Englewood High School- It was the worst three minutes of football Dupont had played all year, and unfortunately for them, it happened against their best opponent all year. The Jeff Davis Chargers scored 20 points in three minutes en route to a 32-0 drubbing of the Dupont Dragons Tuesday night in the semifinals of the Duval County Middle School Football playoffs. The game, with everything on the line and high stakes at play, turned into a blowout after just one quarter as Jeff Davis completely dominated the affair from start to finish.
The start of the game was thick with anticipation as both teams grasped the magnitude of playing in their first middle school playoff game. From the beginning, both teams clearly needed to settle down as they committed turnovers on consecutive series. 
After missing a beautiful play action pass call on the very first play of the game, Jeff Davis quarterback Jaylen Sonnier fumbled the snap on the second play, and it was recovered by Dupont’s Phillip Collins. Yet Dupont also seemed to be in the giving mood, as running back Carmelo Murphy fumble on the second play of their series and it was recovered by the Chargers. It was evident early on that the first team to settle down and run their offense would gain the upper hand in the game, and Jeff Davis showed that they were that team. On the very next series, with just over six minutes remaining in the first quarter, Jeff Davis’ #4 Keloun Walker took the hand off, followed his full back, and bust a beautiful off tackle play for 40 yards and the game’s first touchdown. It was a back to basics approach for Jeff Davis, who decided to go back to their bread and butter and it served up points for them.
Leading 6-0 with a little over six minutes to play in the first quarter, Jeff Davis kicked off the ball deep and the pig skin bounced near the 20 yard line over the head of Dupont return man #21 Kysaun Jones. Evidently Jones forgot that the kickoff was a live ball and simply stopped running after the bouncing ball. Jeff Davis scurried down the field to recover the ball on the Dupont three yard line, and on the very next play, running back #2 Michael Brannon scored on a short run up the middle to make it 14-0 Chargers.
It was a bad dream for the Dragons that would quickly turn into a nightmare on their next possession. Dupont failed to get anything going on offense, and was forced to punt on fourth down. The Chargers executed a block punt and it was recovered by #1 Savion Wells who raced to the end zone to the disbelief of the crowd as Jeff Davis took a commanding 20-0 lead with four minutes left in the first quarter. A stunned Dupont sideline searched for answers, but there would be none on this night. Dupont, who had navigated an undefeated season, and possessed one of the more talented rosters in the city looked completely over matched, and they were. Even though Dupont possessed more size and length, Jeff Davis played faster, were more physical, and extremely confident, a true testament to Head Coach Reynolds and his coaching staff. Said Reynolds after the game. ” If you thought this game was physical you should see our practices. We get after it, so the players are eager to hit someone else”. This strategy seemed to work as Jeff Davis completely overwhelmed Dupont from the trenches to the secondary.
Dupont’s quarterback #14 Tyrez Fluellen was running for his life most of the game, and on plays where he had time, he rushed throws anticipating getting hit. Pressure from #50 Masiah Wells and company over matched Dupont’s offensive line. 
Fluellen would throw two interceptions on the night as Dupont’s wide open spread offense was completely shut down. Jeff Davis would add insult to injury in the first half when quarterback #9 Jaylen Sonnier dropped back and tossed a beautiful arching pass down the right sideline to his wide receiver #4 Charles Thompson who leaped over the defender and raced 60 yards for the touchdown to put Jeff Davis up 26-0 in the second quarter. Before the half, Dupont was able to put together their best drive of the night. Running back #18 Christian Ellis ran the ball on consecutive plays to gain the Dragon’s first first down of the night. Quarterback Tyrez Fluellen converted a fist down on a zone read keeper after successful runs up the middle. Yet down four scores, Dupont’s coaches elected to pass to get back into the game and Jeff Davis’ Michael Brannon made them pay. Brannon would get his second interception of the night thwarting a promising Dupont drive before halftime. The score remained 26-0 going into the half.
In the second half, quarterback Jaylen Sonnier showed off his passing prowess by hitting four different receivers on various routes. Jeff Davis began to play sloppy committing several penalties and Dupont’s defense started to play more aggressive.
#23 Robert Bryant made several tackles all over the field in the second half refusing to go down without a fight. Defensive back #21 Kysaun Jones made perhaps the play of the night, as he guarded Jeff Davis Wide receiver Charles Thompson. Thompson leaped high in the air in an attempt to catch the touchdown pass late in the third quarter, but Jones skied with him and somehow made a spectacular one-handed interception snatching it away from Thomas. Efforts like that on defense by the Dragons showed why they were one of the city’s best teams, but Jeff Davis Keloun Walker reiterated to everyone in attendance why the Chargers are not just one of the best, they are the best. With another off tackle touchdown run in the second half, Walker put the team on his back and carried them to a 32-0 victory in the semifinal round of the Duval County Middle School Playoffs. Walker has a saying to his team every time they assemble ” Who’s got my back?” the eighth grader asks his team. After the game Walker expounded on what that meant. ” These are my brothers, we’ve been riding for a long time and we’re not going to let no one stop us”.
Kaloun Walker with his 2nd TD run of the night for Jeff Davis to put Dupont on the clock! 32-0 3rd qtr running clock pic.twitter.com/VnFoHBLQuI
— Duval Sports ™️ (@DuvalSports) November 15, 2017
Jeff Davis will face Ribault for the Duval County Middle School Football Championship, Tuesday November 21st, 2017, 7pm at Atlantic Coast High School. Dupont will face Landmark in the third place game same location at 5pm.
