OAKLEAF - Well, Well, we waited an extra week and we finally got travel plans.
Football playoffs were delayed a week due to Hurricane stuff, and having No. 1 Nease beat Bartram Trail on Friday kind of shook up the playoffs, but, as of Friday, the playoffs are set.
Oakleaf, ranked 10th in Class 6A, will travel to seventh-ranked Mandarin (over the Buckman Bridge); region 1-6A. Fleming Island will travel to Mosley High (Lynn Haven, just a hair north of Panama City and an hour west of Tallahassee) and Middleburg will take the trek to faraway Niceville (Panhandle, Florida's west coast).
As for the matchups, Mandarin and Oakleaf are both 7-3; Mandarin took an 18-7 district title win over the Knights in week nine in a game that saw the Mustangs de-throttle the hot Knights' offense that features FACA District 2-6A player of the year Chris Foy II, the Knights running back. Foy is fourth-ranked in Class 6A rushing behind number one Arthur Lewis IV of Bartram Trail, of all people, who leads the pack with 1,666 yards and 21 scores.
Foy, with 1,332 all-purpose yards and 12 scores, has been the backbone of a Knights' offense directed by quarterback Jack McKissock who has his impressive stat package with 2222 yards passing (222.2 per game), a 65 percent completion rate and 24 TDs, just three interceptions has one of highest QB ratings in Class 6A, 140, which is just behind the fourth rated QB in 6A, Tampa Armwood's Rhys Bush at 143. Buchholz' Trace Johnson is rated number one in QBs for Class 6A with 2,549 passing yards, 19 scores, and nine interceptions.
Mandarin quarterback Knox Annis, just a freshman, is ranked 23rd, with less than impressive stats of 1258 yards passing, nine scores with eight interceptions, and a 66 QB rating. Annis, though, has a win over Oakleaf, a stunning loss to Bradford, and a nail-biter loss to St. Augustine.
McKissock, on the flip side, has even more excruciating losses to Hawthorne and Bolles on last-second finishes, plus the Mandarin game where he was done with just nine pass completions with, to his credit, a handful of misplayed or tightly defended passes (10 PBUs, one interception, one fumble recovery for Mandarin) that, in championship games, must be caught. Turnovers hurt.
McKissock and Annis both have a stable full of horsepower to get the ball to with Mandarin's main trio of all-everything Jamie Ffrench, Ethan Sherman, and Brysen Wright doing the damage; Wright with the biggies against Oaileaf including an 84-yard score among his two touchdowns. French was neutralized by the Knights' secondary with three catches for just 20 yards with Sherman just a solo catch for a big 35-yard first down play.
Oakleaf, again, on the other hand, had just Michael Connor on display with six catches and Foy, Carlos Witherup, and Zach Michel all with one catch and no scores. That must not happen a second time. Connor is ranked 13th with 38 catches; Wright is 17th with 28 catches, Ffrench is 21st with 30 catches and Witherup is 22nd with 40 catches. Connor is the long ball playmaker while Witherup is the under-route specialist and McKissock needs at least two big ones from these guys.
Mandarin's defense bottled up McKissock with Foy rushing for just 60 yards. Where Oakleaf hurt Mandarin was with junior running back Fareed Coleman, who sneakily, found his way through the very big Mustang traffic up front to pile up 119 tough yards on the ground. Mandarin coach Toby Bullock overplayed Foy and kept him in a bubble and that was a big difference.
Mandarin, expected to show a power run game in the Oakeleaf game, also threw their two workhorses; senior Deion Winstead, ranked 22nd, and Shaunqueze Foster, ranked 28th, with bounces between the tackles finding green grass for extra 5-8 yards downfield as Oakleaf linebackers Bryan Copeland and Jermaine Robinson kept busy with double-digit stops; 12 and 10, respectively. Defensive tackle Amare Thomas clogged the middle with eight stops, but the line bent a bit to allow Mandarin to whisk to the second level.
Mandarin had all-state safety Drake Stubbs with only a double-digit tackle package: 11 tackles and three for loss to show his speed to the ball and instincts. He remembered some of his Oakleaf High playbook from a few years ago.
Offensive lines versus defensive lines is, as is usual in championship games, where the butter hits the bread and both teams are massively talented up front. There is no question, up front is where the game will be won or lost.
As for history, Mandarin, with state titles, state runner-ups, and Final Fours, has been there, and done that. Oakleaf, with coach Chris Foy, has not. Plain and simple and Foy has repeatedly said he has to get his team to that level with wins in those big games.
Next up in the Region 1-6A bracket, undefeated and No. 1 Nease, 10-0 with a Friday 56-42 win over Bartram Trail, is taking on eighth-ranked Tate (7-3) to earn a region semifinal spot against the Oakleaf/Mandarin winner.
Nease offers a strong passing game with 1,710 yards in the air versus 1,053 on the ground; 22 TDs via air, and 16 via ground. Nease won a 35-34 game over St. Augustine in one of their biggest games in recent history last September with a 20-17 win over Buchholz.

Region 1-6A
1. Nease (10-0) vs. 8. Tate (7-3); 4. Mandarin (7-3) vs. 5. Oakleaf (7-3); 3. Pace (9-1) vs. 6. Oviedo (8-2); 2. Buchholz (7-3) vs. 7. Evans (6-4)

2023: Mandarin Class 4M runner-up; 38-19 to Miami Columbus; Evans lost 4M Quarterfinal to Apopka; Oviedo lost in 3M quarterfinals to Orlando Jones; Buchholz lost in 3S state semifinal to Lakeland; Nease lost in 3S quarterfinal to Niceville.
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Region 1-5A football

Fleming Island, Middleburg take the long road

By Randy Lefko
randy@claytodayonline.com

MIDDLEBURG - A flip in numbers two and three; Lincoln and Mosley, in the region 1-5A lineup, put a little glitch in the playoff lineup only that chatter about a possible Ponte Vedra visiting Fleming Island and Fleming Island traveling to Lincoln was heard in Clay County, but Mosley upset the apple cart with an upset loss to FSU High in their season finale. FSU High has been the dragon killer for northeast Florida football with an upset win over Hawthorne to crack a two-year win streak there and to Mosley a week ago to upend an undefeated season.
With the Dolphins beating Niceville earlier in the season, the ranking seemed destined to keep them at number one except for the FSU game.
So, from that result, all that changes is that Fleming Island now heads to Mosley in their quarterfinal with Middleburg, staying at the eighth seed, unfortunately, having the longest trip of the season to Niceville., about five hours, probably more by bus. Mosley is about 25 minutes short of Niceville. Maybe they could travel together and the Broncos will drop off Fleming Island along the way and pick them up on the way home...LOL.
In Class 5A, Lakeland is ranked number one with St. Thomas Aquinas two and Manatee (Bradenton) third. Niceville is eight, Mosley is nine, Ponte Vedra is 10, Fleming Island is 13, Beachside is 14, Daytona Beach Mainland pops in at 15 and Middleburg is 33. Chiles jumped over Middleburg in the Class 5A rankings despite a 3-7 record which probably made Bronco coach Ryan Wolfe a little nervous.
For the quarterback ranks, Fleming Island senior Cibastian Broughton, as well as head coach Derek Chipoletti, has put the Golden Eagles on the right path of team unity and camaraderie to make the 2024 season one of the best stories of the year. The duo reversed a trend coming from losing rough games to Riverside and Oakleaf early in the season to a 6-1 slate to end the season; loss to Creekside on a last-second field goal.
Broughton and Chipoletti have learned to use the tools on the field; mainly running back Dehmir Jackson and wideout Trace Burney to punch in big numbers on offense with Broughton holding QB ratings of 146.8, 162.4, and 150.0 in the past six weeks after the first two weeks looked horrifying at 53.3 in a win over Clay and 96.2 in a loss to Oakleaf.
Broughton, ranked 10th in Class 5A, is solid with 1,704 yards passing with 21 scores and just one interception with the lone pick best in Class 5A ahead of two from Blanche Ely's number three ranked quarterback Omari Mcneal. Mcneal holds a QB rating of 150 with Manatee's Andrew Heidel at 142.
Middleburg's Carson Stewart is 21st ranked with 1,400 yards and 13 touchdowns with a QB rating of 102. Ponte Vedra's Drew Price is 19th with 1,477 passing yards, 12TDs, and a QB rating of 86.
Broughton's targets thus far, are led by Burney as the top guy and second-ranked with 1,012 yards off 57 catches and 17 scores with his unique knack of catching 5-10 yard slants and hitting the jets and elusiveness to 20-24 yard pickups. Burney's 57 catches is second best in the top 10 state with Pembroke Pines' Brandon Clement with 58 catches for the season among just six receivers with 50-plus catches for the year.
From the region, Beachside has two pass catchers in the top 11 with Drew Watson (50 catches, 10TDs) at four and Maddox Hunstad at 11 with 37 catches and 10 scores.
For the region 1-5A ranks, those three are the only in the top 20 with Chiles receiver Trevor Jacobs 10th and Middleburg receiver Jordan Williams 21st with 30 catches and three scores. Mosley wide receiver Carson Griffin is 22nd with 40 catches and seven TDs.
That being said, passing is one of Fleming Island's strengths going in with the run game coming off the legs of power back Dehmir Jackson who follows Ponte Vedra multi-dimensional quarterback Brian Case; second for Case, fifth for Jackson, with Jackson at 1,092 yards on the ground with 13TDs; Case with 1,278 yards with 18 TDs.
Top ground gainer is Riverdale High out of Fort Myers' Cole Hayes with 1,405 yards and 22 touchdowns with Niceville's Connor Mathews at 11th (966 Yds, 8TDs), Mainland's Edward Williams at 13th (955 Yds, 7TDs) and Niceville's Johnny Lewis at 17th (840 Yds, 0 TDs).
Mosley has two guys outside the top 20 with Lokavion Jackson at 670 Yds, 17TDs, and Samuel Chisolm at 716 Yds, 10TDs.
Broughton is 29th with 628 yards and eight touchdowns out of the pocket.
Middleburg's run game is led by Travis Pinkard with 517 yards and six touchdowns.
On defense, top tacklers in the Class 5A ranks include Niceville's Maddox Hayles at sixth with 103 stops with six sacks Middleburg's Kadin Hanifen at eight with 95 tackles; 48 solos and Fleming Island's Sebastian Cruz 13th from his safety spot with 86 tackles. Mosley's Sawyer Schultz, a middle linebacker, is 11th with 89 stops with four sacks.
Fleming Island's David Fuentes is 19th with 79 stops.
In the top 20 in Class 5A for sacks is Ponte Vedra's Reece Beck, a defensive end, with eighth sacks for 10th in 5A with 11 quarterback hurries. Mosley outside linebacker Will Arboleda has eight sacks with four QB hurries with Ponte Vedra's defensive tackle Martin Geary with seven sacks and eight QB hurries.
Middleburg's defensive tackle BJ Carter has seven sacks for 20th ranks with nine QB hurries.
For interceptions in Class 5A, Mainland's Kwasie Kwaku, Jr., has four interceptions to lead the region with teammate Zyquan Neal stealing three. Middleburg's Joel Lowe is 34th with three interceptions with Cruz also with three steals.

Region 1-5A: 1. Niceville (9-1) vs. 8. Middleburg (7-3); 4. Ponte Vedra (8-2) vs. 5. Beachside (7-3); 3. Mosley (9-1) vs. Fleming Island (7-3); 2. Lincoln (8-2) vs. 7. Mainland (5-5)

2023: Mosley lost in quarterfinals 4S to Buchholz; Ponte Vedra lost in semifinals 4S to Buchholz; Niceville lost in semifinals to Bartram Trail; Middleburg lost in quarterfinals 3S to St. Augustine; Lincoln lost in semifinals 3S to Choctowhatchee