TALLAHASSEE - With an uncanny amount of bad luck or imperfect execution, the Fleming Island High football season came to a screeching halt after a 16-13 region 1-5A semifinal loss to Tallahassee Lincoln on Friday.
"Lot of points left on the board," said Fleming Island head football coach Derek Chipoletti, who was named interim coach at the season start, ran a great season and was undecided after the game on whether he would return next season. "The hallmark of this team is that they are relentless. We are not flawless and the kids have learned to play for each other and overcome the mistakes that naturally occur."
Fleming Island was halted twice at the Lincoln goal line, had a sure touchdown pass play upended by two players colliding and a final interception at the goal line on the final pass of the night for senior quarterback Cibastian Broughton.
"If I had taken the points in the third on field goals instead of the fourth downs, we would have had six more points," said Chipoletti. "This game is a game of inches with two very good football teams going at it. I knew our defense was going to go quietly."
Lincoln showed no mercy for the visitors as the game unfolded horribly for Fleming Island with a 99-yard kickoff return from Christian Sims, Jr., for a touchdown to open the game with just two Fleming Island tacklers getting hands on the Lincoln returner.
"Kickoffs are the only part of the game where there is not a lot of strategy," said Chipoletti. "If you have great athletes and that guy makes one cut, he can go. There may have been people out of their lanes, but there's is no magic to it."
On the ensuing Lincoln kickoff, just one minute into the game, a fumble recovery at midfield off an onsides kick play that led to a second touchdown near the seven minutes mark put the Golden Eagles behind the eight ball 13-0 before the bus drivers could get their vehicles parked.
"I just kept telling them that there was a lot of football left in the ball game and not to let the fast start get to them," said Chipoletti. "This team has come back from adversity all season."
Fleming Island almost returned the kickoff return favor with Sebastian Cruz sprinting to the 50 to give the Golden Eagles prime field position to start their first offensive possession.
Fleming Island quarterback Cibastian Broughton got a quick glimpse of the hard-charging pass rush and containment strategy Lincoln was to employ all game as the Fleming Island offense sputtered at the 50 with Broughton missing wide-out Trace Burney a step ahead of the Lincoln defense.
"Most of our pass plays that he had were our quick gain plays designed to get out of his hands quickly, obviously," said Chipoletti. "We'll look at the film and talk to him about what he was seeing to make him hold the ball. Remember, Lincoln had a great secondary and were rushing hard."
Chipoletti complimented the Lincoln strategy of plenty of pre-snap movement and plenty of different looks for their entire game.
"That was the hardest team to prepare for because of their movements before and after the snaps," said Chipoletti. "We had some luck with screens later in the game and their guy Ryder Luck was a big, strong guy up front that was trouble for us."
Lincoln did get to the end zone once more before the first quarter ended but a penalty flag kept the Trojans at 16 points.
Despite 143 yards rushing from Lincoln running back Tadarius Huggins, the Lincoln offense was held scoreless for the remainder of the game with Fleming Island getting outstanding play from linebacker A.J. Witt who scooped up a Huggins fumble after a scrum near midfield and made a spectacular diving tackle to prevent a Lincoln first down late in the game.
"As long as I've been at Fleming Island, we've never won the eye test; meaning we don't look as imposing as some other teams, but our guys understand my thought that you don't have to be big to be physical," said Chipoletti. "Isaia Kesena and Lavell Howard are not the biggest guys in the middle, but they were very physical the whole game against a much bigger offensive line. The whole defense, A.J. (Witt) and Van Hof (DE Nate Van Hof) played very violent."
Broughton quickly engineered a scoring drive with Burney dancing to the Lincoln 24 after a quick out pass pattern getting an additional 15-yard face mask penalty.
From the Lincoln 10-yard line, Broughton scrambled around a half dozen Lincoln defenders to paydirt to score the game 16-7 with 4:12 left in the half.
With a minute to halftime, Sims let loose with passes to try and get a quick score before the break, but breakups by Tacori Allen and Cruz on one pass at the goal line led to a Cruz interception in the end zone with 12 seconds on the clock.
In the third, Sirdevan punched in a field goal to score the game at 16-10 with 10 minutes left in the third.
Fleming Island pinned Lincoln at the Lincoln two-yard line off a great open-field tackle by Allen on Huggins.
Starting near midfield after a punt, Lincoln pressed Broughton hard on their pass rush to force Fleming Island to pound running back Dehmir Jackson off tackle for a gain back to midfield before Broughton scrambled again to the Lincoln 32.
Jackson broke free on a run but was stripped of the ball near the Lincoln 20 to halt the drive near the two minutes to go in the third-period mark.
Again, Cruz would catch the Lincoln punt to start Broughton near midfield with the Lincoln defense going heavy pass rush, but Chipletti attempted some quicker screens; one to Eric Gentry for 11, a second to Jackson that got the Golden Eagles 25 yards to the Lincoln 23.
On the first down, Broughton rolled right and threw left toward the end zone where Cruz and wide receiver Tristan Stephenson wound up colliding to knock the ball from Cruz.
"Sebastian (Cruz) has had reps as a running back, but he is our safety and kick returner and he was in because Dehmir's back was tightening up," said Chipoletti. "
"When Cibastian rolled left, then got chased right, he was looking across the field and, I think, Sebastian was trying to make a play for his quarterback and got tangled up with Tristan. Both players were doing what we teach which is help the quarterback in an emergency situation."
Fleming Island took a Sirdevan field goal from 40 yards to put the game at 16-13 with 11:43 still on the clock.
Lincoln got to the Fleming Island 22, but Sims misfired on a pass to the end zone and Witt came up with a spectacular diving ankle tackle of Sims trying to exit the pocket to give Fleming Island possession with 8:28 left on the clock.
Broughton then shouldered the Fleming Island offense with two solo runs; one a sideline tip-toe dance, the other a sweep right to keep the chains moving despite a holding flag at the 4:32 mark.
Now at the Lincoln 34, Broughton seemed destined to win the game on a final drive, despite a second holding flag, and got his offense to the Lincoln four-yard line on a third and 16 off tackle run.
Now with first down and 3:12 still on the clock, Jackson got rejected on first down and Cruz got stuffed on second. On third down, Broughton rolled left, got chased right and threw toward Stephenson in the back of the end zone, but Lincoln linebacker Nic Sobeski leaped at the goal line to steal the game-winner.
Chipoletti acknowledged the respect that both teams showed toward each other during and after the hard-fought game.
"I'm never a guy that is going to say we are going to war with the other team," said Chipoletti. "I will say, and I'm a historian, that you hear stories of battles that the combatants, after the battle is over, that they admired the courage of their opponents. That's what happened last night."
As for a decision to return will be in about a week or two.
"I want to reconnect with my family and business and remind myself that I love being around this sport because it is such a hard game to be away from. I told the kids that I do this for two reasons; to teach boys to be men, it's the ultimate simulation to teach about dealing with adversity. The second is that I get to walk the line of still reliving my youth as a player all the way up to the kickoff, then it becomes a ghost because I'm not running out on the field."