'It's about time something good happened': West Florida gets nail-biting win over Gulf Breeze

With 20.3 seconds left in the game, West Florida trailed by five points.

The Jaguars stood on the Gulf Breeze 16-yard line – thanks to an untimely roughing the passer penalty against the Dolphins – and West Florida drew up a pass play. Quarterback John Nicholas had his mind made up before the ball was even snapped: he was going to throw across the middle since Gulf Breeze’s safeties were playing a little wide.

But the option wasn’t there.

Then Nicholas decided to roll out of the pocket to give himself more time and to find another receiver.

No one was open.

“Then I was like, ‘You know what? I’m gonna go get it,’” he said.

Nicholas ran up the middle of the field for the 16-yard touchdown with 10.5 seconds left in the game. The ensuing two-point conversion pass from Nicholas to Val Johnson gave West Florida a three-point advantage.

After two incomplete passes from Gulf Breeze in the remaining 7.6 seconds, West Florida ended its regular season with a 35-32 nail-biting victory over the Dolphins on Thursday at Marlon L. Bullock Field.

“Coming into that drive, I told myself, ‘There is no way we’re not going to go out here and score,’” Nicholas said. “That was just my mentality. … When everything broke down and nothing was there (on the last play), I just went for it.”

“We’ve always told John, ‘Find the (running) back, or run it.’ … He knew what the game situation was, and he took advantage of it,” West Florida head coach Harry Lees said. “He used some guts and got it done.”

Gulf Breeze initially had the upper hand with back-to-back touchdowns in the first quarter, forcing two three-and-outs from the Jaguars. But then West Florida started to find its offensive spark, starting with a 23-yard touchdown pass from Nicholas to Marquez Jones on a wheel route after running up the sideline.

The Jaguars, after scoring their second touchdown of the night on a 6-yard run up the middle from Nicholas, gained some momentum after Andre Caldwell intercepted a Battle Alberson throw that was tipped up in the air.

While West Florida didn’t score before halftime, but scored on its first drive in the second half. Nicholas connected with Josh Spears on an 8-yard touchdown reception to give the Jaguars their first lead of the game.

The teams continued to trade offensive shots and gave the lead back and forth during the second half. Late in the fourth quarter, West Florida couldn’t convert on a fourth down that put Gulf Breeze back on offense.

With Gulf Breeze in the West Florida half of the field, on third-and-11 after the Dolphins were called for a false start, Alberson went to pass. Caldwell, again, had a big play, swatting down the throw almost immediately after it left Alberson’s hand. Gulf Breeze was forced to punt on the next play.

There was only 2:10 left in the game – but that’s all West Florida needed for the comeback victory.

“It’s about time something good happened,” Lees said. “We had a tough loss (last week). We had to see if we could just come back. Like we’ve been preaching all year, we made a way. … Gulf Breeze, they’re the real deal. Everybody we play is good. Gulf Breeze brought it. I’m just happy for our guys.”

Gulf Breeze ends its 2023 season with a 3-7 (2-2 District 1-4S) record under first-year head coach Jeff Gierke.

“All year, we just couldn't find a way to get a stop we needed to or make a play when we needed to to seal the game. There's probably four losses, where we just got to make one play and we win, and we just can't seem to do it,” Gierke said. “I feel really bad for these seniors, they played so hard. They've done everything asked them to do, but just came up on the short end a bunch of times.”

West Florida (4-5, 1-2 District 1-2S) ended its regular season on Thursday as well. Ranked 10th in Region 1-2S, the Jaguars trail seventh-ranked Marianna for the final at-large berth for the regional playoffs.

And after a win like Thursday’s, plus with the scheduled West Florida played in the season, Lees thinks his team deserves that at-large bid.

“Everybody we know, and everybody we’ve played, knows that we’re a good football team. We played over our heads. We’ve done it week in and week out, and we’ve battled,” Lees said. “For a state to sit there and let teams schedule 1R schools, I guarantee if those teams play our schedule, they don’t have four wins – period.”

Ben Grieco is a sports reporter for the Pensacola News Journal. He can be reached on X (@BenGriecoSports) and via email at BGrieco@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: West Florida High beats Gulf Breeze in close game to close out regular season