MACLENNY- Jamie Rodgers came back to Baker County for one thing and one thing only, to turn around a struggling program that had never been past the second round since opening in 1945.
Rodgers, who graduated from Baker County in 1997 and spent several years later as the defensive coordinator, left Suwannee after guiding the Bulldogs to three straight playoff berths including the Final Four and the third round his final two years before leaving for Baker County.
In fifty one years, the Wildcats had never been past the second round, 0-6 all-time including a 42-14 loss at home to Clay last year. Last week’s 37-28 win over Menendez not only erased the record it also moved Baker County into the third round for the first time in school history.
Behind a suffocating defense and a creative offense, the Wildcats moved on to the state semifinals last night with a 29-14 win over visiting Clay at Memorial Stadium.
Without tailback Josh Haygood, part of the dynamic backfield duo also featuring Seth Paige, who was injured two weeks ago in the first round win over Nature Coast, Lee Graham stepped up and filled his role making sure Haygood and the rest of the Wildcats continue to make history.
After struggling early with turnovers on its first two drives, the Wildcats offense finally started clicking scoring on its next four drives.
A Paige fumble early in the game allowed Clay to take an early 7-0 lead on 5 yard run from Aundre Carter five minutes into the game.
Jordan Copeland picked off a John Green pass at the 20 and returned it nearly to midfield; but two holding penalties and a sack kept the Devils off the scoreboard.
Paige raced 51 yards down the right sideline untouched tying the game at 7-7 on the first play of the second quarter.
A rare offsides call on Clay tight end Denaud Valmyr, who was lined up on the line of scrimmage, on a third and two play near midfield forced Clay to punt it back.
Graham, primarily a receiver and defensive back, replaced Green at quarterback to run the Wildcat offense. Five plays later, Graham rumbled 25 yards down the left side untouched giving the Wildcats their first lead of the game at 13-7 with 7:10 to play in the second quarter.
Clay head coach Josh Hoekstra gambled after seeing his lead vanish and the momentum shift to Baker County. Faced with fourth and 1 from he 25-yard line, Hoeskstra elected to go for it and Carter was hit by a host of Wildcats at the line of scrimmage turning the ball over on downs.
The gamble came back to bite him as Graham raced 29 yards untouched four plays later for a 19-7 lead with 2:38 left till half.
Yet Clay (9-4) didn’t go away, Caleb Eason found Ajay Belanger on a 21 yard fade route cutting the lead to 19-14 with 1:39 left in the half.
With three timeouts still, Baker County had plenty of time to answer the Clay score. Paige runs of 12 and 19 put the Cats inside the 22-yard line.
After Green scrambled for a short gain it appeared the clock ran out as Clay began running to the locker room; however Rodgers called a timeout with 2 seconds left and Jackson Davis nailed the 38 yard field giving the Wildcats a 22-14 halftime lead.
Braeden Sanders fielded the short second half kickoff from his own 35 yard line and returned it all the way back to the 8-yard line before being pushed out of bounds setting the Wildcats in the red zone seconds into the third quarter.
Paige hopped a Devils defender on his way to the end zone from 1 yard increasing the Wildcats lead to 29-14 barely a minute into the second half.
Both teams defenses turned up in the second half as the Wildcats pitched a second half shut out and the Devils defense kept the Wildcats off the board the rest of the game as well.
Wesley Belford, Graham and Sanders took big time receiver Ajay Belanger out of the game and Brian West and the defensive line shut down Carter the rest of the game as well.
Liz Fogarty hooked a 36 yard field wide left keeping the score at 29-14 with under 7 minutes left in the third.
As play went into the fourth quarter, despite being down 15 Clay seemed still in the game just one strike away from making this an intense fourth quarter.
Eason drove his team to the 50 but back-to-back sacks by the Wildcats and a Graham leaping interception gave the Wildcats the ball back with six minutes left.
After a quick three and out, Clay still had another chance but Sanders picked off Eason at the 32-yard line essentially killing Clay’s last hope.
Paige carried the ball four times on the ensuing drive killing the clock and sending the Wildcats to another round deeper in the playoffs.
Baker County (12-1) will travel to Pensacola and face West Florida (12-1) in the Class 5A state semi-finals next week with a spot in the Class 5A state championship game on the line.
