First Coast Varsity Weekly: Bartram Trail shines with half-a-hundred in spring football

Football's first official snap still looms three months in the distance.

But it's hard not to take notice of Bartram Trail's spring football performance, a 50-20 Friday night rout on the road against a Columbia squad that qualified for the Class 3S semifinals last year.

The Bears racked up 37 unanswered points to surpass the running clock margin at 44-7 before Columbia closed the gap late, an encouraging start for the first-ever Bartram Trail game — official or otherwise — under new coach Cory Johns. Johns replaced the program's original leader, Darrell Sutherland, at the start of the year.

UCF-committed quarterback Riley Trujillo accounted for three touchdowns in the Bartram Trail win and running back Laython Biddle found the end zone twice.

A few other notes from spring games:

• Yulee's defense showed promise in a jamboree against Tocoi Creek and Wolfson, holding its opponents to 44 combined yards and zero offensive points through strong performances from juniors including Rylan Hale, L.J. Jacobs and Braylen Ricks.

• Even without graduated Super 11 running back Samuel Singleton, Fleming Island isn't slowing down. Tyler Beverly, a contender to become the next running back in line, scored twice as the Golden Eagles beat Middleburg 28-7 in a storm-shortened contest.

• Fareed Coleman rushed for a 65-yard touchdown as Baldwin, Duval County's smallest public school by FHSAA enrollment (774), won 7-6 against the county's largest, Sandalwood (2,764). Baldwin also played Englewood to a 0-0 tie in the three-team jamboree. Baldwin's Mason Carter is among Northeast Florida's fastest-rising prospects, recording more than a dozen Division I offers in the past month.

Double Knight delight: Christian Miller, Alyson Johnson lead Creekside at FHSAA 4A track

Golden day in orange and blue: Bolles wins FHSAA Class 2A boys, girls track & field titles

Shark attack on the track: Ponte Vedra boys' field strength captures first FHSAA title

Bolles' Carter picks Louisville

ACC football is calling for Trent Carter.

The Bolles junior linebacker announced his commitment Sunday to Louisville football, joining a long line of major-conference players for the Bulldogs' defense in recent years.

Carter, ranked as a three-star recruit and a top-105 linebacker in the 247Sports composite, helped the Bulldogs to the Class 2M semifinals last year.

A linebacker who dished out hits bigger than his 6-3, 210-pound frame, Carter forced six fumbles (recovering three) and made an interception to go with 110 tackles.

Carter's success isn't confined to the gridiron: He also threw the javelin 162 feet, 4 inches to place 10th at Thursday's FHSAA Class 2A track and field championships, and qualified for districts in both the discus and shot put.

Jackson's Plazz names final five

Add Deryc Plazz to the list of Jacksonville recruits who could be eyeing ACC football.

The Tigers' offensive tackle named his final five over the weekend, a list that includes four ACC schools, two of them Sunshine State programs: Florida State, Miami, Duke, N.C. State and Penn State.

Plazz helped the Tigers to a district title and a No. 1 regional seed with relentless blocking on the offensive front. Rated as a three-star prospect, the 6-5, 265-pounder has recorded more than two dozen scholarship offers.

He also played this year for Jackson basketball, an FHSAA regional qualifier.

Commitments climb for rising Bucs

Meanwhile, on the north of the St. Johns River, two First Coast athletes are also making college plans.

First Coast junior receiver Jordan Anderson committed Monday night to Georgia Southern, announcing his decision on Twitter, and defensive tackle Israel Lucas committed to Howard.

Anderson, a 6-3, 200-pound wideout, caught 23 passes for 281 yards and a touchdown last year for the Buccaneers on their road to the Region 1-3M playoffs. Lucas, at 6-3, 310 pounds, recorded two sacks.

Anderson's commitment could be the first of several on offense for the Bucs, who rose to 6-4 last year and return significant talent.

In addition to Anderson, First Coast also brings back three other tested receivers in Thomas Jackson (42 catches, 663 yards), Michael Thomas (23 catches, 274 yards) and sophomore Adron Walker (21 catches, 283 yards) as targets for quarterback Rodney Tisdale Jr. (146 of 230, 1,873 yards, 18 TD, 12 INT). Running back Auston Harris also returns after an 803-yard season, giving the Bucs a near-complete set of starters at the ball-handling positions.

The Bucs topped Baker County 8-0 and Creekside 16-3 in Thursday's spring action.

Thomas ends Vikings' discus wait

Solomon Thomas entered the history books for Raines, after a half-century wait.

The sophomore offensive lineman's victory in the Class 2A boys discus at Thursday's Florida High School Athletic Association track meet ended a long drought in the throws for one of Jacksonville's most storied athletic programs. Thomas won the title with a distance of 168 feet, 6 inches.

Raines' last FHSAA title in the event, or indeed in any boys throw, came 50 years ago. That's when Larry Brown, a future NFL lineman with the Kansas City Chiefs, hurled the discus 185 feet, 7 inches.

More feats from the state track meet:

• Creekside's Christian Miller repeated in the Class 4A boys 200-meter dash, becoming the area's first repeat winner in that event since Stanton's Kendal Williams swept the 200 from 2011 to 2014 on his way to a world junior championship.

• Ponte Vedra's Nathan Lebowitz also went back-to-back in the Class 3A boys discus, leading Florida's statewide 2023 list in the event. He joins Duval's Max Lowenstein (1922-23) and Palatka's Eron Carter (2015-16) as the area's consecutive boys discus champions, while Jeremiah Manning of Florida Deaf won non-consecutively in 1978 and 1980.

• When Ponte Vedra's Vincent Jackson threw the javelin 187 feet to win Class 3A, he became Northeast Florida's first high school boys javelin winner since Lee's Richard Beauchamp in 1947. The FHSAA did not hold the event between 1951 and 2019.

• Creekside's Alyson Johnson won the 1,600 and 3,200 to become the first freshman to win two girls titles at a state meet since Bolles' Caitlin Collier (800 and 1,600) in 2015.

• Kayla Cleveland's 14.09 in the 100 hurdles was the first-ever individual girls championship in FHSAA records for University Christian.

• Ka'Myya Haywood's photo-finish 54.84 in the 400 made her Bishop Kenny's first champion in a girls race of 400 yards or fewer.

• Providence's Skyy Dixon is the first local runner to achieve the girls 100-200 double from within Jacksonville's city limits since White's Tristie Johnson in 2012.

• With her throw of 143 feet, 11 inches, Zee Curtis of Bolles became Jacksonville's first-ever back-to-back girls discus state champion in FHSAA records.

Upgrades in store for Baldwin, Englewood

The final stage of the 2022-23 school year also means the next step in several renovation projects for Duval County schools.

Baldwin held a ceremonial ribbon cutting for their renovated field house and weight room facilities for both boys and girls athletics.

Meanwhile, Englewood football held its last practice Tuesday on the original grass surface of Don Jarrett Stadium, ahead of the installation of a new artificial turf field.

The Englewood project is the next step in a series of similar turf installations scheduled for Duval County high schools, following the passage of a property tax measure last year. Riverside was the district's first school to lay down its artificial surface, completing its installation at the Backyard ahead of last October's grand opening.

Frechette heads girls lacrosse list

Florida Dairy Farmers Miss Lacrosse Ryann Frechette highlighted the list of all-area honorees from the First Coast Girls Lacrosse Coaches Association, which held its awards ceremony Tuesday at Bartram Trail.

Frechette, scorer of 135 goals on the season, led five Bartram Trail selections, along with Adri Ferrara, Samantha Michlitsch, Maddie Stevens and Kaitlyn Williams.

Class 1A state semifinalist Ponte Vedra also received four selections: Ava LaManna, Ruby Lynch, Stella Lynch and Lily Toole.

Additional honorees around the area were Seng Mai (Atlantic Coast); Anna Giordano (Bolles); Carsyn Christel (Creekside), Kate Burhyte, Maeve O'Neil and Ella Parker (Episcopal); Jillian LaBelle (Fleming Island); Maddie Strubhar (Fletcher); Amelia Fuentes (Menendez); Logan Wiesler (Nease); Katie Cotter, Skylar St. John and Kendal Weber (St. Augustine); Ashley Cotter (Tocoi Creek); and Kaylee Carolan (Wolfson).

Several of those area players participated over the weekend in the USA Lacrosse girls All-American Game for Florida, with the North defeating the South 10-9. The boys game ended 16-10 for the North, including five Ponte Vedra players in Lad Harper, Maddox Johnson, Luke Lowery, Tanner Parlette and Jack Pelot, while newly-inducted Hall of Fame coach Tom West of Bolles led the squad.

Around the area

Eagle's View senior infielder Brett Corbitt committed to Daytona State College baseball. … Fleming Island baseball's Kaden Ahearn signed with Nebraska Wesleyan and Cayden Robinson signed with FSCJ. … Palatka lineman Nolan Faircloth signed with Webber football. … Stanton catcher Alex Bairan committed to New College baseball. … White recognized college football signings for Samuel Adams (River City Prep), Jamari Allen (Bluefield State), Bryan Perrier (Methodist), Isiah Teal (Bluefield State) and Jabari Thomas (Methodist), as well as flag football quarterback Endia Maxwell at the University of Fort Lauderdale. … St. Johns Country Day hired Brittany McGuire, who played on Ponte Vedra's state semifinal teams in 2012 and 2014, as head softball coach. … Camden County hired Ladonis Bryant as head baseball coach. … Former USF defensive back Dequan Stanley (St. Augustine) announced his transfer to Eastern Kentucky. … Former Sandalwood outfielder Carson Bayne, now at College of Central Florida, was named National Junior College Athletic Association player of the week in baseball after batting .455 with two doubles, two home runs and four RBI. … Former Fleming Island midfielder Eric Dobson, now at Notre Dame, was named a second-team All-American by Inside Lacrosse. … Former Episcopal rower Allie Alton rowed at number six in the second varsity women's eight to help Texas to the Big 12 women's championship. ... Gov. Ron DeSantis this week signed House Bill 225, which implements sweeping changes to FHSAA procedures. Those include permitting two minutes of opening remarks from schools prior to events, authorizing charter and Florida Virtual School students to participate in sports at a private school, and reorganizing the association's board of directors to 13 members, with eight to be appointed by the governor.

Clayton Freeman covers high school sports and more for the Florida Times-Union. Follow him on Twitter at @CFreemanJAX.

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Bartram Trail, Riley Trujillo strong in 2023 spring football game