5 Florida high school football games you should not have missed this week (10/28/2023)
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District showdowns produced some hair-raising finishes on Friday night from one area of Florida to the next.
From last-second field goals to missed kicks to stunning touchdown runs, there was no lack of drama in Week 10 of the 2023 season.
Here is our list of five games you should not have missed.
5. Nease (Ponte Vedra) 24, Ponte Vedra 23
In a North Florida showdown, Nease stunned rival Ponte Vedra in “The Battle of the Bridge” to remain undefeated in Class 4 Suburban, District 4 (2-0) and improve to 6-3 on the season.
Ponte Vedra (7-2, 2-1) attempted a 37-yard field goal with 3.7 seconds left and missed, prompting a wild celebration among Nease players and fans.
Quarterback Bryce Frick was the hero for Nease, running in the winning TD from 2 yards out with 1 minute, 24 seconds left. He also threw two TD passes in a wild game that featured four lead changes and two ties.
Frick’s 25-yard TD pass to Maddox Spencer put Nease up 7-0 early. But Ponte Vedra came back with a 1-yard TD run from Brian Case to tie it at 7-7 with 5:54 left in the first quarter.
Evan Raymond then kicked a 33-yard field goal to give Ponte Vedra a 10-7 lead with 9:28 left in the second quarter. But Nease came right back, scoring on a 30-yard TD pass from Frick to Brayden Felder to give the Panthers a 14-10 halftime lead.
Case then barreled in for his second 1-yard TD run with 10:41 left in the third quarter, putting Ponte Vedra back on top, 17-14. Daniel Jones then tied things at 17-17 for Nease on a 45-yard field with 5:08 left in the third quarter.
Ponte Vedra rallied again when Cole Madson scored on an 81-yard catch and run for a 23-17 lead. The Sharks missed the PAT.
Frick then ran in the winning TD and the Panthers made the ensuing PAT to take the lead for good.
4. Piper (Sunrise) 24, Plantation 21
The Bengals got big plays from their offense, defense and special teams to win the Class 3 Metro, District 12 title – their first district championship since 2001.
Piper’s defense came up big in the final minutes with linebacker Camden Franklin recovering a fumble to stop a Plantation drive that went to the Bengals’ 11-yard line.
After Plantation (6-3 overall, 2-1 in district) took an early 7-0 lead on a 4-yard TD run by Jordan Reed – his first of two on the night – Piper (6-4, 3-0) took the lead for good, 8-7, when Jean Telfort scampered 8 yards for a TD and quarterback Christian Mata ran in the two-point conversion.
Piper then stretched its lead to nine, 16-7, when Kendrick Washington blocked a punt and Jordon London scooped it up and ran 20 yards for a TD.
After Plantation’s JT Tabora threw a TD pass to cut the Colonels’ deficit to three, 16-13, Jahsharie Pinnock scored on a 3-yard TD run and Telfort ran in the two-point conversion to push Piper back up 11 points, 24-13, at halftime.
Reed then scored his second TD run and Timothy Munroe added a two-point conversion run to bring Plantation to within a field goal, 24-21. But Piper’s defense then held fast the rest of the way for the win.
3. Bartram Trail (St. Johns) 45, Oakleaf 42
Senior kicker Liam Padron and senior running back Laython Biddle were the heroes for the Bears in an amazing fourth-quarter comeback. Padron’s 22-yard field goal with 2 seconds left lifted Bartram Trail to a wild Class 4S, District 3 victory.
“I just remember how I do in practice,” Padron told the Florida Times-Union on Twitter, “and don’t worry about where it is, how far it is, or whatever is going in the game. Just make my kick.”
Oakleaf took a 21-14 halftime lead on two TDs from Brandon Wallace Jr. (pass and run) and a TD run from Da’Jon Brown.
Biddle, a Navy commit, scored three fourth-quarter TDs on runs of 2, 2 and 26 yards to help rally the Bears (5-4 overall, 3-1 in district), who trailed 35-21 after the third quarter.
“Honestly, it’s not how we expected to come out in the half, but we pulled together and found a way to win,” Biddle said. “Our players believe in each other and we fight for each other and that’s what makes our team work. Our players believe.”
Jordin Price and Brown each scored two TDs for Oakleaf.
2. Eau Gallie (Melbourne) 20, Rockledge 17
The first Eau Gallie High School opened in 1923 when the school was part of the City of Eau Gallie. A new school was built in 1963 and became part of the City of Melbourne in 1969. Finally, after 100 years, the Commodores can crown a district champion – at least in the FHSAA modern era.
Terrell Robinson Jr. caught a 16-yard TD pass from Mari Crooms with 1:37 left to lift the Commodores to the Class 3S, District 10 championship. Robinson was one of three players to score touchdowns for Eau Gallie (8-1 overall, 4-0 district), which endured four lead changes to beat the tradition-rich Raiders (5-4, 3-1).
Junior running back Tay Welch, who already has multiple offers, including Liberty, got things going for Eau Gallie with a 2-yard TD run with 4:12 left in the first quarter. Crooms added the two-point conversion run for an 8-0 lead.
The teams then exploded for 23 points in the second quarter. Rockledge finally scored when Lorenzo Bell caught a 54-yard TD pass from Traven Green with 10:59 left in the first half to trail 8-7. Jerry Valdez then kicked a 32-yard field goal with 6:22 left to give the Raiders their first lead, 10-8.
Sophomore Xavier Lherisse, who has an offer from Tennessee, then put the Commodores back on top with a 2-yard TD run for a 14-10 lead with 3:08 left in the second quarter. But then Rockledge snatched the momentum back when Jamarcus Giscombe returned the ensuing kickoff 80 yards for a TD for a 17-14 lead with 2:53 remaining in the first half.
The teams then battled it out defensively in the second half before Crooms and Robinson teamed up for the winning score. With the win, Eau Gallie will have home-field advantage for the first part of the playoffs.
“We knew right when we got the ball back in the fourth quarter, we were going to drive down and score, said Lherisse, “and, we just had to leave it up to our defense to close out the game.”
1. Seminole 29 (Sanford), Lake Mary 28
In one of the wildest finishes in Central Florida, Seminole roared back from a 28-14 fourth-quarter deficit to win the Class 4 Metro, District 2 title. Lake Mary (8-1, 3-1) and Seminole (8-2, 4-0) came into the game ranked No. 1 and 2, respectively, in the FHSAA Class 4M power rankings, which determine playoff seeding.
Seminole, which secured home-field advantage for at least the first three rounds of the playoffs, got a 21-yard TD run from Trey Clark and an extra-point kick to take the lead for the first time, 29-28, with 1:02 left. That score was set up by a Lake Mary fumble on an exchange just 37 seconds earlier.
“We got down by a lot in the fourth quarter but we stayed together as a team and fought through adversity,” Clark said. “Whenever defense gave us opportunities late, we made sure to capitalize.”
Lake Mary looked as if it would pull away in the early part of the fourth quarter when star sophomore quarterback Noah Grubbs threw a 9-yard TD pass to Carson Hinshaw – his third TD pass of the game and 41st of the season – for a 28-14 lead. But the Seminoles rallied behind senior quarterback Karson Siqueiros-Lasky, who threw a 47-yard TD pass to David Parks, and Justin Rosado’s 2-point conversion run with 4:51 left to trim the Rams’ lead to six, 28-22.
Lake Mary then drove into Seminole territory and was threatening to score again when it fumbled the ball away. The ‘Noles then got an incredulous catch of a tipped pass from lineman Dallas Hudson that went for a 13-yard gain and a 48-yard catch from Rosado to set up Clark’s winning TD.
“We never stopped believing,” Siqueiros-Lasky said. “We have complete dogs on this team. Everybody stepped up. We couldn’t be more proud to win this game and the district title for coach (Karl) Calhoun and the rest of the coaching staff.
“We are looking forward to our bye next week and coming back with all of our guys healthy for the playoffs,” Siqueiros-Lasky said.
The teams battled to a 14-14 halftime lead before Grubbs threw a 16-yard TD pass to Caden Harshbarger for a 21-14 lead with 4:47 left in the third quarter. The schools could meet again in the regional playoffs.
