MACCLENNY - Clay High's flag football team opened quickly with a Teaghan Moses pass to Bella Saunders followed by a pass to Charlotte Andrus to the Baker County red zone.

From there, Clay scored with a jump ball to wide out Cora Parker in the corner of the end zone that led to a 20-0 halftime score en route to a 27-0 district 5-2A championship win over the Wildcats in Baker County on Thursday, April 23. The win was the third district title for Clay in the past three years. Clay has a 13-1 season record with a 26-13 loss to 3A top-ranked Tallahassee Chiles in their season finale.

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Clay, seeded third, advanced to the region 2-2A championship bracket with a home game Tuesday, April 28, against the sixth-seeded Citrus High (11-6). Also, in the region 2-2A round one brackets are No. 1 and undefeated Deltona (17-0) vs. No. 8 Ocala Vanguard (6-5); No. 4 Nature Coast Tech (13-4) vs. No. 5 New Smyrna Beach (13-5) and No. 2 Hernando (12-3) vs. No. 7 Weeki Wachee (12-3). Region semifinals are on May 4, with finals on May 7. Hernando finished as a state semifinalist last year, losing to eventual 2A champion Tampa Robinson, 34-12. Hernando defeated Clay, 18-6, in the region final last year.

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After the initial salvo of passes to a score, Baker County again got stung with defender Lucy Nosse snaring one of many double and triple pass play attempts by the Baker County coaching staff.

A drag pass to Parker got followed by a miss by Parker in the back of the end zone, but Moses found the 6-foot-7 Andrus for an acrobatic, bobbling, deflecting over her forehead touchdown catch that would up a ESPN Top 10 play as Clay went up 13-0 with two minutes left in the first quarter.

As the second quarter started, Clay's defense, with rushers Emma Nesmith and Emma Pu crashing in on Baker County's attempts at multiple passes behind the line of scrimmage to counter the Blue Devils' rush, Clay forced a punt that Moses again moved quickly to paydirt this time with freshman wide receiver Makayla Clark winning a contested pass in the back of the end zone to score the game at 18-0. Up back Charlotte Glavin took a direct snap for the two-point conversion for the 20-0 score that stood to halftime.

Clay ended as the lone district title winner for area teams with Fleming Island falling, 34-0, to Ponte Vedra in their district 3A semifinal 34-0 and Oakleaf, after a double overtime round one win over Atlantic Coast, falling to Mandarin, 26-13, in their 4A district semifinal. Ponte Vedra continued with a 17-0 season record continued to beat Bartram Trail, 26-6, in the 3-3A championship game while second seed Tocoi Creek beat top seed Mandarin, 13-7, for the district 1-4A title.

Keystone Heights opened district 4-1A play with a 33-6 win over Hawthorne but fell 45-13 to Bradford in that semifinal. Bradford, the top seed, beat No. 3 Palatka 34-12.

Fleming Island falls to undefeated Ponte Vedra

Courtesy of FIHS assistant coach Mike Lyons

PONTE VEDRA - The Fleming Island Girls Flag Football team opened up the district playoffs with an 18-13 road win at Orange Park High.

The Fleming Island Girls Flag Football team had their season come to an end with a loss in round two of the District Playoffs to Ponte Vedra High.

They lost 34-0 to the undefeated Lady Sharks, now 16-0, and ranked fourth in Florida.

The home team scored three TDs in the first half on passes of 45 yards, 29 yards, and 60 and added two scores in the second half.

The Lady Eagles ended the year, 9-6, after a 2-4 start. Fleming Island High has a winning record in all 13 seasons they have competed in the sport, having won 146 games and losing just 31.

Senior LB Daisy Fletcher, who led the state of Florida in tackles for the regular season with 128, added 27 tackles in the two playoff games, including a career record 18 tackles against Orange Park in that playoff win.