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Blue Devils defeat Panthers

By Randy Lefko
Posted 10/19/17

ORANGE PARK – Clay High football flexed some Final Four muscle Oct. 13 in a much-ballyhooed “showdown” with county and district rival Ridgeview and produced a smashing 49-3 blowout win in the …

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Blue Devils defeat Panthers


Posted

ORANGE PARK – Clay High football flexed some Final Four muscle Oct. 13 in a much-ballyhooed “showdown” with county and district rival Ridgeview and produced a smashing 49-3 blowout win in the first step of a typical Blue Devil late season run into the playoffs.

A 200 yard rushing effort with three scores from tailback Aundre Carter and two sneak-play touchdown passes to slot back Spencer LeSage fueled the game as Clay went air-to-ground up and down the turf.

having one of their best seasons,” said Clay coach Joshua Hoekstra. “You have to come out and play solid football against any team that is 6-1. We want to play home football games in the playoffs.”

Hoekstra’s goal of home games in the playoffs comes on the cusp of facing district 5-5A defending champion Baker County on Friday with Palatka to follow in his quest to wrest the district title from the Wildcats and bring playoff football back to Green Cove Springs. Ridgeview, also still in the mix, has Baker County and Menendez left on their district slate and, with Baker County sitting at 6-1 with a lone loss to 6A-power St. Augustine in week one, both teams, (A.) must beat Baker County and (B.) not lose a sleeper in their second district game; Palatka for Clay, Menendez for Ridgeview.

Last year, Clay traveled to three region playoff games before hosting the Class 5A state semifinal and narrowly falling 52-42 to eventual runnerup Ponte Vedra High in a fantastic shootout.

“We got the big dogs coming in this week (Baker County) and we have to go five games in a row to get our goal,” said Hoekstra. “This game came out of a great week of practice.”

Clay’s muscle showed up quickly in two forms on Friday with cornerback Jordan Copeland rocking Ridgeview running back Trent Coleman on a swing pass on the Panthers initial series and leaving the burly ballcarrier woozy for a visit from the athletic trainer and, on Clay’s ensuing first offensive series, running back Aundre Carter taking his first handoff 57 yards to paydirt while leaving a trail of Ridgeview tacklers with tire-marks across their jerseys.

Carter, with 1,020 yards for the season, has three 200-plus yards games thus far, has been just one of four battering ram ballcarriers for Clay.

“I just trust in my offensive line,” said Carter. “All of us running backs are going to make it hard for tacklers to take us down once we hit the hole. That’s how we practice.”

After Panther Stadium settled down a bit with the explosion of ferocity in the first two series, Panther quarterback Tyler Huff, who was harassed most of the night, went for two incompletions before a punt.

Ridgeview’s defense, behind Austin Childers and Troy Harris, seemed energized after the initial Clay salvo, and forced a punt from the Clay 15 after the Blue Devils started from their own two yard line off a Charlie Barrett punt from beyond midfield.

Huff’s best shot was just a nine yard completion to Kiaran Turner, but the Clay defense forced a punt from midfield. Clay kick returner Raequan Williams bounded nearly 40 yards down the sidelines but the effort was for naught with a “suspicious” penalty flag setting the ball down at the Clay 40.

Starting at their own 40, Clay started throwing running back Cedric Brown into the mix with gains of 13 and seven yards adding to a Carter 24 yard run, Clay quarterback Caleb Eason, eight of 11 for 172 yards, missed wideout Ajay Belanger with a slant, but came right back to find LeSage downfield for the first of his two scores down the middle of the field.

“That’s just a play that Tobler (offensive coordinator Ulysses Tobler) gets a feel for depending on their coverage and throws it out there,” said Hoekstra. “We caught Bartram Trail with it twice and he hit it twice tonight.”

Tobler noted that LeSage has the optimum look for the play to work.

“He’s kind of invisible out there because he’s not too big, not flashy, but knows how to get open and makes great hands-on catches,” said Tobler. “He gets lost in the coverage and then they forget about him. That’s when we throw it.”

LeSage, who caught that first touchdown pass with 0:25 left in the first quarter, caught his second touchdown on the same play just two minutes later as the second quarter started with Clay at their own 38 yard line. Carter got two yards on a dive before Eason fired the ball downfield to LeSage to put Clay up 21-0.

Defense again punched down a Ridgeview drive with defensive back Dakari Augustin emerging from a sideline scrum for a Huff pass putting Clay’s offense back on the field with 7:26 left in the half.

Ridgeview answered on defense with Childers snatching a rare Carter fumble five plays later.

“That was our first fumble of the season,” said Hoekstra. “He didn’t have the ball completely in his grasp and they made a strong surge to hit him before he got to the line.”

On the Ridgeview series, it was Clay High state meet wrestler turned defensive tackle Kurt Jackson who crushed the line of scrimmage on second down to upend Huff’s rhythm and force a punt.

Starting at the Clay 25, LeSage ran a jet sweep that added 15 yards with a facemask flag that put the Blue Devils at midfield quickly where the third ballcarrier for Hoekstra, Christian Swilley, entered the lineup and put two more fresh legs to work with gains of 17 and 10 getting Carter close enough for a 16 yard scoring run and a 28-0 Clay lead with 1:46 to halftime.

Augustin almost snared a second interception on the next Ridgeview series and Jackson again blew through the Panther offensive line to sack Huff on first down at the Ridgeview 35. Huff retaliated with a 22 yard scramble to midfield and a 29 yard pass to JaidenTurner before ending the half with a Charlie Barrett field goal.

After the halftime homecoming ceremonies, Clay blasted out of the lockers with Carter rumbling 70 yards to paydirt and kickoff specialist Tyler Lewis recovering a fumble getting Brown a touchdown and a quick 42-3 Clay lead that led to a running clock for the rest of the game.

Clay’s final touchdown came from a fourth set of legs with Tymious Goodman answering the call to carry with a one yard scoring plunge. Kicker Liz Fogarty was perfect on all point after touchdown kicks for the Blue Devils.