Cinderella Eagles won't get to last dance
One week after Ryan Aplin seemingly cheated fate with his brilliant improvisation, fate's bill came due, and Fleming Island paid in full as its Cinderella season came to an end in a dramatic 28-26 regional championship playoff loss at Bartram Trail. Yet, even in the final minutes of Friday night's loss, when defeat seemed all but certain, the Golden Eagles still sat inexplicably poised to pull yet another rabbit out of their hat. Trailing 28-12 with just 9:22 to play, Dee Frieson launched the second of his two 50-yard kickoff returns to the Bartram Trail 44 and followed it up with two receptions for 38 yards before Aplin once again hopped upon his scramble cycle at the 10-yard line and led Bear defenders on a merry chase to and fro that ended up with him in the end zone and the Eagles behind only 28-20 with 7:24 remaining. But Clemson-bound senior QB Kyle Parker and the unpredictable Bears offense began an 11-play drive to the Fleming Island 15 and were lined up for a 32-yard field goal attempt that would ice the game when the Golden Eagles found yet another way to try to snatch victory out of the mouth of defeat. Bears kicker Will Goebel launched a strong, but low kick toward the uprights as Golden Eagle safety Colton Longden crashed through the Bartram defenses to not only block the attempt, but to also pick it up and ramble 70 yards the opposite direction for a TD that brought Fleming Island within 28-26. Salmon Williams, who was able to run the two-pointer in on the previous TD, was stopped cold on his second attempt, and it seemed that, with just 3:05 to play, the Golden Eagles were unlikely to pull this one out. Not so fast. Senior kicker Nathan Branz, a usually reliable leg for the Eagles who had a nightmare of a night with two missed extra points and a missed field goal, came through with a hard-to-handle onside kick that freshman Austin Sweatt pounced on to give the Golden Eagles a first down at the 50 with about three minutes still left to play. But facing third and five with two minutes left, a battered and limping Aplin launched a long, floating pass against a speedy Bartram secondary that's made a living all year on INTs. And, thus, a phenomenal season, made possible in large part by this quarterback's split-second decisions, came to an end. "It never comes down to being one particular thing," Fleming Island head coach Neal Chipoletti said about the interception. "... We knew coming in here that they have a tremendously talented offensive football team. ... You can't mis-serve. We had a fumble in the end zone; we had a field goal blocked, or missed. We just had too many missed opportunities on offense. And you can't do that in a regional final game against a team this calibre and expect to win." That being said, Chipoletti added, "Our kids never quit. They fought all the way. How we got back in the game in the end was just a tribute to what these kids have done this year." Related: Report Abuse | BillJohnson's blog | login or register to post comments | printer friendly version | Tags: football
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Fleming Island's offense came right out of the gate and set the tone for this game early with a 10-play, five-minute opening drive in which Aplin hit Frieson in the back of the end zone with a 26-yard scoring strike to make it 6-0.
The Bears needed only 24 seconds to set a tone of their own. After RB Mark Safer burst down the left side for 20 yards to the 40, Bartram went into their gimmick bag and pulled out a beauty. Parker lateralled wide right and slot receiver Andrew Parker hurled a long ball to wide-open wide receiver Charles Bailey, who finished the 60-yard score uncontested. Will Goebel's kick put the Bears up 7-6, a lead they would never relinquish.
Bartram appeared ready to break the game open early as it took its next possession down to the Eagles' 19, but a strong defensive stand led by Andrew Carstarphen and Mike Patrick stopped the Bears.
Fleming Island seemed poised to pull even as Frieson returned a kickoff 50 yards midway through the second quarter. Aplin then hit four-straight passes and appeared to be right at the goal line on a three-yard run when a Bear defender knocked the ball out of his hands. It was recovered by another Bartram defender in the end zone.
The Bears drove that ball all the way to the Fleming Island 19, where the Golden Eagle defense once again stopped them on fourth down.
The teams again traded scoring punches to start the second half. Bartram started with a solid 10-play drive to go up 21-6, but the Islanders struck back quickly as Aplin hit wide receiver Hayes Towery in stride 30 yards downfield and the lanky senior raced his defender from about the 50 to the Bears' 11-yard line. Four plays later, Aplin once again found Frieson in the end zone for a three-yard TD pass as the Eagles cut the lead to 21-12.
David Matthews and Addison Denny registered sacks as the Fleming Island defense shut the Bears down on two-straight three-and-outs at the end of the third quarter, but Aplin was under even more pressure from the Bartram defense, taking hits on nearly every play and completing some unlikely passes on the way down to the ground. A tough 13-yard sack at the beginning of the fourth quarter saw the Golden Eagle QB come up limping, and the lingering effects of that hit were evident when he uncharacteristically threw way over a receiver in the end zone on the next play.
Branz, sporting an arm cast, followed Aplin's high throw with a low kick on a 37-yard field goal attempt that might have officially gone down as a block, but which, in reality, never seemed to have the height to clear the line of scrimmage.
Bartram took over on its own three, and two plays later Safer burst through a gaping hole up the middle for a 95-yard TD to make it 28-12 with 9:22 left to play.
Bill Johnson Sports Reporter 904.366.6375