Longleaf Pine highlight: Julian Porter pick-six seals Bartram Trail win over Creekside

Before Friday night, Julian Porter had only tasted the thrill of the pick-six in exhibition action.

Now, he's the newest Bartram Trail giant in the Battle of Longleaf Pine.

The senior cornerback snapped up a floating pass and returned the interception for Bartram Trail's clinching touchdown, defeating neighborhood rival Creekside 31-19 in Friday night's District 3-4S high school football at Bears Stadium.

Playing without sidelined quarterback Riley Trujillo, and shaking off last week's loss to national superpower IMG Academy, Bartram Trail again grasped the upper hand in a Longleaf Pine Parkway series they've dominated -- 15-1 entering the game -- since the rivals first faced off in 2008.

"We knew we were going to go out and do what we do," Porter said.

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Now, make it 16-1. But not without a fight.

Creekside (3-4, 1-2) challenged the Bears all night, fueled by junior Harrison Garrido's 226-yard night on the ground. Bartram Trail's win didn't look safe until Porter's pick, and wasn't completely locked down until Caden Baldwin forced and recovered a Creekside fumble a minute later.

For the Bears, victory was big. Just ask sophomore quarterback Jaden Weatherly, who ran the offense in place of sidelined UCF commit Riley Trujillo.

"This was really kind of a must-win," said Weatherly, whose two touchdown passes -- seconds before halftime to Joey Davoli, then coming out of the break to DeAndre Caldwell -- pushed Bartram Trail (4-3, 2-0) in front for good.

INSIDE JULIAN PORTER'S BIG PLAY

The play that decided the game, Porter said, might not have happened without a pre-snap discussion with safety Sergio Lanzas.

"We've got great communication. We saw [Creekside] talking a little bit before the play, and I told him to alert and watch out for it," Porter said. "I saw them run the hitch, and I knew."

Creekside was trailing 24-19, pinned deep in their own territory after Liam Padron's second consecutive 53-yard punt, when Knights quarterback Sean Ashenfelder lofted a high pass under heavy pressure. Porter reeled it in and began a 35-yard slalom course to the end zone.

Bartram Trail came out hitting hard all night, keyed by the energy of Baldwin at linebacker and Cameron Nadeau on the defensive front. But the biggest play came from Porter, who had lined up on the offensive side of the ball until this year.

Though a newcomer to the position, Porter took another step in his development at corner, helping a defense that largely contained Creekside after halftime.

"So proud of him, man," Bears coach Cory Johns said. "He's had some adversity and he's really responded to it to be the guy to seal the game. It's pretty special."

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GARRIDO KEEPS GRINDING

Creekside's only win over Bartram Trail came in 2014, and for a while, they looked like they could notch their second. The not-so-secret weapon: Harrison Garrido.

The junior running back twice squirted through the line for gigantic gains, a 70-yard rush that set up Ashenfelder's 3-yard bootleg in the first quarter and a 74-yard explosion to the house in the second.

A dynamic force all season for Creekside with his breakaway speed, Garrido averaged more than 10 yards per carry to keep the Knights moving forward.

Until they moved backward. The Knights fought through an uncharacteristic bout of sloppiness and got flagged for a half-dozen pre-snap penalties, derailing drive after drive. Creekside cut the Bears' lead to 24-19 on Garrido's 6-yard run with 10:05 to go, but the offense never again threatened on four possessions.

"We had a lot of self-inflicted plays tonight, things that we're totally in control of," Creekside coach Sean McIntyre said. "We've got to make sure that we clean those up."

WEATHERLY READY FOR PRIME TIME

A bulldozing 28-yard run through Creekside's defense was one more piece of evidence: Weatherly is ready.

The sophomore quarterback, who has earned the praise of Bears coaches from before the season's start, kept the offense moving in the absence of Super 11 senior Trujillo. He completed 13 of 28 passes for 188 yards, connecting especially well with junior Caldwell on a couple of highlight-reel completions.

With Creekside limiting workhorse running back Laython Biddle to 95 yards, Weatherly's mobility gave the Knights one more thing to worry about. More importantly, he largely avoided mistakes apart from a first-quarter mix-up on an exchange that ended up in the hands of Creekside corner Kayden Vimoktayon.

Just like his older brother Eric Weatherly, an all-purpose back now at Bucknell, he's kept Bartram Trail's streak going strong in the Battle of Longleaf Pine. Currently on course for postseason, they travel to Gainesville Buchholz for the District 3-4S title on Thursday.

"Beating a team like this right down the street," he said, "it makes your confidence go even higher."

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Creekside Knights at Bartram Trail Bears: Week 8 high school football