OAKLEAF - Oakleaf High football coach Chris Foy has been to a region final just once, as an assistant coach at Fletcher High in 2013, the year before traveling to Oakleaf for the region semifinal against Oakleaf coach Derek Chipoletti. Chipoletti, who finished his first year as head coach at Fleming Island High last week with a 16-13 dogfight loss to Tallahassee Lincoln in region 1-5A, got the better of the Fletcher team that year, Josh Corey the coach, then got dismantled by Niceville 35-0 the following week.
"Coach Chipoletti beat us twice that year," said Foy, who is on the brink of returning to only his second region final in his coaching tenure, but his first as a head football coach. "I know that the whole atmosphere and pressure and all that ramps up as you get closer to the spot we want to be and that is the state title."
Former Clay High head football coach Joshua Hoekstra is the king of region playoff runs and Final Fours and even one state championship game with the former Blue Devil coach now at Bolles and preparing for a region final there against Gadsden County in Class 2A.
Hoekstra got to the Class 5A title game in 2013; a 66-9 loss to American Heritage with a running back named Sony Michel, an NFL star, and another named Nick Chubb.
Hoesktra had strong region final finishes and Final Fours that ended at Wakulla and Ponte Vedra in his tenure.

After his last two Fridays resulted in monster wins over Mandarin, who won the district title over Oakleaf earlier in the season, and Nease, the ranked No. 1 Class 6A team just two weeks ago; Tampa Armwood's No. 1 last week, Nease No. 2, Foy joins the Hoekstra legacy and has been thinking about his Oakleaf's next step; at Buchholz High at Citizens Field in Gainesville.
"I asked a friend of mine about Buchholz and he said they were big and fast," said Foy. "I asked him what else and he said they are fast and big and I said, you already said that. He laughed."
Buchholz is currently ranked fifth in Class 6A with Oakleaf sixth last week.
"When you look at some teams, you say I could use a guy like that or a guy like that guy, but they were all great players that just loved that coach," said Foy. "That made them dangerous because a team like that will never quit. And they did not."
Buchholz, 9-3 this season, has a history with Oakleaf.
"They clocked us last year, like 38-3," said Foy, who improved from a 3-6 first season to also a 9-3 slate in 2024. "That is something that we have to get out of our kids' heads."
Buchholz comes with a high-scoring offense much like Oakleaf with an overtime loss to Nease (20-17) and a 35-28 loss to Richmond Hill of Georgia, currently ranked 13th in Georgia 5A at 7-3 with losses to Georgia powerhouses Camden County, Lowndes County and Colquitt County.
Buchholz gets to the region final with wins over Orlando Evans (42-21) and Pace (34-24) to face Oakleaf.
Buchholz is led by junior quarterback Trace Johnson with 2,757 yards passing with 21 TDs and just nine interceptions with a running game that has put up just 1652 yards between eight ball carriers, led by junior Justin Williams with 613 yards with 13 scores. Williams, also one of the top receivers for Johnson, has best games; just two over 100 yards rushing, of 297 yards and three scores against Bartram Trail and 166 yards with two scores against Cardinal Newman.
Williams' effectiveness comes from also catching 67 passes; 13 against Manatee, 11 against Richmond Hill, with eight scores.
Johnson, in the air, has games of 453 yards vs. Manatee,
350 yards vs. Tocoi Creek and 304 and 303 yards against Nease and Richmond Hill with a four-touchdown night against Eastside in September.
Foy's readiness to be only the third team; two Clay teams, to make the Final Four for football, is reliant one a few things, according to Foy.
"This is a culture we are trying to build and how do you not prepare for a Buchholz team that clocked us last year 38-3," said Foy. "You can fail at this thing two ways; eliminate the thought of 'can we beat them this year?' and also not being satisfied with what we have done this year. I don't think this team is thinking either of these two ways."
One strategic key to Foy's recent success is what he calls "patient depth."
"My son, Chris Foy II, and coach Bubba Horne, offensive line and coordinator, have been in the same room for the past four years," said Foy. "We have a few guys; Malaci Warten and Fareed Coleman, both had games where we saw what they could do; Warten against Riverside and Coleman against Fleming Island, but we wanted to bring them along at the right time."
With Chris Foy II on the field, but not handling the ball his normal 25-30 carries, coach Foy said the plan was to get his two young guys ready for the big game by having them emerge in the games leading to the biggest games.
"Chris banged up his shoulder, but we dressed him for Nease and Mandarin but didn't have him pounding the ball," said Coach Foy. "He's such a big part of the sideline and, against Nease, he got the final onsides kick to seal the game. We got him ready to go against Buchholz with the other two and that's a heck of a backfield."
Foy's fourth guy in the mix is sophomore Cornell Moses who carried the ball in the trenches to push Oakleaf into position to get the winning field goal against Mandarin. Moses was asked by Foy to get him to a field goal against Nease that put a cushion on the score.
"He's a special kid," said Foy, of Moses. "This kid just turned 15 and he just got us to the two-point line against the number one team (Nease) in the state after pounding the Mandarin defensive line last week. That field goal against Nease gave us a cushion."
As for the approaching Final Four trek, Foy simply said it's the next step to keep learning.
"The word elite is not in my vocabulary; Elite Eight, but I'd rather have 'Thankful' as my word to describe our season," said Foy. "These guys have put the work in and it is now coming back to them."

Class 6A Region Finals

Region 1-6A
No. 5 Oakleaf vs. No. 2 Buchholz
Oakleaf beat No. 1 Nease 31-14; Buchholz beat No. 3 Pace 34-24

Region 2-6A
No. 1 Tampa Armwood vs. No. 2 Osceola
Armwood beat No. 4 Tampa Plant 21-17; Osceola beat No. 3 Durant 35-6

Region 3-6A
No. 1 West Boca Raton vs. No.3 Wiregrass Ranch
West Boca Raton beat No. 4 Mitchell 38-7; Wiregrass Ranch beath No. 7 Largo 38-7

Region 4-6A
No. 1 Miami Southridge vs. No. 3 West Broward
Southridge beat No. 4 Monarch 20-14; West Broward beat No. 2 Piper 35-16

Football Playoff History (Region finals plus)
(Coaches)

1967 Clay (Harvey Lofton) wins Class B state title; 33-0 over Graceville
2008 Ridgeview (Tom Macpherson) loses 44-7 to Seabreeze in region's final
2010 Fleming Island (Jeff Webb) loses 43-29 to Lakeland region final
2010 Orange Park (Danny Green) loses to Seminole 21-16 in region final
2008 Orange Park (Danny Green) loses to Pine Forest 33-7 in region's final
2013 Clay (Joshua Hoekstra) loses to American Heritage 66-9 in the Class 5A championship game
2014 Oakleaf (Derek Chipoletti) loses to Niceville 35-0 in the region final
2015 Clay (Joshua Hoekstra) loses to Wakulla 34-24 in the state semifinal
2016 Clay (Joshua Hoekstra) loses to Ponte Vedra 52-42 in the state semifinal
2017 Fleming Island (Damenyum Springs) loses 38-13 to Bartram Trail in region's final
2017 Clay (Joshua Hoekstra) loses 29-14 to Baker County in region final
2020 Fleming Island (Damenyum Springs) loses to Niceville 35-18 in region's final