MACCLENNY – Clay High football has found ways to win games from behind, from front, but, in 2016, there is a sense of “uh-oh” in the Blue Devil aura after the Wildcats of Baker County High wrested away the idea of a fourth consecutive district title for coach Joshua Hoekstra’s seniors with a 28-14 district 5-5A win Friday night in Baker County.

“Really tough game, we had a 14 game district winning streak broken by a very good Baker County team,” said Hoekstra, now 5-2, 3-1 in district play. “You have to be mentally tough to win on the road and right now we aren’t. I have to do a better job preparing our team, I’m obviously not getting it done, 1-3 on the road this year.”

The win locks Baker County (8-0, 4-0) as the district champion while putting Clay into sharky waters with a Friday game at Palatka the final shot of at least a number two spot in the district thus at least a region playoff berth. Palatka defeated Orange Park on Friday and comes in as a strong threat to the Blue Devil playoff hopes.

From the opening kickoff, Clay looked like a revitalized version of its past with the Blue Devils hammering between the tackles on offense with senior Colin Wilson returning to the backfield and appearing to want to justify a recent verbal commit to the University of Louisville.

“His week of practice was better so he earned some carries,” said Hoekstra, who has used a handful of ballcarriers in past weeks; Angel Valdes, Cedrick Brown and Marcus Jones, while waiting for Wilson to “phoenix” into the thunderous ballcarrier he was as a sophomore before a knee injury.

Wilson pounded the Wildcat front line in three straight carries from the Clay 20 to the Baker County 41 looking to be as destructive as ever. Clay quarterback Jaylan Jenkins took his speed off the right corner to the Baker County 39 before going back to Wilson for five carries to the Wildcat four yard line.

Smelling a momentum altering next play in the hostile Baker County crowd, Clay stalled to holding flag, a sack by Wildcat linebacker Shaquan Griffin and an errant end zone pass on fourth down left Clay zeroed.

“The opening drive was great until our touchdown was called back on a holding call from the two yard line,” said Hoekstra. “We didn’t execute again in the red zone, called a pass to be thrown to Ajay (wideout Belanger) in the endzone and the ball was thrown to the flat.”

Baker County answered swiftly with running back Curtis Harmon rumbling off the right corner of the Clay defensive line for 90 yards to the Blue Devil eight yard line. Two plays later, Baker County scored just two minutes after stopping Clay.

Wilson and company rolled again down the field with a handful of handoffs to Wilson and Brown, who blasted Menendez for 261 yards and five scores last week, that ended with Wilson fightin off two tacklers at the end of a 25 yard scoring run.

Baker County again got movement quickly on the ground with a gaping hole greeting tailback Chris Smith who sauntered 43 yards to the Clay 25. Two plays later, quarterback Joe Green took a draw the rest of the way for a 14-7 Wildcat lead with 10:22 to the half.

Clay got stuck in their end of the field for the rest of the half, but the Blue Devil defense kept the Wildcats near midfield as the half ended. One key play was a missed pass attempt to Belanger who had gotten behind the Wildcat defense, but could not grab a near-perfect toss from Jenkins.

“We felt good about moving the ball on them and our coaches and players did a good job of staying calm,” said Hoekstra. “We knew it would be a four quarter ball game.”

Clay stuffed four plays from Baker County as the third period opened then used the surge to go 45 yards in five plays with Brown scoring from 13 yards out to tie the game at 14-14.

Starting at their own 30, Baker County again found the edge of the Blue Devil defense and Harmon rumbled 59 yards to the Clay 33 before linebacker Evan Martin made a touchdown saving tackle. An apparent fumble recovery from middle linebacker Rico Schnitzler was not approved and Harmon hit paydirt from 23 yards out to put the Wildcats back up 21-14 with 4:13 left in the third.

Hoekstra tried again to bait the Wildcat defense in tight before going over top again to Belanger who got just his fingertips on a long ball from Jenkins a second time.

The missed pass led to a five play scoring drive for Baker County that pushed the scored to 28-14 with 11:33 left in the game.

Clay would get to the Baker County 10 yard line on the ensuing drive, but Wilson was stopped on a fourth and two at the Wildcat 10 yard line. Baker County stayed with their ground game to grind the clock and got a fourth down interception with 1:45 left in the game to end a Clay scoring threat.