First Coast Varsity Weekly: 8 double-digit winners head Gateway Conference basketball

Buckle up for Gateway Conference basketball.

The Gateway boys tournament tips off Monday with a loaded field in the annual championship for Duval County public schools, traditionally the most tightly-contested sport in the school district.

In the eight tournaments from 2005 and 2012, eight different schools — Raines, First Coast, Jackson, Lee, Wolfson, Ribault, Parker and Sandalwood — hoisted the trophy. White's 2015 title and Paxon's 2020 championship added the ninth and tenth names to the Gateway champions list for the past two decades.

While Jackson (15-3) enters as a prime contender for a fifth title in seven seasons, behind Ronald Durham, Jaylen Dopson and a deep and punishing lineup, they'll have plenty of competition.

• Reigning Gateway champion Ribault (12-5) is the conference's highest-scoring team, averaging 66.5 points per game and returning the area's public-school points leader in guard Caleb Williams.

• What Ribault achieves on offense, Paxon (14-2) does on defense. The Golden Eagles have held seven opponents under 40 points, giving up 41.9 per game, in a lineup led by senior guard Dameon Jones.

• Raines (14-5), which has already doubled last season's win total, has some of the Gateway tournament's greatest depth in scoring options along with junior Ta'veon Dunbar.

In all, eight Gateway teams entered the week with double-digit victories, with First Coast, Mandarin, Riverside and Stanton also above the 10-win mark. Prominent scoring weapons highlight those rosters, whether outside (First Coast's Israel Gaines, Riverside's Tae'shaun Gelsey) or inside (Mandarin's Dylan McCleod, Stanton's Raza Cottey).

No lights, no problem for Stingrays soccer

One moment, Chris Maxey was stretching across his goal line, preparing to stop a penalty kick in the Gateway Conference boys soccer semifinals.

A moment later… darkness.

"That was crazy," the Atlantic Coast goalkeeper said. "I mean, lights off? That's something out of a movie, straight out of a dream."

The night the lights went out at Atlantic Coast didn't foil the Stingrays' keeper, who weathered the delay and later came up big with the decisive save to defeat Stanton 4-2 in a penalty shootout during Thursday night's semifinal.

Atlantic Coast's Smyth Gover, Mateus Mattos, Leo Loschiavo and finally Nicholas Ramirez eventually scored during the shootout on a night that began under a fluorescent pink sunset and ended in utter darkness.

But the no-light highlight of the night came during the second round of the shootout, with Stanton midfielder James Parks ready to attempt his shot and Maxey lining up to stop it. Parks was about to begin his run-up when the light towers went dark.

With no lights, the action halted for some 16 minutes, as dozens of fans bounced to and fro across the field in surreal scenes. Once play resumed, both teams converted in the next two rounds, and Maxey followed with the save of the night to stop the penalty from Stanton senior midfielder Ethan Breslin.

"Honestly, I just had an instinct," Maxey said. "I saw his hips lined up and everything, just took my reads and I just went that way with the full dive."

Regulation had ended 2-2, with Atlantic Coast scoring twice from Loschiavo free kicks (one direct and one off a Blue Devil for an own goal) and Stanton countering with a rare indirect free kick goal from Breslin and a wild scramble in which Abdul Mujib Musa appeared to get the last touch.

Maxey's effort propelled Atlantic Coast to its first Gateway boys soccer final since 2016-17, but the experience — counting the light stoppage, the semifinal dragged on for nearly three hours from its 7:45 p.m. start — took its toll. The drained Stingrays lost 5-1 to No. 1 seed Mandarin, which won its fourth straight conference trophy.

Tornadoes' Cummings commits to Memphis

Bradford's two-way talent Chalil Cummings is making the move to Memphis.

The senior defensive back and wide receiver committed to the American Athletic Conference program Saturday, announcing his decision on Twitter.

A Times-Union Super 24 selection rated as a three-star prospect by 247Sports, On3, ESPN and Rivals, Cummings (6-0, 185) had received more than 20 college offers while helping the Tornadoes to the 2022 Class 2S semifinals and the 2023 title game on both sides of the ball.

An all-around athlete who started four years at David Hurse Stadium and also won a Class 1R state basketball title at Bradford in the 2021-22 season, Cummings is most often projected as a safety in college.

In 2023, he caught 47 passes for 846 yards, gaining more than 50 percent of the Tornadoes' yards receiving, along with 87 tackles, three interceptions and seven pass breakups on defense.

He would become the second Football Bowl Subdivision signee for Bradford in the 2024 recruiting class, after linebacker Chason Clark signed with Marshall during December's early signing period.

Several other seniors, including edge rushers Torin Brazell and Duke Lewis and cornerback Malakai Murphy, are also on the recruiting radar from a Tornadoes defense that has limited opponents to 169 total points over the past two years.

Cummings becomes the latest Northeast Florida addition for Memphis coach Ryan Silverfield, who played high school football at Bolles. Offensive lineman Jacob Gray (Providence), defensive tackle Jaylen Joyner (Ribault) and linebacker DeDrick Smith (Lee) also appeared on the Tigers' 2023 roster.

Goal from kickoff? Bolles achieves rare feat

At Bolles, the philosophy is "Play Fast."

On Wednesday, Ayden Ashchi took the school's boys soccer motto to a new level.

The Bolles senior forward scored with a direct shot off the second-half kickoff to break a tie in the 3-1 victory over Providence, a rematch of last year's Class 3A regional championship.

The teams were tied 0-0 for the second-half kickoff when senior midfielder Will Morales touched the ball in the center circle and Ashchi smashed it with full force to score from more than 50 yards. Time elapsed from the whistle: barely three to four seconds.

Finn McEnany and Max Lockett scored late goals from more conventional distances in the victory for the Bulldogs, who had an all-around eventful week that included a Saturday game in Key West.

Eagle's View hoops on fire

Jackson's 10-game run, though, isn't the longest active winning streak in Jacksonville boys basketball. So who's on top?

Now winners of their last 11 games, Eagle's View has built month-long momentum entering this week's Sunshine State Athletic Association tournament. Since a Dec. 5 loss to Palatka, the Warriors have spent the past six weeks solidly in the win column.

Four Warriors kept up their double-figure averages in Thursday's 62-42 win over Stanton, led by Jayden Williams (19 points), Kenneth Berry (13 points, nine rebounds), Marcus Carter (13 points) and Justis Clements (12 points, seven rebounds, five assists, six steals).

At 14-4 under head coach Kiryn Williams, Eagle's View has already surpassed last year's win tally.

Hilliard forward leads scoring chase

Northeast Florida's 30-goal club is about to become crowded.

Hilliard sophomore striker Jaycie Noble heads the area's girls soccer scoring charts with 36 goals, with three others in hot pursuit entering the regular season's final week.

Noble already has six hat tricks, including a five-goal, five-assist game in the Red Flashes' 10-2 win over Old Plank Christian on Jan. 11.

Close behind on 29 goals are University Christian junior Abbey Mehm, White senior Tyra Pierce and Keystone Heights junior Kiersten Shaw. Shaw, already up to 225 varsity goals dating back to 2019, needs one more goal to reach 30 for the fifth consecutive year.

On the boys side, Keystone's Aaron Wiley is also close to 30, currently leading the area with 27 goals following Monday's 6-4 loss to Williston.

State wrestling duals begin Friday

Three Northeast Florida schools qualified for the state duals championships in wrestling, set for Friday and Saturday at Kissimmee Osceola.

Suwannee and Baker County will meet in the state quarterfinals for Class 1A, after both won their regional titles against Florida High and Fernandina Beach, respectively. The winner advances to Saturday's final four.

In Class 2A, traditional power Fleming Island qualified once more with its regional victory against Clay. The Golden Eagles compete Friday against Tallahassee Lincoln with a final four berth at stake.

Fleming Island has fared best among Northeast Florida teams in FHSAA duals tournaments, qualifying for the final in 2018, 2019 and 2023.

Around the area

Brunswick kicker McClain Fineran committed to Shorter football. … Middleburg's Grady Woodard committed to Coker wrestling. …Orange Park setter Hailey Revak committed to Penn State-Abington volleyball. … Providence guard Chris Arias scored his 1,000th career point for the Stallions in Friday's victory against Riverside. … Camden County junior forward Elyiss Williams surpassed 1,000 points for his basketball career. … Ponte Vedra senior guard Kennedy Rosendahl scored her 1,000th point in Thursday's 48-38 win against Nease. … Mandarin's Jaylen Lewis won the boys 60-meter dash in 6.94 and Oakleaf's Amarrion Grant won the boys long jump at 22 feet, 8 inches at the two-day Jimmy Carnes Invitational inside the Alachua County Sports and Event Center in Gainesville. … Swimmers from Bishop Kenny competed at the 48-team National Catholic Swim and Dive Championships in Baltimore, including a second-place finish in the boys 100-yard backstroke for Carter Wright, a second in the girls 100 butterfly for Rachel Howard and a third in girls diving for Brianna McMillan. … Harvest Community's Isaiah Bunso, Sean Murphy and Adrian Walker are among 23 statewide nominees for the McDonald's All-American team in boys basketball. … Former Orange Park guard Eris Lester, who transferred this year to Montverde Academy, is among the girls nominees. … The FHSAA Representative Assembly is scheduled to meet remotely Jan. 23 to vote on various amendments to the association's bylaws, many of them relating to eligibility and enrollment issues recently adjusted by the Florida Legislature. … Wednesday marks the nomination deadline for the FHSAA's Roger Dearing Heart of the Arts and Spirit of Sport awards, which schools can submit through application forms on the association's website. Schools can submit entries for the FHSAA Sunshine Spirit Showdown contest through Feb. 1. ... Under FHSAA rules, baseball, softball and lacrosse may begin practice Monday.

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Gateway Conference high school boys basketball tournament preview