St. Johns– Creekside pulled out all of the stops defeating state champions Mandarin 24-20 at the Friday night kickoff classic. Coach Sean McIntyre would go on to say, “Two great teams played tonight. They are not the same team that they were last year and neither are we. Our defense ran the ball despite missing a couple of tackles. We made them earn everything”.
Mandarin won their first Class 8A state championship in 2018 by defeating Columbus 37-35. Quarterback Carson Beck threw five touchdown passes during the championship game. Demario “Popa” Douglas caught four of those five touchdowns making history as well. Fast forward to present day and the Mustang roster has changed substantially.
Beck is a senior this season. Douglas, Oxendine, Mitchell, Absolu, Rego, Jennings and Barclay have all graduated. The Mustangs are a new team going into the 2019 season which presents new challenges. Mandarin’s head coach Bobby Ramsay would reflect on the Creekside game, “Through three quarters we were the better team. The kids did a lot of great things and we have a lot of things to fix.”
Creekside felt they were the better team and it showed early on. Christen Yousefzadeh would quickly become a thorn in the side of the Mandarin offense, when he sacked Beck early on. Devin Lewis would strike back at the Knight’s offense with a big tackle. Creekside would then score off of a field goal with 3:57 left in the first quarter taking the 3-0 lead. Beck’s pass complete to Jaylin Smith would lead to a Mandarin first down and later a touchdown by Cameron Daniels. They’ll look to hook up a lot this season. The first quarter would end, giving us a taste of what’s to come this season from them. Mandarin led 6-3.
The Knights defense would play heavy into the second with big stops by Brian Newman and yet another sack by Yousefzadeh. Mandarin’s Jerome Jolly staggered the Creekside offense at times with big hits. These players look to make big impacts this year for both teams on defense. On offense however, tight end Shane Calhoun would make a big run for a Knights touchdown. The extra point would be good. With 4:37 in the second quarter, Creekside led Mandarin 10-6.
The Mustangs would quickly answer when Beck threw a touchdown pass to Tristen Riley. Making good on the extra point, the Mustangs ended the second quarter leading Creekside 13-10.
The beginning of the third quarter would usher in the change of quarterbacks as Tre Lawrence would replace Beck and Daniel Plummer replaced Quinn Sieger for Creekside. The Knights defense intercepted the ball early on, but eventually failed to make the play to score as Nic Mitchell’s block staggered the offense. Mandarin’s offense grabbed great catches but failed to get through the Knights defense as Yousefzadeh would strike again. An unsuccessful thirty seven yard field goal attempt by Creekside would end the third quarter 13-10 with a Mandarin advantage.
Fourth quarter action heated up quickly by Devin Roebuck, Robert Kriwer would later score the first touchdown of the quarter. The extra point would be good as well heading off with a 17-13 Creekside lead. Within the blink of an eye , Walter Stovall would score a touchdown from a pick six increasing the lead to 24-13, Creekside along with the good extra point.
The Mustangs answered back quickly in the midst of the Knights celebration. Between Mandarin and Creekside , three touchdowns were scored within 28 seconds. With Creekside coming out on top.
The Creekside fans chanted in excitement, “overrated:”. Albeit the pre-season, Mandarin can expect this type of effort every week from teams eager to knock off the champions. Both teams surely are not the same from last season, and it showed in the kickoff classic. Mandarin must match the intensity of their opponents this year in order to remain on top. They’ll get their chance against Atlantic Coast next week. Creekside must gain confidence with every win in order to improve on last season’s 4-6 record. As for now, Creekside has the bragging rights over Mandarin, igniting a rivalry and infusing their team with confidence heading into their first game against Ribault next week.
