PONTE VEDRA - Oakleaf running backs Fareed Coleman and Malaci Warten combined for 275 rushing yards and three touchdowns as the visiting Knights upset second-ranked Ed Nease 31-14 in a Class 6A regional semifinal on November 22.
Oakleaf, now 9-3, heads to fourth-seeded Gainesville Buchholz for the regional final on November 29. The Knights were seeded fifth. A win at Buchholz's Citizen Field would put the Knights in the state Final Four where the last Clay County team to achieve this was the 2013 Clay High School Blue Devils who lost to American Heritage in the Class 5A championship game 66-9. Clay is the lone state championship football program with a 1967 win in Class B; 33-0 over Graceville.
Head coach Christopher Foy, Jr., was concerned that Oakleaf would come out flat against the Panthers after expending extreme effort in beating Mandarin 17-14 in the regional quarterfinal, avenging a regular-season defeat at the hands of the Mustangs.
“We did not want to come here with a Mandarin hangover because that was such a huge game for us,” said Foy. “We were very concerned.”
Foy had nothing to worry about as the Knights subdued the previously undefeated Panthers with relative ease. Oakleaf took a 7-0 lead on their opening possession, extended the advantage to 14 by halftime and never led by less than that for the remainder of the game.
Foy’s son, starting Knights running back Christopher Foy, II, came out of the game after just one carry due to a separated shoulder suffered during Oakleaf’s win over Mandarin, pressing Coleman and Warten into duty.
Perhaps because of Foy’s injury, the Knights threw on their first possession. On a chilly evening, junior quarterback Jack McKissock started hot, connecting with Carlos Witherup for 21 yards on a deep slant and with Michael Conner, II, for 20 yards before hitting Witherup between two defenders from 11 yards out for the game’s first points, capping an 80-yard drive. Andrew McDaid’s extra point made the score 7-0 with 2:38 remaining in the first quarter.
Coleman took over from that point, covering all 32 yards on the Knights’ next scoring drive. The shifty junior weaved his way up the middle, faked left and cut right, leaving Nease safety Jacob Curry standing still as he burst into end zone for the final 12 yards. Warten set up the short field by recovering a fumbled punt return by Nease’s Maddox Spencer and returning it 13 yards.
Coleman struck again midway through the third quarter. After an exchange of punts to start the second half, Coleman was held up in traffic at the line of scrimmage, bounced outside, received a block from Wintherup and sped 56 yards to the end zone, giving Oakleaf a 21-0 lead.
The Panthers’ K.J. Perry brought the home partisans to life with a two-yard run that pulled Nease within 21-7 with 11:42 remaining, but Warten quieted them on the next play. Anticipating a run, the Panthers blitzed both middle linebackers over the tackles to plug each gap. Warten found a crease between the center and the guard, and with no one left in the secondary except Curry, the senior simply ran away from the safety on his way to a 70-yard score.
Warten, who starts at defensive back, saw much more action on offense in the fourth quarter. Foy called upon him to again steady the Knights after Nease drew back within two scores on a six yard pass from backup quarterback Mason Bacus to Tyler Ghazanfari. With the Knights needing to keep the ball away from the hosts, Warten carried on seven consecutive plays, gaining 48 yards and three clock-draining first downs. McDaid finished the drive with a 20 yard field goal, giving Oakleaf an insurmountable 31-14 lead with 3:45 remaining.
Foy complimented Warten and Coleman after the game.
“They’re fast. Both of them are very, very fast,” Foy said. “And they are both peaking at the right time.”
While the Oakleaf offense made big plays when needed, the Knight's defense shut down a Nease offense that came in averaging 40 points per game, featuring playmakers at quarterback, receiver and running back. Nease quarterback Nate Harry ran for just 29 yards on 11 carries and completed only nine of 20 passes for 129 yards before being knocked out of the game in the fourth quarter. Oakleaf held Perry to a 3.6 yards per carry average, limiting him to 61 yards on 17 attempts. And while star receiver Spencer had eight catches for 146 yards, he did not score and his fumble proved costly.
“The game plan was to put eyes on 14 [Spencer], and make sure number 4 [Harry] did not run that ball. He is really their best runner,” explained Knights linebacker Aiden Justillien, who often shadowed Harry instead of dropping into pass coverage. Justillien had one and a half of Oakleaf’s three sacks.
Tackle Amare Thomas tipped a pass at the line of scrimmage to force a third down throw from Harry to Spencer to come up short of a first down on the Panthers’ opening possession, and Nease came away from the 77-yard drive with no points when Ghazanfari was wide left on a 25-yard field goal attempt.
Midway through the second quarter, Thomas tipped another pass that teammate Jermaine Robinson intercepted at the Nease 45-yard line. Tyrone Early intercepted a deep sideline throw by Bacus near the Oakleaf goal line on the Panthers’ final possession. Warten made the biggest play of the game from his cornerback position just before halftime. Facing a fourth and five at the Oakleaf 15-yard line with 10.3 seconds remaining, Nease head coach Collin Drafts elected to go for it. Harry rolled right and tried to fit the ball into Spencer, who had run to the front corner of the end zone. Warten broke quickly and dove in front of Spencer to bat the ball away, turning ball over on downs and preserving the Knights’ 14-0 lead.
“I am ecstatic for that kid,” Foy said of Warten, who finished with 128 yards on 15 rushes. “He stood up like a senior.”
Oakleaf won the turnover battle 3-0 and stopped Nease from scoring on two drives that had reached the red zone.
“Some very important things went our way tonight,” said Foy. “When you get to this part of the journey, you need a little luck, and we got a bit tonight.”
Foy said that the Knights are playing their best football right now, but did not want to think too far into the future.
“’Win the down’ is what we say. We know we got a very good Buchholz team coming up, and we know we have a very tough task ahead.”