Curse Broken: Pensacola Catholic football wins one-score game at Florida High to win region title

Turkey? Consumed.

Run game? Still working.

Curse? Broken.

Pensacola Catholic is the Region 1-2S champion after a 17-10 victory over Florida State University High School on Friday at Mike Hickman Stadium in Tallahassee. The Seminoles have had the Crusaders’ number in recent memory, ending Pensacola Catholic’s season four out of the last five years. Each game was decided by seven points or less.

And while the point differential remained similar on Friday, there was one dramatic difference.

The Crusaders found a way past Florida High.

Things came down to the final few drives of the game. With the score knotted 10-10, the Seminoles had just missed a 47-yard field goal to give Pensacola Catholic possession with 8 minutes, 43 seconds left in the game.

Then Nigel Nelson – as he had for a majority of the game already – ran down the field. It took him just six plays from the Crusaders’ 20-yard line to find the end zone. He capped off the drive with a 37-yard run up the middle on a direct snap, diving forward as Florida High defenders tried to drag him down.

That’s where the Pensacola Catholic defense came in. The Seminoles had fourth-and-1 from their own 47. Teagan Hackett dove up the middle of the field on a run play, trying to get that crucial yard. But the Crusaders’ defense stopped him about half a yard short of moving the chains.

Florida High had just one timeout left with 3:30 remaining in the game. After a couple failed run plays, it was third-and-11 and the Seminoles used their final timeout with 2:34 left. Then Florida High jumped offsides a couple times, sandwiched with a couple runs from Nelson, and the Crusaders drained the rest of the clock for their first region title since 2010.

“They’ve had their heart broken on this field many times on this field. I’m just happy for them,” Pensacola Catholic head coach Matt Adams said. “They’ve worked their butts off. They deserve it. They’ve played the game the right way. They’ve done a great job all year long.”

Florida High closes out its season with another 10-win campaign, finishing 10-3 – including a six-game win streak before the loss to the Crusaders. The Seminoles were the seventh-best team in Class 2S in Florida.

“It feels like a Florida High-Pensacola Catholic game – another game where it’s decided by one score. We just weren’t sharp. (Pensacola Catholic) did all the things they needed to do in the critical moments to make those plays,” Florida High head coach Jarrod Hickman said. “It’s always a disappointing end. I really like the way our kids battled back, but we just didn’t make the plays we needed to make in the second half.”

Pensacola Catholic (11-2) extends its season at least one more week and will play some December football in the state Final Four. The Crusaders, the No. 3 seed, travel to Bradford (Starke), near Jacksonville, the No. 2 seed.

Bradford, the No. 1 seed in Region 2, shut out Baker County, 43-0, in the Region 2-2S title game.

“I haven’t even thought about next week yet. Just going to enjoy this tonight, get these guys back home safely,” Adams said. “Then we’ll get ready for next week.”

If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it

For the second week in a row, the Crusaders used an overwhelming amount of wildcat run plays, with direct snaps to Nelson and C.J. Nettles.

And for the second week in a row, it worked.

Nelson set the tone early on a long opening drive for the Crusaders that went from a few minutes into the game until there was 9:40 left in the first half. Nelson had 13 run attempts on the drive – Nettles added in seven carries – that saw the Crusaders go from their own 4-yard line to 12-yard line.

Pierce Hopson nailed the ensuing 28-yard field goal to open the scoring, giving Pensacola Catholic the early lead.

Only four plays of the Crusaders’ total 60 offensive plays – excluding punts and the field goal – didn’t feature Nelson or Nettles on the ground in the wildcat. Pensacola Catholic changed things up after Florida High tied the game with 44.1 seconds left in the third quarter.

There were two run plays which gained minimal yardage, plus quarterback Ryan Huff had a pair of passes with one completion, a 12-yard gain to Jacob Chambers on a crucial third-down situation.

Did anyone mentioned that Nelson, who finished the game unofficially with 250 yards rushing, isn’t originally a running back? He noted he was initially trained to be a linebacker, but got moved to strong safety this year for the Crusaders.

Then he got pushed to offense as a running back.

“I’m really a defensive player. I never trained to play running back. I got thrown in this year – and I haven’t disappointed yet,” Nelson said. “As of right now, it’s been working good. And I’m not going to stop.”

Adams said that Nelson’s IQ on the field makes him stand out.

“Nigel has the freedom to make what checks he wants on the line, depending on his alignment. I trust him. He understands the game. He’s one of the smartest players that I’ve coached,” Adams aid. “He sees little things, and he’s a great athlete to get it done. I’m very comfortable with him being the commander at times.”

‘We swarmed the ball’

Florida High had limited success on offense. If you ask Robertson, that’s because the Crusaders – he believes – one of the best defensive lines in the state. It took until their third drive for the Seminoles to record a first down – an 11-yard pass from Jeremy Johnston to Ray Daly. The drive ultimately failed, and Florida High punted.

Unofficially, the Seminoles finished the game with 147 yards of total offense. Johnston also threw 12 incomplete passes, several of which were broken up by Crusader defenders.

“We swarmed the ball, swatted passes – all phases, just proud of those guys,” Adams said. “They gave very little all night long.”

Johnston was also sacked a few times in crucial situations, and even though the Seminoles had a few extended drives, the Pensacola Catholic defense made some big stops to force long field goals from Florida High.

The Seminoles went 1-for-3 on field goal attempts, hitting a 26-yarder, but missing a 56-yarder and a 46-yarder. Both came up short of the uprights.

“It came down to crunch time. … I told the guys, ‘Let’s get after it.’ We finished it off,” Robertson said. “I feel like we’re the best defensive line in the area right now. … The game plan, our coaches prepared us well. It worked out and we capitalized.”

‘We just didn’t convert’

Florida High was never out of the game as the Seminoles crawled back to tie the game as the third quarter was expiring. But some mistakes, such as the missed field goals or coming up short on that fourth-down situation late in the fourth quarter, proved to be too much.

“We just did not make the critical plays on either side of the ball – special teams, too – that we have all year long. You can’t do that in a regional final and expect to keep going,” Hickman said. “We just have to be sharper.”

And against a truck-like running back in Nelson, the smaller Seminole defense had a tough time stopping Nelson early – and that let the Crusaders gain momentum on the ground.

“They converted on some third downs and fourth downs,” Hickman said. “The way (Pensacola Catholic) is playing in that style, you only get so many chances.”

Florida High had a chance to get the ball back as Pensacola Catholic was sitting with a fourth-and-4 with a couple minutes left, but the Seminoles were called for offsides. It was a similar feeling a couple plays later at third-and-2, and it ended in the same result: an offsides call.

The Crusaders went in victory formation the next play to close the game.

“You can’t do that in these types of games,” Hickman said. “Hopefully the younger group will learn. This a football team we’ve seen a lot in the playoffs. We’ve got to get ready for the next opportunity and hopefully we can be back next year.”

Ben Grieco is a sports reporter for the Pensacola News Journal. He can be reached on X (@BenGriecoSports) and via email at BGrieco@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Pensacola Catholic football advances to Final Four with win over Florida High