brentbeaird's blog

Clay High (7-3) beat Middleburg High (4-6), 35-28, for its fifth straight win to end the regular season. The Blue Devils advance to the first round of the playoffs next week traveling to Baker County as the district runner-up. Middleburg's season is over.

Blue Devil Coach James Reape said his team did just enough to win.

"Offensively, we moved the ball consistently," Reape said. "We are getting better in our passing. Defensively we weren't great, but we made enough stops to win the ball game.

Reape was complimentary of the Bronco coaching staff and players.

Clay High School is returning to the playoffs after a two-year absence. The Blue Devils beat Pedro Menendez, 35-21, at home Friday night to earn the 4-3A district runner up slot.

Blue Devil running back Quinton Battle, one of the stars for Clay, rushed for 163 yards on 26 carries and scored four touchdowns. Blue Devil quarterback Stephen Hearons completed all four of his passes for 103 yards.

Stacey Burney, who had four sacks in the game at rush end, said he and his teammates were ready for redemption after being eliminated from the playoffs by Palatka last year.

"It feels good," Burney said. "All we did was prepare for this moment all year long. I didn't want this game to get away. Last year, we were in the same spot with Palatka and i gave up the big play and i just had to remember that moment the rest of my life, but tonight i came through for us."

St. Johns Country Day (1-6, 0-3) lost to Gainesville Oak Hall (2-3, 0-2) by the score of, 26-9, in a 2-1B district football game Friday night. The Spartans controlled most of the first half and took a, 9-7, lead at halftime, but were outscored, 19-0, in the second half.

Spartan Coach Rodney DuBose said his team failed to take advantage of some opportunites.

"Our defense played great," DuBose said. "They were well-prepared. We made a couple of mistakes. We couldn't capitaize on some big plays that we made defensively and on special teams." 

St. Johns marched 75 yards after receiving the opening kickoff to score the intial touchdown of the game on an 18-yard pass from quarterback Jake Haznedl to former quarterback- turned- receiver Ray Grant. The extra point attempt was blocked. St. Johns led, 6-0, with 4:02 left in the first quarter. A roughing- the- punter and interference penalties gave the Spartans first downs on the drive.

St. Johns Country Day (1-5, 0-2) beat Mount Dora Bible (0-6, 0-2), 30-6, Friday night in a non-district 2-1B football game for its first win of the season.

Spartan head coach Rodney DuBose was very happy afterwards about the team's initial win of the season.

"It was great to get one," DuBose said. "Our team executed and played within ourselves. The teams were pretty evenly matched. We played a game without shooting outselves in the foot." 

In the first quarter, the Spartans set the tone when tailback Hwang Marino scored from six yards out with 9:10 left. Quarterback Jake Haznedl ran the two-point conversion in to put St. Johns ahead, 8-0. Barely one minute later, Mount Dora scored its only touchdown of the game on an 80-yard run by tailback Cornelius Whitehead with 8:32 left in the quarter. The extra point attempt failed and St. Johns still lead, 8-6.

Clay High (2-1, 1-0) started its district 4-3A schedule with a, 35-14, home win over Atlantic High from Port Orange (0-3, 0-1) on Friday night. The score was tied, 14-14, at halftime before Clay scored 21 unanswered points and shutout the Sharks in the second half.

The Blue Devil defense and special teams set up the offense in good field position several times in the final two quarters. Clay special teams blocked two punts in the second half. The first blocked punt led to the go-ahead touchdown for the Blue Devils. Atlantic senior running back Rob Brown who ran for 110 yards in the first half was limited to only 41 yards in the second half.

The St. Johns Country Day football team was shutout Friday night, 40-0, at St. Joseph Academy in a non-district 2-1B game. The Flashes led, 13-0, after the first quarter and, 27-0, at halftime. They scored two more times in the third quarter. The teams played under a running clock in the fourth quarter.

 The Spartans (0-3) struggled all evening with turnovers and an ineffective offense that gained 96 total yards. St. Joseph (1-2) controlled the clock and the game with 270 yards rushing. They also added 70 yards passing. 

Spartan Coach Rodney DuBose said mistakes, missed tackles and a lack of execution hurt his team.

The St. Johns Country Day School football team (0-2) lost its second non-district game of the season Thursday night, 28-18, at home to Mandarin Christian (1-1). Mandarin Christian, which has only 17 players on its roster, never trailed in the game and scored 22 of its points in the first half. The closest the Spartans would come on the scoreboard was six points in the third quarter.

The Spartans struggled early on offense mainly because of turnovers. Yet, the offense seemed to settle down toward the end of the first half when junior Ray Grant took over at quarterback. The Spartans also had more success moving the ball when they went to more of a ground attack that concentrated on running at the middle of the Eagle defense.

The St. Johns Country Day School football team (0-1) lost twice Friday night. The first loss was on the scoreboard, 30-6, at Providence (1-0) in a non-district game. Adding to the difficult night was the loss of their star player, senior running back Carlos Sims, Jr., who may be out for the season with a knee injury according to Spartan Coach Rodney DuBose. The Sims injury occured on the Spartan's first offensive play after he picked up a first down.

A bright spot for the Spartans was the play of senior linebacker T J Weaver, who led the team in rushing with 37 yards, recovered three fumbles and made 10 tackles.

i am excited about being a part of the Clay County high school football coverage this fall. Beginning Friday night our myclaysun sports staff will be out covering games in order to give you a report afterwards of how the clay county high school teams did. we encourage you to attend the games and root for your teams. we look forward to an exciting year of high school football in Clay County. Take care. Brent