St. Augustine- Running back Dexter Brown continued his hot post season by rolling over Crestview in the class 6A regional finals Friday night, leading St. Augustine to victory 49-28. Brown has rushed for over 800 yards in the last three playoff games, including 175 yards and two touchdowns against Crestview tonight. The effort has powered the Jackets into the State Semifinals where they will face Armwood on the road for the chance to go to the State Championship.
Crestview started the game with a 20yd field goal to go ahead 3-0. On the drive, the Bulldogs went for it on fourth down consecutively to roll the dice early. A team playing desperate early on signaled blood in the water for the Jackets. St. Augustine would respond with a 80 yard drive behind the effective running of Brown. Dexter would finish off the drive with a five yard touchdown run to put St. Augustine up 7-3.
After a Rod Bouchard to Devin Voisin 80 yard touchdown pass and catch for Crestview put them up 10-7, St. Augustine went right back to work with the running game. FreQuan Sparrow would secure first downs on the ground, and cap this drive with a touchdown run to put St. Augustine back on top 14-10 in the second quarter. The Jackets would not relinquish the lead again. After forcing a Crestview punt, Quarterback Austin Reed hit Karim Brown on a 60 yard touchdown pass to balloon the lead to 21-10. Crestview had no answer for the Yellow Jacket’s offense. In an attempt to match them they made critical mistakes that dug the old deeper for them. Defensive End Josh Rickerson was the recipient of a fumble that set St Augustine up in great field position deep into Bulldog territory. On the next play Cedrin Daniel took the ball around the end and scored on a touchdown to put St. Augustine up 28-10 at halftime. In the second half, Reed would score on a quarterback run giving him two scores on the night and the Jackets defense would get a pick six thanks to Josh Peterson who returned an interception 40 yards for a touchdown. When it was all said and done, Dexter Brown shut it down with a big 70 yard touchdown run to seal the victory for St. Augustine.
St. Augustine(12-0) will face Armwood next week to attempt to play for a state title. Armwood (13-0) defeated previously undefeated Ocala Vanguard(12-1) 31-17 Friday night. The game is already geared to be an battle of two of the best teams in the state. St. Augustine is certainly no stranger to facing the best. And as they showed once again Friday night, they are certainly no strangers to beating the best as well.
Photos Courtesy of Tom Reed
