run for a score and Weatherly added the two point conversion for a 22-0 lead just two minutes later.
Weatherly fumbled the snap and shook several Lion defenders before finding Mason Mozo on a 20 yard touchdown completion in the third quarter.
He closed out the game with touchdown runs of 35 and 5 yards to send the Wolves home with a surprising 42-0 win over Landrum.
Liberty Pines Eric Weatherly as run a TD and thrown 3Tds today versus Landrum in the first half! St John's Middle School Jamboree pic.twitter.com/SSHFSIE77Y
— Duval Sports ™️ (@DuvalSports) May 20, 2017
Click here for the entire St. Johns Middle School Jamboree photo gallery
