TALLAHASSEE – For decades there has always been some sort of unknown curse that has plagued nearly every Jacksonville area football team that hops on I-10 in the playoffs, as nearly all of them come home with a season ending loss. The same can be said for any area team that host a Tallahassee or Pensacola area team as well. That trend continued this week as four Tallahassee area teams swept four Jacksonville area teams and two Pensacola teams knocked out two area teams as well in the first round of the playoffs.
No. 3 Lincoln 38, No. 6 Oakleaf 31 (3 OT)
TALLAHASSEE – Down 38-31, Walter Simmons pass across the middle was picked off by Lincoln allowing the Trojans to escape with a 38-31 three overtime win over visiting Oakleaf Thursday night at Gene Cox Stadium.
For three plus hours Oakleaf and Lincoln traded body blows back and forth before Lincoln finally dealt the big knockout blow.
Lincoln with the INT. @Linc_TrojansFB defeat @OHSKnightsFB 38-31. @FlaHSFootball pic.twitter.com/BKuvK01AVn
— Jeff Martin – Catapult (@Jeff_XOS) November 9, 2018
Tied at 21-21 at the end of regulation, thanks to an Oakleaf interception at their own 15 yard line on the final play of the game, both teams traded scores in overtime.
Keshawn King 1 yard run on the Knights first overtime possession sent the game into a second overtime.
After three plays, the Knights added a field goal to take a 31-28 lead, the defense held the Trojans and forced a tying field goal to force a third overtime tied at 31-31 all.
Knights answer back. Going to 2nd OT. @Linc_TrojansFB and @OHSKnightsFB tied 28-28. @FlaHSFootball pic.twitter.com/IinyLqJtWj
— Jeff Martin – Catapult (@Jeff_XOS) November 9, 2018
In the third overtime, Lincoln was able to punch it in to take a 38-31 lead, setting up the final drive of the game.
A pair of King touchdown runs (30, 2) gave Oakleaf a 14-7 lead in the first quarter, yet Lincoln tied it before the half to bring both teams to the locker room tied up.
Trailing 21-14, King scored his third touchdown of the game on a 2 yard run tying the game at 21-21 with 15 seconds left in the third quarter.
Late in the game, with Lincoln near the red zone, the Knights came up with the big play on defense to force overtime with a interception in the closing seconds.
Knights with the INT with 4.1 sec left in the game. Still tied 21-21 we will be heading into overtime. @Linc_TrojansFB and @OHSKnightsFB @FlaHSFootball pic.twitter.com/vR7IZFgdn6
— Jeff Martin – Catapult (@Jeff_XOS) November 9, 2018
No. 2 Godby 34, No. 7 Ponte Vedra 23
TALLAHASSEE – Ponte Vedra gave host Godby all it could handle and more before running out of gas late in the fourth quarter Friday night.
Trailing 21-9 at the half, the Sharks responded as Jack Murrah found Kyle Barker for a score to cut the lead to 21-16 on their opening drive of the third quarter.
A Murrah interception set up another Cougars score as Godby extended its lead to 28-16 with less than two minutes in the third quarter.
Here is Campbell Parker punching it in for the Ponte Vedra TD.
Godby 28
Ponte Vedra 23 pic.twitter.com/c5DiSMjMM9— Ponte Vedra Football (@PVSharksFB) November 10, 2018
Campbell Parker plunged in from a yard to cut the lead to 28-23 minutes into the fourth quarter and the Sharks then recovered a onside kick to get the ball back.
However a three an out forced them to punt it back, but three penalties forced the Sharks to give it right back to them.
Godby took advantage of the field position on a 44 yard touchdown pass increasing the lead to 34-23 with 3:19 left in the game.
Earlier in the game, Godby fumbled on their opening possession of the game but the Sharks failed to take advantage of it missing a field goal.
Godby then connected on a 68 yard touchdown toss and a 45 yard touchdown run to take a quick 14-0 lead in the first quarter.
Jacobi Myers hit Nick Pirris for a 42 yard strike cutting the lead to 14-6 with less than two minutes remaining in the first quarter.
The Cougars struck again to go up 21-6 on another reception but Ponte Vedra (8-3) answered before half with a short field goal from Rajan Patel to cut the lead to 21-9 at the half.
This Patel FG is good.
Godby 21
Ponte 9
1:36 Second pic.twitter.com/NrOipptx86— Ponte Vedra Football (@PVSharksFB) November 10, 2018
No. 6 Taylor County 24, No. 3 Baldwin 17
BALDWIN – Hosting its first ever home playoff game , the Baldwin Indians wanted to give its fans its first ever home playoff win, unfortunately that will have to wait.
Three turnovers were converted into 17 points as the visiting Taylor County Bulldogs stunned Baldwin 24-17 at home Friday night.
A fumble on the Indians first play of the game led to a quick 7-0 deficit minutes into the game as quarterback Dequan Bellamy rumbled 6 yards for a quick score.
A Nicholas Sprague 24 yard field goal and Amos Porter 3 yard score put Baldwin ahead 10-7 in the third quarter.
Max Kallschmidt intercepted a Gavin Screws pass and returned it 70 yards for a score and 14-10 lead in the third quarter.
Screws found Richard Coffey for a 34 yard reception to put Baldwin (9-2) ahead 17-14 late in the third quarter.
Bellamy struck again midway in the fourth quarter to put Taylor County back in front 21-17 and Screws second interception was converted into a field goal to put the Bulldogs up 24-17 with less than four minutes remaining.
No. 5 Pensacola Catholic 49, No. 4 Fort White 34
FORT WHITE – For two and half quarters things appeared to be going really well for the host Fort White Indians, then the sleeping giant visiting Pensacola Catholic Crusaders woke up.
Every time Pensacola Catholic scored, Fort White always had an answer, for at least for two and half quarters.
Damarius McGhee picked off Dylan Blair in the end zone and returned the interception 102 yards to put the Crusaders on the scoreboard first with a 7-0 lead late in the first quarter.
Fort White answered on its next drive as Stanley Maxwell rumbled in from 3 yards to tie it at 7-7 two minutes into the second quarter.
Ja’kobi Jackson 1 yard plunge put the Crusaders back ahead 14-7 with 3:51 left till half.
Maxwell 2 yard touchdown on the final play of the first half sent both teams into the locker room tied at 14-14 at the half.
Jackson 6 yard score put Pensacola Catholic up again 21-14 after the first drive of the third quarter.
Blair found Rahman Paul for a 31 yard catch tying the game at 21-21 with under 7 minutes left in the third quarter.
Waymond Jordan, Ja’kobi Jackson and Seth Wilson were too much to stop and the Indians offense couldn’t keep up in the end.
Behind the dynamic trio the Crusaders easily moved down the field and Wilson capped the drive with a 6 yard putting the Crusaders back in front 28-21 late in the third quarter.
Only this time Fort White (8-3) didn’t have an answer and after picking up a first down, a huge sack forced a turnover on downs after an incompletion on fourth down.
Jackson raced 13 yards to put the Crusaders ahead two scores early in the fourth quarter and Wilson rumbled 27 yards to put the Crusaders up 42-21 with less then 10 minutes left in the game.
Maxwell scored his third touchdown of the game on a 8 yard run cutting the lead to 42-28 with 7:23 left in the game and again late in the game a fourth touchdown on a 10 yard score capping the score for the Indians.
Fort White (8-3) drops it second straight first round loss and drops to 4-8 all time in the first round of the state playoffs.
No. 3 North Marion 27, No. 6 Pedro Menendez 22
SPARR- Menendez did their best to keep up with host North Marion but didn’t have enough in the end falling 27-22 at Stan Toole Memorial Stadium.
The dynamic duo of Kenny Logan and Ty Edwards careers came to an end in the first round loss Friday night.
Edwards accounted for 150 yards and two touchdowns on 21 carries in the loss.
No. 4 PK Yonge 36, No. 5 Bradford 22
GAINESVILLE – For two and half quarters, PK Yonge and Bradford traded scores back and forth as the visiting Tornadoes (5-6) hung with the host Blue Waves.
Isaiah Wilcox 36 yard reception from Carter Kutchko gave the Blue Wave an early 7-0 lead, but a safety and an Eric Smith’s 10 yard run put Bradford ahead 8-7; but the Blue Wave struck back on Pernell Sylvester’s 3 yard run giving the Blue Wave a 14-8 half time lead.
Wilcox returned the second half kickoff to increase the lead to 21-8; but Jeremiah Vaugh 55 yard score cut the lead to 21-15 in the third quarter.
Yet, Sylvester put it way with a pair of touchdown runs in the final two quarters to help the Blue Wave move on to the second round of the playoffs.
No. 3 Lafayette 34, No. 6 Union County 30
MAYO- Having trailed for all 46 minutes, Union County took its first and only lead of the game at 30-28 with 1:29 left in the game.
After recovering a fumble 20 seconds later, the odds were in their favor pick up a first down and game over and move on to the second round.
However, the Tigers turned it back over 18 seconds later giving the Indians a shot to steal it away.
Lafayette High junior quarterback Jaxson Beach (15) dives into the end zone to score with 27 seconds remaining in the game to defeat Union County High School 34-30 in Mayo on Friday, November 9. 2018. pic.twitter.com/yUdsHHLZGE
— Jack Howdeshell (@mayo_jhowdy) November 10, 2018
Quarterback Jaxon Beach gave the Hornets the lead again at 34-30 with 27 seconds diving into the end zone to put the Hornets back in front.
However, Union County (5-6) still had one final chance and one final Hail Mary to pull it off, but Garris Edwards broke up the pass on the final play of the game near the goal line to preserve the win for the Hornets.
Lafayette High senior Garris Edwards (3) breaks-up the pass attempt in the end zone on the last play of the game to allow the Hornets hold on to a to 34-30 victory over Union County High School in Mayo on Friday. pic.twitter.com/gMnoqNgIqP
— Jack Howdeshell (@mayo_jhowdy) November 10, 2018
