Jacksonville Fl- The Class 2M road that Bolles is on is one that has stops at some of the places that boast the most championships in FHSAA history. Bolles themselves is second to only St. Thomas Aquinas (12) with 11 state titles. On Friday, they faced Raines (3 state titles) who has the most state titles of any public school in Duval County. The winner of that game, would keep trudging down the championship road to face Plantation American Heritage who has 5 state titles of their own. In a game that would go down to the final seconds, Bolles would be able to run out the clock against Raines in a 21-14 victory in the regional final.
Bolles jumped out to a 14-0 lead Kavon Miller would run a short 2-yard touchdown into the endzone giving Bolles a 7-0 lead in the first quarter. Miller would set up his touchdown run on defense, intercepting a pass earlier in the quarter to set up the scoring opportunity. The Bulldogs ran down the Vikings throat in the first quarter amassing nearly 100-yards rushing.
In the second quarter. after a fumblwe by Raines that was recovered by linebacker Trent Carter, Ty Neal would increase the Bolles lead to 14, when he broke tackles through the line on his way to a 38-yard touchdown giving Bolles a 14-0 lead going into halftime. Neal rushed for over 100 yards in the first half.
The second half saw Raines get going on offense. After just 70-yards of total offense, quarterback Roman Doles turned to his legs to make plays on the ground. His ability to scramble converted key first downs for the Vikings.
Raines would get on the board when Doles hit Mark Miller near the side-lines, and Miller did the rest lunging into the end-zone for the score. Raines was on the board in the third quarter trailing 14-7 headed to the fourth.
Raines defense adjusted and started to stuff the Bolles run game. Linebacker Jamari Whitehead led the charge wit hseveral tackles on the night. However, Raines couldn’t sustain momentum on offense to capitalize on the stops.
Bolles would capitalize however, adjusting to Raines defnese by going to the passing game. A pass to tight end Connor Cox moved the chains for the Bulldogs. Cox would be the beneficiary of another pass, but this time it was a jump pass from Kavon Miller for a touchdown. Giving Bolles a 21-7 lead in the fourth.
There was still 7 minutes on the clock, plenty of time for Raines to make a move and that they did. Mark Miller took off on a 30-yard run setting up Raines in the red-zone. Raines would score unconventionally themselves when Doles evaded pressure and passed to the end-zone, which would richochet off a Bolles defender and be caught by Ty’ren Randolph for a Viking touchdown. Raines was within one score in the fourth quarter with 4-minutes remaing.
Raines would get the stop needed on defense after a Jamari Whitehead tackle for loss and an incomplete pass on third down, giving the ball back to the Vikings. However, Raines was unable to do anything on three tries from their own 30-yard line and Coach Masline would elect to punt the ball back to Bolles on hopes of another defensive stop. That stop would never come as Bolles ran the clock after a first down by Miller, final score Bolles 21 Raines 14.
Head Coach Matt Toblin and Bolles return to the state semifinals for the fourth straight year. It great testament to the work he has done at Bolles. Yet a championship road doesn’t end in the final 4, and Bolles has two more stops to go.
Photos by Heather Isbell
