MIDDLEBURG - Middleburg sat most of their starters early en route to a 39-0 homecoming blowout. At the same time, Oakleaf battled a two-time state champion to the final two seconds before bowing as the Broncos and coach Ryan Wolfe, unsurprisingly, remain as the lone undefeated team in Clay County.

"It feels good to be 4-0," said Middleburg High football coach Ryan Wolfe. "Anytime you start a football season at 4-0, it's good, but we have had a tough fall with the rain and delays. We have not been able to do a lot of things we want to do, but we're super excited so far for what we have done."

For Wolfe, who had made it clear that his goals as the only coach to be a playoff contender the past two seasons, were to achieve a winning record, then get a district title, then get another playoff spot, then get a second region playoff game and more this season.

For the Broncos, in a homecoming bonanza against a winless Hollis Christian Academy team that scored just six points in four games and has given up 172, had starting quarterback Carson Stewart in for just four passes and starting tailback Travis Pinkard in for just two carries, got gas in the backfield from junior Jordyn Grace for scores of seven and nine yards, while, on defense, a safety from Peyton Mooningham after a start inside the Hollis 15 from a fumble recovery from sophomore Angel Delgado and a 31-yard rumble from sophomore Samuel Craven in first quarter scoring.

"We were up 31-0 after the first quarter," said Wolfe. "We have not had a junior varsity game in two weeks, so we got to put some kids in there that got a chance to play and maybe win a spot."

In the second quarter, Stewart hit wide-out Deshun Green with a scoring pass to 31-0 with sophomore running back Caiden Thigpen barreling in for a seven-yard scoring scamper and a two-point to hit the 39-0 eventual final score.

"We started a running clock in the second quarter then had five-minute quarters in the second half because of the score and the rain," said Wolfe. "The game was over about 8:30 p.m."

Kicker Brock Araujo was perfect on five-point after-kicks.

The Broncos also got an interception from safety Dusty Silcox.

On the north side of Gainesville, in a more unforgiving atmosphere, the Oakleaf High Knights took their 3-0 record to the belly of the beast with two-time state champion Hawthorne, who last week had their 27-game win streak snapped by FSU High in Tallahassee, took advantage of a bevy of untimely penalty flags that put the game at 21-21 in the final two seconds on the clock.

From there, after Oakleaf scored the game-tying PAT from Andrew McDaid with quarterback Jack McKissock scampering in for the score, but relinquished a successful two-point plunge from running back Chris Foy II via penalty, Hawthorne, after McDaid hit a second PAT in two tries; the second via an opportunistically timed time out after his first one tied the game, Hawthorne took the ensuing kickoff 50 yards and got a very out of bounds tackle on the play to add another 15 to the Hornets' starting point.

From there, Oakleaf's defense firred up a bit to force what looked like a winning field goal attempt from 41 yards out only to have Hawthorne flagged for too many players on the field and a return of the Hornets offense.

From the Oakleaf 31, Hawthorne's freshman quarterback Richard Rountree, Jr., lofted a final pass to the end zone where a quartet of players were boxing out and elbowing, but only Hawthorne's senior wide receiver Dacarion Dubose, a 6'-2" leaper, snatched the game away from overtime for the Hornets to put Oakleaf at 3-1 with a road trip to Bolles on Friday.

Oakleaf and Hawthorne provided plenty of fireworks around the penalty flags thrown on the field highlighted by a 95 kickoff return for a touchdown by the Knights' Michael Connor in the third period that tied the game at 14-14. Hawthorne, before the Connor highlight, scored on a Dubose pass catch from the one-yard line that Oakleaf defensive tackle Amare Thomas narrowly missed a fourth down sack of Rountree.

In the first half, after a 0-0 slugfest first quarter, both teams traded highlight reel blows in the next stanza with Hawthorne scoring first on a 35-yard up-the-middle sprint from senior running back Kenoon Johnson.

Up 7-0, Oakleaf responded with their highlight reel as senior running back Malaci Warten bounced off left tackle and hit the jets for a 72-yard scoring blast that tied the game at 7-0 with three minutes left in half.

In the fourth quarter, Oakleaf drove to the Hawthorne two-yard line on a strong drive by McKissock aided by a Hawthorne facemask only to have McKissock wiggle away from the Hornet pass rush and throw an end zone pass that was intercepted by Hawthorne because the Oakleaf receiver as the pass was released.

Bolles, 2-1, opened with an upset loss to Raines, 32-23, then smashed Trinity Christian Academy 41-7 in game two. The Bulldogs were forced to cancel a showdown with St. Augustine in game three due to weather, then survived a 35-28 comeback win over Bishop Kenny last week.

Bishop Kenny surprised the Bulldog defense with a 21-7 halftime lead and a 28-21 lead into the fourth quarter where Bolles scored twice to win the game. Bolles got three scores from junior wide receiver Naeem Burroughs off seven passes and 135 yards while quarterback Ethan Drumm, a senior, totaled 271 yards in the air with two interceptions. Bolles also ran for 242 yards mainly 213 yards and two scores from senior Emmett Grzebin.

For Middleburg, game five features a visit to winless Ridgeview High with the Panthers having a BYE week after a tough 14-7 loss to Englewood that first-year coach Merlin Smith commented that his team may have found some grit for the season after back-to-back shutout losses; 26-0 to Orange Park and 46-0 to West Nassau.

Week Five/Sept. 20

Game to Watch

Dixie County at Keystone Heights

For Keystone Heights, a tough 48-0 Friday loss to Newberry added more bad luck to the Indians after a wicked week prior, but a return to their home field may be the trick with Dixie County, now 2-2, bringing their 20-8 win over Belleview to town. Newberry was known to be formidable with a 28-27 overtime loss to Hawthorne in their game two.

Dixie County is a pretty good rural school with a strong football following and this is going to be a first test for Keystone Heights at home. Indians can ride some momentum with a win here and unbeaten Bradford up next. Bradford, 4-0, got a massive 18-13 win over Mandarin on Friday and looks as strong as ever.

Keystone Heights quarterback Baylor Ford should be running the engine hot by now with the running tandem of Zane Leger and Colton Hollingsworth and Parmeter downfield catching passes.

Fleming Island, after their back-to-back losses to Riverside and Oakleaf, shook off the losses and made Orange Park see just how fast the Golden Eagles could move the ball downfield with a 49-0 win Friday night; 35-0 at the half.

Fleming Island quarterback Cibastian Broughton was fired up scoring passes to Trace Burney twice with Burney turning short slants to big runs; one for a 38 yard to set up a Broughton score from 17 yards out, the other a 62-yard scoring romp after a 12-yard post catch. Burney also took a swing pass out of the backfield 33 yards to set up a second Broughton score as Fleming Island pushed to 14-0 with 6:23 still in the first quarter.

Fleming Island also got good mileage from running back Brady Digman, a sophomore, who used his power running style to give Fleming Island offensive coordinator Evan Scharf another strong downhill running back with senior Dehmir Jackson.

For Fleming Island, in the second quarter, penalty flags negated two scores; one a scoring pass to Tristan Stephenson (offset flags) and one a Jackson scoring run (holding) that led to a missed field goal attempt by Parker Surdivan from 35 yards.

With Dingman rattling off runs of 15 plus hards, a 21-yarder to the Orange Park 33 set up a Broughton scramble and run for a 21-0 lead just as the first quarter started.

To 28-0, Fleming Island defensive back Tacori Allen scooped up an Orange Park fumble and scampered 50 yards to paydirt before Broughton ended the half at 35-0 with his toss to Burney.

In the second half, with a running clock, defensive end Cohen Cioffi powered in for a score of 42-0 before Jackson leap-frogged for the final score.

Fleming Island gets a well-deserved BYE Week before returning with a monster doubleheader with Ponte Vedra and Creekside both visiting The Rock. Ponte Vedra, 2-1, got a 17-14 win over Beachside on Friday with Menendez next. Creekside, a surprising 1-3, opened up at 0-3 but got a monster 49-42 win over Bartram Trail last week with a 21-point first quarter giving the Knights enough cushion to hold off the vaunted Bears offense.

First Coast at Clay (Clay lost a heartbreaking non-district contest to Tocoi Creek, See Mike Zima's story, page ....)

Middleburg at Ridgeview

Bartram Trail at Orange Park

Upset

Oakleaf at Bolles

Bolles anywhere will be a rough game and Oakleaf took the Bulldogs to task last year with a nearly magnificent upset with three of the four quarters being within one point; 6-6 1st, 14-14 3rd, 8-7 4th. That pesky 17-point second quarter was the difference last year in the 44-28 win for Bolles. Stay close and Oakleaf has a great kicker for the winner; Andrew McDaid (24-26 PAT, 5-5 FG).

Oakleaf will be smarting from a last-second loss to Hawthorne last week.