Fair, 52°
Weather sponsored by:

Eagles hold off Blue Devil surge

By Randy Lefko
Posted 8/29/18

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Please log in to continue

Log in

Don't have an ID?


Print subscribers

If you're a print subscriber, but do not yet have an online account, click here to create one.

Non-subscribers

Click here to see your options for subscribing.

Single day pass

You also have the option of purchasing 24 hours of access, for $1.00. Click here to purchase a single day pass.

Eagles hold off Blue Devil surge


Posted

FLEMING ISLAND – Despite two missed scoring opportunities and a near-perfect onsides kick, a Clay High football comeback was not in the cards Friday night against rival Fleming Island High who opened quick and held on for the rollercoaster in a 27-20 non-district win in both teams’ season openers.

“It’s Clay and we knew they were going to come after us in the second half,” said Fleming Island coach Damenyum Springs, who now has three wins in a row in the Clay County classic matchup. “We may have come out a little down in the third quarter, but the defense held up. They wore us down in the fourth quarter.”

Right from the opening whistle, the matchup of the two region finalist teams from last year, was going to be a mainly determined on the ground.

Clay High coach Joshua Hoekstra quickly commented that his team needs to improve.

“We’ll fix it,” said Hoesktra.

With the full strength return, for Fleming Island, of junior tailback Dewayne McBride, who riddled the Blue Devil defense last year for the Golden Eagles own second half surge and the win, the Golden Eagles got 156 yards rushing and two scores from the bruiser to dictate the first half action.

“We knew what he could do last year, but he got hurt,” said Springs.

Fleming Island quarterback Dean Hyams gave McBride the ball six of seven plays in the initial series with a 16 yard pass to tight end Sam Snyder setting up a one yard scoring plunge for a 7-0 lead in just three minutes.

Clay would try to answer with quarterback Spencer LeSage in command behind center, but Fleming Island stuffed the effort in three downs.

Two overthrown passes from Hyams to Aaron Ramirez and Snyder stalled Fleming Island at their own 32 yard line.

“Those were on me,” said Hyams. “My line was giving me the time to hit those.”

With 2:10 left in the first and a first down at their own 20, Hyams orchestrated an 11-play scoring drive behind McBride and a facemask flag that put tailback Tim Thomas on fullback Max Michaels’ tail for a five yard score as the quarter ended with Fleming Island up 13-0.

“Our big push this year is to keep number seven standing and clean,” said Fleming Island new offensive line coach Justin Reagan, a product from Bartram Trail High School who put together the Golden Eagles game plan with another new coach, former Clay High coach Ryan Wolfe, the offensive coordinator. “We’ve kind of taking two different styles of offense; mine a Bartram and his most recently from Creekside High, and married them up to try and score some points.”

Clay could still muster little offense with Fleming Island linebacker Andrew Thomas and safety Jacob Ashe thwarting pass attempts set to soften the Golden Eagle defense.

Another facemask penalty on a pass to Ramirez pushed the Fleming Island offense inside the Clay side of the field where McBride finished off the drive with a 45 yard run that bludgeoned half of the Clay defense en route to the end zone and ended with a flying stretch into the end zone for a 20-0 lead.

Clay continue to throw running back Cedrick Brown at the Fleming Island defense in an effort to keep the Blue Devil offensive line in play for a second half takeover.

Brown and LeSage executed a inside/outside attack on Fleming Island and moved the ball 60 yards to paydirt with LeSage keeping from the four yard line to score the game 20-6 with 4:29 left in the half.

On the ensuing possession for Fleming Island, Hyams went over top to wideout Jared Ashe who got behind cornerback Eric Premore and caught the ball at Clay’s 36 yard for an initial gain of 37 yards. Two handoffs to McBride; one for 16 yards, put Thomas in the end zone from five yards out for a 27-6 score with just over two minutes to the break.

Both teams exchanged zero movement series with McBride fumbling away with a minute to go at the Fleming Island 16 yard in an ominous moment for Clay.

Hoekstra put senior quarterback Turner Erstad in and his pass into the end zone to was nearly picked off by cornerback Eugene Oglesby to end the half.

In the third period, Hoekstra introduced mammoth freshman running back Al’Querious Ray, a 6’-0, 240 lbs. Lake Asbury Junior High product, to the Fleming Island defense with a 45 yard run up the middle that Oglesby saved from a score with a tackle from behind at the Fleming Island 30 yard line.

“We can’t give up that kind of yardage in the second half and win big games,” said Springs. “We bend, but don’t break. They pounded the rock.”

Erstad’s second shot into the end zone wound up a fracas between wide out Derek Holt and cornerback Darius Harris that ended with Harris dislodging the ball on the way down. Clay gave up the ball on downs with an incompletion to Brown.

Fleming Island stalled on their next drive to give Erstad a first down near midfield and some momentum on the Clay sideline. Erstad delivered with a wrestler/fullback/noseguard Abbott Taylor, who rolled twice on third downs for first downs, rumbling behind the Clay offensive line that seemed intent on pushing back the Fleming Island defense.

From the Fleming Island 26, Holt nearly redeemed his earlier mishap with a sideline catch that got free at the eight yard line for a sprint to the end one but reversed with a foot stepping out of bounds at the eight.

LeSage returned behind center and finished the drive with a keeper putting the score now at 27-13 with 1:47 left in the third.

Springs was going to be content in trying to run the clock out behind McBride handoffs, but Clay’s defense behind linebacker Cain Creery and stops from safety Dylan Taylor held off the drive to force a punt at the Clay 34.

Starting at their own 20, Erstad hit Brown for 11 yards before Fleming Island defensive end Jake Libretto twice got behind the offensive line to shake up the pocket.

On a third down and 10, Erstad found Holt on a slant that got away from Oglesby on the ensuing run and finished at the Fleming Island three yard line in the biggest play of the night for the Blue Devils. From there, Erstad punched in for the 27-20 score with 5:55 left in the game and both sides in a frenzy.

Hoekstra called for a blooped onsides kick from kicker Tucker Reape and the ball floated over Fleming Island’s coverage team and behind up back Zach Paine who blocked two Clay chasers for enough time for the Golden Eagles to recover the ball that seemed idle for 30 seconds on the turf.

Clay held on defense to force a punt.

At their own 22, Erstad bobbled a center snap that chased him back to the Clay eight before Libretto and Paine covered him. An offensive pass interference pushed Clay to their own three before LeSage got gang-tackled after a pass at the 10 yard line. Illegal procedure and delay of game flags pushed Clay backward another 10 yards back to force a punt from the two that ended the game with Hyams kneeling twice in the victory formation.