ST. AUGUSTINE – With one of the more rugged schedules on tap for 2017, the Clay High Blue Devils football team took their best preseason shot at one of the strongest 6A programs in Florida in St. Augustine High and came away with a 17-14 halftime score en route to a final 27-21 preseason loss Friday night.

The Blue Devils, with their season opener on Friday against rival Fleming Island High, a 19-7 winner over Westside wrought with interceptions on both sides of the line of scrimmage, have been intent on opening the season with a strong season after a arguably dismal start in 2016.

Off the first series against St. Augustine, Clay coach Joshua Hoekstra tested his latest transfer, ex-Bradford County High all state running back Aundre Carter, with four straight handoffs run into the meat of the Yellow Jacket defense.

Carter, at 5’-11” and 225 pounds, powered for three five yard gains wrapped around a strong 24 yard rumble from midfield to the St. Augustine 25 that set a tone of power for the Blue Devil offense.

From their, Carter caught a swing pass left for four with three more handoffs to the six yard line setting up a wicked fast slant pass from quarterback Caleb Eason to wideout Ajay Belanger for the first score of the night. Kicker Liz Fogarty nailed the PAT for the 7-0 lead.

Fogarty returned to execute a pooch kickoff that landed near the Yellow Jacket 22 yard line where safetyman Zack Alvarado exploded the ballcarrier in his tracks.

St. Augustine, an annual region playoff ticket holder, looked to answer the quick Clay opener and got an 18 ayrd from running back Dexter Brown to the 40 where defensive end Josh Griffis blasted into the backfield for a 10 yard loss sack on St. Augustine quarterback Kyle West.

Cognizant of Griffis’ strong pass rush capability, St. Augustine reverted to a quick screen to Frequan Sparrow who found 40 yards of green pasture to the Clay 20 yard line where, a drag pass in the end zone from West to Cedrin Daniel tied the game at 7-7 at 3:40 in the first quarter.

Clay got a second positive kickoff return from Raequan Williams with a 35 yard return putting the Blue Devils at the 40, but Carter stalled on two carries and left the game with leg cramps to force a punt.

St. Augustine went right to work trying to exploit the edge of the Blue Devil defense with West hitting wideout Keegan Nelms for 18 yards over Griffis’ outstretched arms and Russell adding 23 more yards off a quick swing pass to the Clay 25.

Clay got some pocket presence off defense with outside linebacker Cody Devore, converted from a defensive end position of last year, and defensive end Kenneth Johnson converging on West for a sack to the 27 yard line.

Clay nearly thwarted the offensive attempt with outside linebacker Josh Colson getting his hands on a West pass, but unable to latch on to the would-be Pick-Six freeby. One play later, West would hit Nelms on a flag pattern just in front of Alvarado for a diving stab at the corner pylon and a Yellow Jacket 14-7 lead with 10:52 left in the half.

St. Augustine stayed away from a third Williams 35-plus yard kickoff return and pooched the kick to the 30 yard line to start Clay off.

With Carter still on the bench, senior Christian Swilley opened up with a six yard blast and a flag pass to Belanger that was bobbled then caught at the St. Augustine 22 yard line. Eason rolled left and found slot back Spencer LeSage, one of a few standout summer prospects for Hoekstra, who wiggled away from three tacklers and sprinted into the end zone to tie the game up at 14-14 with Fogarty’s second PAT kick.

St. Augustine started at their own 23 after the kickoff, but managed to overcome strong defensive efforts from defensive tackle Colby Butler and Devore to get a pass to wideout Markis Merrill that got an additional 15 yards off a facemask on Clay defender Dakari Augustin.

From the Clay 25, the Yellow Jackets tried to power three handoffs with little success in front of Butler and Alvarado and Devore blitzing off the corner to force a bad pass. St. Augustine would settle for a field goal and a 17-14 lead with 4:31 left in the half.

After the kickoff, Hoekstra put in his third back, Cedric “Tank” Brown for three snaps and a first down at the Clay 36, but Eason overthrew two balls to force a punt.

On St. Augustine series after the punt, Colson had his second shot at a critical interception, but just registered a pass knockdown on the play. Griffis partially blocked the Yellow Jacket punt that was picked up by Alvarado giving Clay possession at midfield with 1:20 left in the half.

In St. Augustine’s final series of the half, Johnson got a sack and Devore had a tackle for loss to end the half.

The second half was to be a test of bench players and St. Augustine scored off a swing pass and a second field goal while Clay got a 65 yard run play from Swilley to end the night at 27-21.