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Davis named Florida Dairy Farmer’s player of year

Randy Lefko
Posted 4/13/17

FLEMING ISLAND – Remember one thing. Reed Davis, Fleming Island High School’s 50-goal scoring forward is only a junior.

That means he’s back next year.

On Monday, Davis received his …

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Davis named Florida Dairy Farmer’s player of year


Posted

FLEMING ISLAND – Remember one thing. Reed Davis, Fleming Island High School’s 50-goal scoring forward is only a junior.

That means he’s back next year.

On Monday, Davis received his Florida Dairy Farmer’s all classes player of the year plaque in front of teammates, family and coaches at Fleming Island High School.

“I thank my teammates for his honor,” said Davis. “Having Marcus (Murphy) and Mark (Suhrer) up front with me made my job easy. It was all about getting the ball up front and one of us would finish.”

Davis not only was chosen as the Florida boys soccer player of year, but also was a state champion team captain, a Florida Dairy Farmer’s Class 4A player of year and the Clay Today player of the year, as well as his name is in the hopper for the Gatorade National Player of Year award to be selected in June.

“I have great teammates and a great coach,” said Davis, who finished up his penultimate high school year with a handful of accolades normally given to a senior player. “We lose some key seniors; Mark Suhrer, Alex Cruz, Trevor Broadridge, Andrew Labelle and others, but we also will have a bunch of young guys coming to fill the gaps.”

During the season, as Fleming Island rolled to what appeared to be an unprecedented undefeated regular season, the Golden Eagles suffered a blow at the hands of Tallahassee Leon to leave the season record blemished with a solo loss.

“That loss woke us up and told us we were not going to be given anything as the playoffs came upon us,” said Davis. “We regrouped in that week of practice and worked harder to be around in the final minutes of the second half of games.”

That final week; with a grueling schedule of Bolles, Ponte Vedra and Leon in the span of five days, prior to the district tournament put the playoffs in perspective for Davis.

“It brought us together for the playoffs,” said Davis. “Coach Pontore kind of told us that noone cares about your record from now on. We just go for wins.”

In their historic region and state run, with four of the five games being decided with exciting final minute goals, Davis commented that doubt never came into the halftime huddles.

“Of course, coach Pontore would tell us how bad we played in those first halves, but we made adjustments, sucked it up and played out game in the second halves,” said Davis. “He was right most of the time though.”

Pontore enthusiastically thought Davis returning will bring a certain change of scheme for next year’s attack as opposing defenses will know that he is the Golden Eagle’s go-to guy.

“By about mid-season this year, most defenses had two guys behind him and one in front of him; three near him at all times, but Reed is such a tough competitor for the entire game, there were not too many defenses that could wrap him up for the whole game,” said Pontore, who had Davis as a midfielder defender as a sophomore.

Davis, verbally committed to Jacksonville University, called his best goal a gamewinner against Creekside in the region semifinal.

“Marcus hit me with a great pass and I finished for the win,” said Davis. “It was the golden goal for the win.”

For Pontore, Davis’ prettiest goal of year was his gamewinner against Leon, a 3-2 region final win.

“He got the pass on his right side, turned to hit it with his left foot and curved it in in front of the goalie,” said Pontore. “No goalie in America could have stopped that one. He was celebrating before the ball hit the net; he knew it was in.”