First Coast Varsity Weekly: How Episcopal's Eagles take flight toward basketball playoffs
Kent Jackson tossed the basketball up. Grady Schwartz slammed it down.
Minutes into their first game since the calendar flipped to 2024, Episcopal's high-flying senior duo activated the alley-oop machine once more.
"With those types of plays," Jackson said, "it just really brings the house down."
The Episcopal entertainers were flying high in Friday night's 58-38 boys basketball win against rival Bolles, continuing their run toward the postseason. The Florida High School Athletic Association ranks the Eagles No. 6 in Class 3A.
The alley-oop scorecard for the night: One lob came up a quarter-step short, forcing Schwartz to finish with a layup instead of a dunk. One was more oops than alley-oop, leading to rim-rocking action but no actual points. But the other two: perfection, igniting the home crowd inside the Semmes Athletic Center.
When it comes to the alley-oop, two and a half out of four isn't bad, and for the Eagles (13-2), it's becoming par for the course.
"We've been doing that all year," Episcopal coach Chip Stroud said. "Grady's a super athletic kid, 6-8, jumping out of the gym, and K.J.'s a phenomenal passer. So we find them and we run sets for it. It's a fun team to coach, for sure."
When Jacksonville University-committed guard Jackson and the Tampa-bound center Schwartz link up, anything can happen.
"We've known each other since like fifth grade, and especially this year, we've been in the gym with each other all the time," Schwartz said. "So that connection is almost effortless. We don't even have to think about it.
"It's in the air and I know he's going to find me."
Although this isn't the first season for them to connect on an alley-oop, they've stepped them up more than ever for their last year of high school action. Stroud said it's no longer unusual for Episcopal to connect on three or four in a game.
As Schwartz emphasized, the Eagles' aerial attack is more than a two-man show.
"Not enough credit goes to Declan [McCarthy] and Gabe [Frommer], who set the screens for me," Schwartz said. "They set perfect screens, and then it's just the timing. I've got to watch K.J., and before he throws it, we'll always make eye contact to know if it's there."
The alley-oop is only part of the excitement for Episcopal, whose only losses have come to Providence and Marvin Ridge (N.C.), and for Jacksonville University-committed guard Jackson. Against Bolles, he scored 25 points, and further thrilled the crowd with two shots — one of them successful — from nearly the half-court line.
"The chemistry is definitely building. I mean, it's been really, really clicking lately," Jackson said. "Last year it was there, but this year I think we took it up a notch."
Jackets' Braddock wins Jaguars coaching award
After leading St. Augustine to its first state football final in 16 years, Brian Braddock isn't finished racking up the awards.
The Yellow Jackets' head coach received the Jacksonville Jaguars' nomination as one of 32 nationwide candidates for the Don Shula High School Coach of the Year award.
The award includes a $1,000 cash prize.
The NFL will recognize two of the 32 candidate coaches with invitations to the Pro Bowl Games in Orlando in Feb. 4, as well as trips to Super Bowl LVIII in Las Vegas.
Braddock led the Yellow Jackets to the Class 3S title game, finishing with a 13-1 record and averaging more than 41.5 points per game. He has compiled a 70-25 record in eight seasons at St. Augustine, and holds a 93-35 career mark counting his three prior years as head coach at Mandarin.
Orange Park, Oakleaf win hoops thrillers
What's the place to be for late-game basketball drama? During the last weekend, inside Jackson's gym at the Pre-MLK Classic tournament.
Orange Park senior Capo Triggs nailed not one but two buzzer-beaters since school went on break. Triggs, who had earlier scored in traffic with 1.5 seconds remaining to beat Marianna 42-41 on Dec. 28, added another game-winner Saturday when his off-balance floater defeated Lake Gibson 53-51.
Triggs leads the Raiders (8-6) with a 15.1-point average, shooting 36.8 percent from 3-point range.
Oakleaf senior Aaron Rivers, meanwhile, carved out his own spot on the highlight list. On Friday, he scored a team-high 11 points in a 38-37 nail-biter over St. Augustine. Then, with five seconds to go Saturday against 2023 state semifinalist St. Petersburg Gibbs, he stole the ball on the perimeter, got fouled on the fast break and sank the ensuing free throws with 0.7 ticks left to earn a 62-60 win.
Rivers finished that night with 28 points and seven rebounds, and his decisive steal was the 117th of his career to set a new program record. The victory was the 200th all-time for Knights boys basketball as well as for head coach Jason Price, who has led the team since Oakleaf opened in 2010.
Less tense but no less impressive was the weekend for host school Jackson, which retained its momentum from the Northwest Christmas Tournament. The Tigers won 52-47 against Gibbs, which had entered the week at 11-1, and then 46-42 against Class 5A state runner-up Daytona Beach Mainland.
Jones seventh in Mr. Football vote
Mandarin quarterback Tramell Jones, whose 3,195-yard passing season helped the Mustangs to the Class 4M final, finished seventh in statewide balloting for the Florida Dairy Farmers Mr. Football award.
The Florida State-committed junior could be a Mr. Football candidate in 2024 as well, along with his two of his Mandarin teammates, wide receiver Jaime Ffrench and safety Hylton (Drake) Stubbs.
In an exceptionally close vote in which only 20 points separated the top four finishers, Cocoa wide receiver Jayvan Boggs earned the Mr. Football nod ahead of Gainesville Buchholz linebacker Myles Graham, Miami Norland quarterback Ennio Yapoor and Daytona Beach Mainland defensive lineman L.J. McCray.
Boggs, a junior committed to Ohio State, caught 93 passes for 1,493 yards and a state-leading 23 touchdowns for the Class 2S champions.
Travis Roland of Mainland earned Florida Dairy Farmers football coach of the year honors after directing the Buccaneers to their first state championship in two decades.
Meanwhile, the state's Gatorade Player of the Year award went to Bishop Verot junior quarterback Carter Smith, who passed for 29 touchdowns and rushed for 19.
Flashes' Cramer joins 1,500-point club
St. Joseph's Kelly Cramer is entering exclusive territory.
The senior crossed the 1,500-point threshold in her four seasons of high school girls basketball on Saturday, scoring 32 in the Flashes' 50-35 victory over St. Johns Country Day.
She's averaging 22.9 points per game, following season averages of 13.0 points (2020-21), 19.2 points (2021-22) and 21.1 points (2022-23).
On her current pace, Cramer is on course to conclude her high school career inside the all-time top 10 for St. Johns County. Sydney Gomes scored 2,449 points split between New Dorp (N.Y.) and Nease from 2018 to 2022, while among players who spent their entire high school careers in St. Johns County, Ponte Vedra's Megan Piggott is the record holder with 2,254 points between 2011 and 2015.
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Episcopal basketball: Kent Jackson, Grady Schwartz fly with alley-oops
