Twin Lakes- “It’s been a long time coming” said Dupont Head Coach Marquis Lundy, after his team marched into their division rival’s house and defeated them for the first time in divisional play ever. Twin Lakes has dominated the southern division in the Duval County Middle School Football Conference. They have won the division crown three out of the four years in its existence, with the exception of Mandarin winning it in 2014. It’s a testament to Coach Gamble and his staff for putting together a winning tradition at Twin Lakes, but that tradition gave may to trepidation in the form of the Dupont Dragons on Tuesday afternoon.
Dupont came into the game knowing what they had to do. Said #1 Kysaun Jones of Dupont ” We had to get get back and show them what we could do”. Well show them he did, as Jones kicked off the scoring at the start of the 2nd quarter. After Dupont’s first offensive drive stalled, Twin Lakes went three and out on their first possession. Electing to punt, the Timberwolves kicked the ball high in the air which allowed the punt team to get under the ball. 
As Dupont’s coaches screamed for their return man Jones to get away from the ball, Jones proceeded to scoop up the ball and out race the Twin Lakes defenders for the touchdown. QB Tyrez Fluellen added the two point conversion on a run and Dupont lead 8-0. But Twin Lakes would respond. On the ensuing kickoff, Andre Wilson would return the kickoff weaving 75 yards for the Twin Lakes touchdown. Wilson weaved in and out of the defense and rolled down the left side for the score, stunning the Dragon sideline and erupting the home crowd. Twin Lakes would fail to convert on the 2 point conversion and would trail 8-6 at the start of the 2nd quarter. After being forced to punt, the Dupont defense took control of the quarter as they completely shut down the Twin Lakes attack. #30 Carmelo Murphy intercepted a Twin Lakes pass near mid field, he would have two interceptions on the day. He would then rip off nice runs on offense guiding the Dragons down field. The drive included nice runs by #18 Christian Ellis and #29 Robert Bryant ending in a Quarterback sneak by Fluellen for the touchdown putting Dupont up 14-6 at halftime after the missed two point conversion.
In the third, both defenses stiffened up. #10 Phillip Collins made play after play in the back field from the middle linebacker position. Collins stuffed the inside run, while Ellis locked down the edge, keeping the athletic Twin Lakes Quarterback #3 Myron Thomas in check on bootlegs.
Ellis refused to allow their speed receivers to out flank him in the speed sweeps. The Twin Lakes defense also made plays as #22 Myketi Jordan began to track ball carrier down and the defensive line stuffed the run. The third quarter would end where it began with a 14-6 Dupont advantage. In the fourth, Twin Lakes made adjustments as champions do. They began to run off tackle with success as #32 Jonah Eguakun followed his lead blockers. He would score on a one yard run to pull with two of Dupont 14-12, yet once again the Dupont defense stood up, stopping Twin Lakes on a 2 point conversion. Their big defensive tackles clogged the lanes and #3 Marquis Lundy Jr cleaned up the Quarterback with a tackle in the back field. The play would be a game changer.
After Twin Lakes stopped Dupont on offense again, the momentum seemed to be with the Timberwolves. Deep in their own territory, Eguakun power up the middle, cut left and was off to the races for a 62 yard run. However Eguakun with nothing but day light in front of him, cut back across the field and was up ended by his own teammate at the Dupont 20 yard line.
Dupont dodged a bullet, and it was time for the defense to respond to their call of duty. The Dragons made stop after stop on defense as Twin Lakes tried to score the go ahead touchdown. On fourth down, Lundy made a punishing tackle in the back field to stop the Twin Lakes runner again on a crucial play and turn the ball over on downs. Dupont would take two kneels and the game was over. With the win Dupont (3-0) exercised their demons on the gridiron. They ended a ten game losing streak to Twin Lakes and defeated them for the first time since the divisional alignment came into play in 2013. After defeating Mandarin(2-2), Southside(1-2), and now Twin Lakes(2-1), the Dragons have the inside track to the division title with only Landon(0-2) and Darnell Cookman (0-2) to play in their division. Twin Lakes needs help if they wish to defend their division crown, the division loss was their first in two years.
