Regional Semifinal roundup: Tough third quarter dooms Escambia, Northview suffers late heartbreak
In the other two playoff games involving Pensacola area teams, it became a tough end for the Escambia Gators and Northview Chiefs.
Both teams carried momentum into halftime in their road matchups, but the Gators gave up a pair of touchdowns 30 seconds apart late in the third quarter and lost 31-14 to unbeaten St. Augustine, the top-ranked team in Class 3S. Escambia trailed only 17-14 at the half.
Meanwhile, Northview had a 10-point halftime lead against unbeaten Panama City-Bozeman, but lost 37-31 when Bozeman quarterback Peyton Gay threw a 55-yard touchdown pass with 6.5 seconds remaining in their Region 1-1R semifinal game.
Region 1-3S
No. 1 St. Augustine 31, Escambia 14
In the post-game handshake, St. Augustine head coach Brian Braddock paid an ultimate compliment to Escambia.
“He told me that nobody has hit them like we hit them,” said Gators coach Mike Bennett, after his team lost Friday night to the unbeaten Yellow Jackets at H.L. Brumley Stadium in St. Augustine.
'Old-school, smash-mouth football': Pensacola Catholic runs its way into regional title game
PNJ Football Leaderboard: Escambia, Santa Rosa County stats after regional quarterfinals
Trailing just 17-14 at halftime, the Gators gave up a pair of touchdowns 30 seconds apart late in the third quarter and it proved decisive in St. Augustine’s 14-point victory. The Yellow Jackets defense produced a second-half shutout with a more aggressive approach after halftime.
“They started blitzing us a whole lot more and, really and truly, they brought more than we had (to block) a couple times and they had a couple nice blitzes that we just didn’t pick up,” Bennett said. “But we moved the football the second half and we just didn’t get it in.”
St. Augustine (11-0), which entered ranked No. 2 statewide in Class 3S by MaxPreps, along with averaging 46.2 points per-game, now advances to play Fort Walton-Choctaw in the regional final next Friday in St. Augustine. Choctaw pulled off the upset win a year ago.
The Gators (8-4), who won their last two regular-season games to make the playoffs, then pulled off a 15-7 win in a first-round, playoff rematch against rival Pine Forest, will head into preparations for 2024 with a strong returning class.
“I am so proud of our kids,” Bennett said. “I’m so proud of our seniors. I love the senior class. They were an awesome class. Now, it’s time to go to work and get these guys some place in college. We have a lot of guys that can play college football.”
This was the sixth time Bennett has taken a team to St. Augustine. He did it a couple times while coaching Pensacola High. This was the third time in the last six years the teams have met in post-season.
Bennett believes this St. Augustine team could go the furthest.
“I think this team is good enough to win the state championship,” Bennett said. “Their receivers are really good. Defensively, they get after you. I know they have a tough one next week against Choctaw and that is going to be a heck of a game, but they are playing at home. And (St. Augustine) is really tough at home.
“We’ve never had them in Pensacola.”
St. Augustine senior running back Devonte Lyons, who gained more than 1,000 yards in the regular-season, scored four touchdowns in the game. He began the scoring on a 4-yard run on the opening possession of the game.
The Gators answered on a 24-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Anthomy Hall to junior receiver Mason Moore with 1:40 left in the first quarter.
The Yellow Jackets then faked a punt and completed a pass that set up Lyons’ 4 yard touchdown run with 11:11 left in the second quarter. They took a 17-7 lead on Logan Wandzilak’s 26-yard field goal with 5:40 left in the half.
But the Gators got back within a one-score game when junior tailback Dorrion White scored on a 5-yard run with 1:51 left before halftime.
St. Augustine failed on a 1st-and-goal situation from the 6 with 3.9 seconds left in the half. The Gators defense stuffed the play and the half ended with the Yellow Jackets up 17-14.
The defining point came with less than four minutes left in the third quarter.
After St. Augustine thwarted Escambia on a 4th-and-short situation near midfield, the Yellow Jackets then drove into position for a 5-yard TD by Lyons. On the ensuing possession, the Yellow Jackets’ Matteo Bernadi came up with an interception and return, leading to Lyons’ 5 yard run with 3:02 left in the quarter. That became the final points.
“We went for it on fourth-and-short, and I just thought we needed to keep the momentum going… keep the drive going and hopefully get down and score,” Bennett said. “And when you only make them go half the distance, it’s tough. They are a really good football team and they play pretty fast.
“And we come out and threw interception there, but their guy made a great play on the ball and it’s one of those things. We tried to just keep playing and battle, but it’s hard when your defense gets a stop and they score and they go right back out. I feel good about the way we played the whole game. They are just a good football team. We played hard all night.”
St. Augustine quarterback Locklan Hewlett, a Wake Forest commitment, who threw for 19 touchdowns and just one interception heading into game, kept the Yellow Jackets offense in a rhythm the entire game.
“They like to run about three or four plays on offense and they are really good at it,” Bennett said. “And then they have some really good receivers. The quarterback is a good player. But we have good players, too, and I thought we played extremely hard tonight. The game was a lot closer than the score ended up being.”
Region 1-1R
No. 1 Bozeman 37, Northview 31
With 23 seconds left, game tied, Northview called a timeout at the Bozeman 37 to dial up a 4th-and-3 conversion play and hope it led to a game-winning field goal attempt.
Unfortunately for Northview, what ensued became disastrous.
Quarterback Wyatt Scruggs was sacked near midfield, then Bozeman quarterback Peyton Gay threw a 52-yard touchdown pass to sophomore tight end John Hanson with 6.5 seconds left for a stunning game-winning end.
“Just wild odds of events that can go on in high school football,” said Northview coach Wes Summerford. “You try to prevent it… but our kids played their tails off. That’s what I feel bad about. Nothing taken away from Bozeman, because they executed on some plays, but I thought our team was the better team and that’s the thing that hurts the worst."
“I think we gave up too many (big) plays by them and we didn’t make plays when we needed to. And we were maybe five yards away from ending the game.”
Bozeman had tied the game with 5.02 left on a 45-yard field goal by Chance Jenkins. The play followed a third-down sack and holding penalty that Northview declined to force the fourth down, long attempt.
“Credit to their kicker,” Summerford said. “We declined the penalty thinking they weren’t going to kick it from there, and then they line it up and he makes it right through. So big guts there.”
The Chiefs methodically then ate up clock and got into position to try and win the game, but the sack changed everything.
“We felt like (Bozeman) was committing 11 guys to the run and not expecting a pass, so we tried to slip a guy out there and had trouble getting him out clean and I think that’s what led to the sack,” Summerford said.
Northview led 24-14 at halftime, after scoring on the first possession and never losing the first-half lead. Scruggs threw a 55-yard TD pass for the first points. Bozeman answered on a 1-yard run by Chance Jenkins, but missed the point-after attempt.
Northview’s Joe Wright then scored on a 22-yard run in the second quarter for a 14-6 lead. But Bozeman returned the kickoff 95-yards and Gay completed a 2-point conversion pass to tie the game.
But again the Chiefs answered on Tyler Ragan’s 7-yard touchdown run. Brandon Ferguson then kicked a 23-yard field goal to put Northview up 24-14.
“I really did feel good at half, the way we were sitting,” Summerford said. “We were executing the little things and our offense was driving the ball. And I thought we did a pretty good job on offense in the second half. We just stalled out a few times and it made us do something that were unorthodox.”
Bozeman began the third quarter with a touchdown pass from Gay to cut the deficit. The Chiefs then answered on a Scruggs to increase the lead back to 10 points with 3:20 left.
Gay pulled off a flea-flicker TD pass to Hanson on a fourth-down play to cut the deficit before the third quarter ended.
“That was huge, because I think it was fourth-and-ten,” Summerford. “That’s what makes (Bozeman) dangerous. We knew they could score on one play at any time. You watch (Gay) in pregame and he’s out there flicking it 60 yards and it’s a sight to see.”
The Bucks now move on to face Holmes County, a 26-7 winner against Chipley, in the Region 1-1R championship game in Panama City next Friday.
Northview, which advanced to the state championship game last year, ends its season at 4-7.
“When we looked at our schedule, we played some big games, some tough games and faced some adversity and I think that is really a defining thing about Northview football,” Summerford said. “I think that made us better. So we looked to the playoffs and we knew were finally in our league play
“That’s what we preached to the kids that, hey, now we’re at our level and you’ve played (bigger classification) teams that were bigger, tougher and we’re better for it. Us competing at a high level, I think got our kids ready for our league.”
Bill Vilona is a retired Pensacola News Journal sports columnist and now senior writer for Pensacola Blue Wahoos. He can be reached at bvilona@bluewahoos.com
This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Football regional Semifinals: Playoff road ends for Escambia, Northview
