First Coast Varsity Weekly: QBs took center stage in Jacksonville Week 1. How did they fare?
Is this the year of the quarterback for Northeast Florida football? On Friday, many of the area's top players behind center certainly played like it.
From Nassau County to Putnam County, Week 1 produced some Grade-A performances in the passing game, beginning with the come-from-behind rally directed by St. Augustine junior Locklan Hewlett in the Yellow Jackets' 43-36 win at Bolles.
After 376 yards, four touchdown passes and a comeback to remember, the Wake Forest-committed junior owns a signature game that he can carry all the way to the ACC.
"It feels amazing," Hewlett said. "Everyone was picking each other up, making sure that we're still in the game. Fourth quarter, we're down two scores and we keep pushing through."
In a year where more than a half-dozen area quarterbacks are on their way to the college game, Hewlett's heroics in Week 1 are just the beginning of the story. The QBs for the Power Poll leaders, Colin Hurley of Trinity Christian and Riley Trujillo of Bartram Trail, helped their offenses fight through inconsistent spells to win their openers. Even a few quarterbacks who didn't end up in the win column nonetheless created some highlights, like First Coast's Rodney Tisdale Jr., who surpassed 300 yards with three touchdowns in a loss to Bishop Kenny.
Under the lights: In-depth guide to Northeast Florida high school football for 2023 season
Mandarin junior Tramell Jones, committed to Florida State, didn't throw often (15 times) but conducted the offense with brutal efficiency for 257 yards in the Mustangs' 43-21 win over Fletcher. The yardage yield: better than 17 per attempt.
Similarly efficient was Fleming Island junior Cibastian Broughton. Fourteen passes turned into nine completions, five touchdowns and 183 yards as the Golden Eagles beat Clay 40-20.
Bishop Kenny's James Resar found the end zone five times, four times passing and once rushing, finishing with 265 total yards in the Crusaders' 38-20 win over First Coast. The Super 11 quarterback is on course for Iowa.
As it turns out, Nikao Smith can beat Georgia opponents whether he's playing for a Peach State school or a Sunshine State team. In his first regular season game at Yulee since transferring from 2022 Georgia High School Association champion Ware County, Smith completed 20 of 38 passes for 265 yards as the Hornets beat Charlton County 31-20.
At 6-6 entering his junior year, Tocoi Creek's Ryan Killmer owns one of the most formidable QB frames in Florida high school football, and he stood tall with 213 passing yards and four touchdowns to top Beachside in the Surf 'N' Turf Bowl.
Meanwhile, in the throw-first world of 2023 quarterbacks, Palatka's Tommy Offord showed there's still a place for an electric runner behind center. The sophomore ran for 197 yards and four touchdowns, plus two passing scores, as the Panthers routed Umatilla.
Another 100-point special for Creekside
Are you ready for some 100-point football?
For fans who like their statistics sky-high and their scoreboards scorched, Creekside football might be the best ticket around. For the fourth time in a four-year span, a Creekside game topped the 100-point mark Friday in Palm Beach Central's 55-48 win over the Knights.
Both quarterbacks produced five touchdowns: Central sophomore quarterback Caleb Butler passed for 361 yards while throwing for four scores and running for one, and Creekside's Sean Ashenfelder finished with two touchdowns passing, three rushing and 275 total yards.
Creekside's other games classified under the wildest of the wild were a 72-40 win over Episcopal, on Sept. 14, 2018; a 58-51 win over Nease on Aug. 30, 2019; and a 62-41 win over Nease on Sept. 2 of last year. And with another installment of Creekside-Nease on deck Friday, there's a chance for further fireworks.
Still intact for now, though, is the St. Johns County record for highest football score. That belongs to St. Joseph, which won 86-47 over Rocky Bayou Christian on Nov. 3, 2017.
Tigers tripped up in two-night football
It was a tale of two cities, and for Columbia, the Week 1 game against Gainesville Buchholz was far from the best of times.
The Tigers' Week 1 game against Gainesville Buchholz will enter the books as a gridiron oddity: a game played across two nights (Friday and Saturday), two stadiums (Tiger Stadium and Citizens Field) and two counties (Columbia and Alachua). After police reported the arrest of two intruders with weapons during the second quarter of Friday night's game, the contest was stopped and resumed in Gainesville the next night.
Like the Three Downs Game against Lee in the 2018 playoffs, the Two Counties Game also ended up on the wrong end of the scoreboard for Columbia. Led by sophomore quarterback Trace Johnson, Buchholz controlled both portions of the split game in a 41-13 romp.
As first reported by the Lake City Reporter, Columbia school administrators announced plans over the weekend to install metal detectors in an effort to reduce the risk of similar incidents.
Bishop Kenny makes early v-ball statement
Bishop Kenny's 26-24, 25-18, 25-19 victory over Ponte Vedra not only signaled a possible changing of the guard atop Northeast Florida's volleyball scene, but also sent a message to everyone: This year's Crusaders are tough.
"In the history of our two schools, we've been on the non-winning side for quite a long time," Crusaders coach Suzanne Winkler said. "I think no matter how much you try and change that, there's always that little bit of doubt and it becomes a pressure moment."
Bishop Kenny isn't alone in its past struggles against the Sharks: No Northeast Florida team had defeated Ponte Vedra in best-of-5 indoor volleyball competition since Bartram Trail swept the Sharks on Oct. 13, 2016.
At first, Bishop Kenny didn't look like winning this one early either, trailing 24-21 in the first set before launching a run of five consecutive points. From there, they kept the momentum going, jumping out quickly to pull away in the second and third.
Senior libero Mallory Swain keyed the Crusaders' surge with a series of improbable digs, finishing with 25 in all, while Lizzy Austin and Cat Haen combined for 32 assists from setter. For Ponte Vedra, which also lost Thursday to Trinity for an unfamiliar 0-2 start, Ava Grall led with 11 kills and Tennessee commit Chelsea Sutton added 10.
Without graduated attacker Ally Cavanaugh, now at the University of Georgia, Bishop Kenny also showed off its balanced approach in the victory. Claudia Stockard, Natalie Navidi and Olivia Ryno finished with seven kills apiece.
"I think once they got their first game, they realized some of their capabilities," Winkler said. "It's a different team this year."
Crusaders race to Cecil Field title
Sounds like business as usual: A Jacksonville Class 2A team ran to the girls championship in a major cross country meet.
Only this time, it was Bishop Kenny, not 14-time Florida High School Athletic Association champion Bolles, at the head of the pack.
The Crusaders edged out Tallahassee Maclay, 70 points to 71, in Friday night's season-opening Cecil Field Summer Classic at New World Golf Course to stake a fresh claim for top honors in Duval County.
Emily Wheldon ran a personal-best 19:22 for a balanced BK and newly-transferred Tessa Massa came just behind, followed by Davis Johnson, Stephanie Grden and Alexis Wilson under the 20:06 mark. Creekside sophomore Alyson Johnson led locals at 18:45, while Bishop Verot's Mackenzie de Lisle won in 18:12.
In the boys elite race, Jonathan Leon won in 15:38 for Oviedo Hagerty and Indian Rocks Christian topped Bolles for the team title, with Creekside's Tanner Simonds the fastest local at 15:59.
In Saturday's cross country, sophomore Miles Wicks ran 16:35 to lead Ponte Vedra's boys to first place overall at the Spikes and Spurs Classic at the Flagler County Fairgrounds. In the girls race, Daisy Ross and Hilaree Vega ran 19:09 and 19:28 in a Ponte Vedra 1-2, and Satellite placed first in the team standings.
Storms don't dampen Whittenburg honors
Flashes Field has a new name — even though its first kickoff still has to wait.
Hilliard dedicated its stadium on Friday night in honor of former head coach Paul Whittenburg, holding a ceremony before the scheduled season opener against Young Kids in Motion.
Whittenburg, who died in March, won 200 games and qualified for the regional playoffs five times during a multiple-stint coaching career that stretched from 1975 to 2012.
While the ceremony began as scheduled, the home opener didn't. Lightning postponed the Red Flashes' planned game against Young Kids in Motion, and the Monday makeup was wiped out by Hurricane Idalia. Hilliard is scheduled to begin its home campaign Sept. 8 against Paxon.
Around the area
The ribbon-cutting ceremony for Englewood's new artificial turf field at Don Jarrett Stadium is set for Sept. 8. … Nease faceoff specialist Conner Kunce committed to Detroit Mercy men's lacrosse. … Orange Park setter Hailey Revak reached 1,000 career assists. … Former St. Johns Country Day midfielder Megan Rogers was selected to perform a flyover before the Navy-Notre Dame college football game in Dublin, Ireland. … Former Bolles state champion Chris Bono was inducted into the Florida chapter of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in Orlando on Saturday. … Former Bartram Trail defender Anna Bachman recorded her first two assists for Mercer women's soccer against Mississippi Valley State, while former Bears Morgan McDonald and Olivia Bori both tallied assists in FAU's 3-0 win over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and Tori Grambo earned her first career Florida assist in an 8-0 win over Stetson. … Morgan Schooley (Menendez) scored for McNeese State women's soccer in a 6-0 shutout of Alcorn State. … Tamlyn Parkes (Ponte Vedra) assisted a Coastal Carolina goal in a 2-0 win against the College of Charleston. … Aubrey Ramey (Bolles) assisted Valparaiso's goal in a 1-1 draw with Kentucky.
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This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: High school football: Locklan Hewlett leads Jacksonville QBs in Week 1
