FLEMING ISLAND - With a double district showdown approaching with a few kinks in the equation, Middleburg and Fleming Island look to be on a collision course for a possible district championship football game at Middleburg High School.
Who would have thought that with the firepower of teams like Ponte Vedra, Mandarin and St. Augustine within the districts of our local teams, the possibility of a county rivalry goosed up to a district championship would be possible.
Let's do the math; Middleburg is 6-0, lots of points; a former Fleming Island backup quarterback, Carson Stewart, has played near mistake-free ball, not a lot of strength of schedule points, but statistics that may be hidden from public view only because of weather restrictions.
"We've had three games that we've been unable to execute our game plan to its fullest because of weather; mainly rain and sloppy turf," said Middleburg coach Ryan Wolfe. "On the other side, we have scored a bunch of points in bad weather. Who knows what might happen on a dry night?"
Fleming Island, 3-3, has been blowing fuses on scoreboards behind the athleticism of quarterback Cibastian Broughton and Trace Burney, but has not been very successful in the final stretches of some pretty big games, and may have a vulnerability in the crunch.
The next two games should fill in the blanks as to who has the upper hand in Middleburg though Middleburg at home is a tough game anytime.
Oakleaf, on the other hand, got spanked twice with late-game drops, but coach Chris Foy may have exorcised those demons with a quick kill of Fletcher last week that, with a BYE, may rev a sleeping giant on the Knights sideline.
The Knights have proven Jack McKissock is a real deal QB with a sling full of weapons; Connor, Witherup, Price, and friends, and a running back, Foy II, who is vocal about not backing down.
Only whisper is not thinking of Mandarin with games still before October 25.
Clay and Ridgeview have come along with some new faces; Clay with newcomer Nehemiah Bailey at running back adding some heft with speedy Antonio Thomas giving crafty quarterback Landon Martin some breathing room, but St. Augustine is still St. Augustine. Slow the game somehow, keep the Yellow Jackets offense off the field, and maybe...
Ridgeview, with their exciting win on Friday, has some confidence and a bit of momentum, but a gauntlet to the finish line.
If Vanderbilt can beat my Alabama Arkansas beats Tennessee and Washington beat Michigan and Arizona beats Utah, anything can happen with Clay and Ridgeview in the next few weeks.
Keystone Heights has had a very emotionally draining season and still has two formidable opponents to come; unbeaten Chiefland and 5-1 Crescent City.

Week Eight/Oct. 11

Game to Watch
Middleburg at Ponte Vedra
A BYE for Broncos, a tough 21-18 win over 4A-Leesburg (4-2) after a breathtaking 31-29 loss to Fleming Island put Ponte Vedra in the ix as one of the district 3-5A top teams. Ponte Vedra may have had to shake out the cobwebs of the Fleming Island effort, but that could mean they will be raring to go hoping Fleming Island trips up somewhere in their next few weeks of district games. Ponte Vedra is a game behind Fleming Island with a win over Beachside, but Middleburg has got the entire mountain to climb with this game, Beachside, then Fleming Island in Bronco territory. Fleming Island put up a zillion yards on Creekside but lost. Fleming Island coach Derek Chipoletti has a pocketful of big game tricks to get the district title with a win over Beachside and a Middleburg win over Ponte Vedra bringing a historical game to Middleburg on October 25.
Stat-wise, one big positive is a 123.4 QB rating for Broncos quarterback Carson Stewart. Simple, he doesn't make many mistakes en route to his 6-0 record, 733 yards passing, and eight touchdown passes vs. one interception. Coach Wolfe has been strategic in developing his attack piece by piece.
For Ponte Vedra, a QB rating of 85.4 for Drew Price, plus three interceptions, might be meat on the bone for BJ Carter, Kadin Hanifen and Gabe Baker to exploit with pressure. With a strong secondary, Jaden Boyd, Wein Sulph and Dustin Silcox, the defense will see two taller and stronger receivers from Ponte Vedra; Jack Berquist (No. 14, 22 catches), Davit Doherty (No. 3, 20 catches) and Cam Tietze (No. 8, 16 catches), who were all over the Fleming Island secondary, and that could spell the difference.

Clay (2-4) at St. Augustine (4-1, 7th in 4A)
Tough game no matter where it is. St. Augustine got stung by surprising the Nease team in an overtime loss (35-34) then came back to beat Columbia 27-6 to the Yellow Jackets (note use of work stung above) and will be
on their home turf for the Blue Devils. Clay's best game was Mudslugger's 9-0 loss to Middleburg and if that kind of effort travels to St. Augustine; that's Lavaris going crazy, Landon being sharp, Javaris owning the line of scrimmage and Omar and Aaron staying in the chase, the Blue Devils may slow the St. Augustine attack. Stay on offense, eat the clock, release Lavaris and newcomer Bailey and we have a game.

Ridgeview (1-5) at Columbia (2-5)
Ridgeview coach Merlin Smith had his first win in a tough game at KIPP Bold Academy (see story, page 39) and the win showed a little grit for his boys. Columbia is always big and fast and their losses have been to unbeaten (6-0) Coffee County (GA), Madison County, Trinity Christian Academy, and St. Augustine so no slouches. Panthers have to have great tackling.

Beachside (5-1) at Fleming Island (3-3) (Oct. 10)
Fleming Island has been explosive but also erratic and that causes a lot of stress on the fans and coaches. Beachside scores a bunch as does Fleming Island. Who wins may be the last guy to have the ball...Parker Sirdevan.
Fleming Island quarterback Cibastian Broughton; 57 yards TD, a 60-yard run, 34-yard TD Pass, 63-yard TD pass, 58 58-yard TD pass (359 Yds pass, 5TDs) lit up Creekside with wingman Trace Burney taking simple slants and going crazy to add 20-60 yards on the turf;
Fleming Island gave away 20 points in the fourth quarter in a loss to Creekside; that's erratic.
They almost gave away the Ponte Vedra game; that's erratic.

Keystone Heights (2-4) at Santa Fe (0-6)
Keystone Heights lost 42-10 to West Nassau (6-1) in a tough match at home. The Indians are due to have a breakout game.

Oakleaf (4-2) at First Coast (3-2)
District 2-6A matchup to prelude upcoming gauntlet for Knights with First Coast a game that, if Knights are thinking about Mandarin ahead of schedule, could be a problem. ED White is in between Oakleaf Mandarin sandwiches.
Against Fletcher on a postponed Monday night game, Oakleaf looked sharp as a tack from start to finish. And coach Chris Foy has always preached "finishing" the game.

Orange Park (2-5) BYE
Raiders went run game only in a 20-7 win over Westside with Dylon Ruiz hammering away for 136 yards and three scores to lead the Raiders. Quarterback Quinton Moor ran for 141 yards with two passing attempts.

Upset
Clay over St. Augustine, I'm going out on a limb here, but I think coach Kyle Kennard will have his best pregame speech ever for this one and defenders Daylon Brown and Antonio Thomas will go toe to toe with two 60-plus wide receivers and a top-tier quarterback while Goosby and friends create chaos chasing QB Locklan Hewlett, a commit to the University of South Florida.