Week 5 Football: West Florida defense rises to the moment, leads to gritty win over Pine Forest

There’s something about a Pine Forest/West Florida matchup that creates some of the most competitive football games the area has to offer.

Their latest installment of this tremendous series didn’t disappoint.

The host Jaguars trailed by two scores in the blink of an eye, but grinded their way to a late, fourth-quarter advantage. The defense took over from there, creating a turnover and collecting two critical sacks in the final moments to seal a 26-23 victory over the Eagles on Friday night from Marlon L. Bullock Field.

The Jags have won three of their last four games against Pine Forest. The average margin of victory in the last seven meetings between the two programs: eight points.

“It was a tough game on both sides,” West Florida head coach Harry Lees said. “You just think about both teams, they gave it their all and it came down to the last possession. … That was a big win for us, big win for our kids. We had to fight, had to find ways to win and our kids did it. Our defense I wouldn’t say slowed them down, but we kept them from scoring. And they have some explosive, explosive athletes. I’m just proud of our kids, can’t say enough about them.”

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Trailing by a field goal midway through the fourth quarter, the visitors drove the ball near midfield before Dashaun Maull intervened. The senior linebacker stepped in front of a James Clark pass and pulled down an interception.

The Jaguars had an opportunity to put the game on ice with their opponent out of timeouts, but failed to convert a fourth-and-1, giving Pine Forest the ball back at its 35-yard line with 1 minute, 42 seconds to go. However, the Eagles did not cross midfield again as a second-down sack from Andre Caldwell and a sack on the game's final play from Colby Hoffman sent the West Florida sideline and its fans into a frenzy.

“Bend, but don’t break,” Hoffman said was the mentality on the last defensive stand. “You can give up one big play, but we aren’t going to give up another one. They are going to have to fight for every single yard and that’s what we made them do. That’s how we ended up with the sacks and won the game.”

After senior running back Miequle Brock scored his third touchdown of the night on a bruising 13-yard run, the Eagles enjoyed a 23-20 lead with 7:45 remaining.

The home team immediately responded with a six-play, 80-yard drive that only took 2:16 off the clock. The possession was capped by a go-ahead 27-yard scoring pass from senior quarterback John Nicholas to junior wide receiver Joseph Jones.

West Florida improved its record to 2-2 this season. The Jaguars are host to Walton at 7 p.m. Friday in a District 1-2S clash.

Meanwhile, falling to 3-2, Pine Forest has dropped back-to-back games for the first time since the COVID-shortened 2020 campaign. Next week, the team is host to Fort Walton Beach for a District 1-3S battle.

“The biggest thing is like I always say, it’s about doing the right things all the time,” Eagles head coach Tony Carter said. “We had some very good things out there today and we also had some bad things. All the wounds were self-inflicted and everything is fixable. With West Florida, hats off to Harry Lees, his staff over there and his team. They fought really hard and took advantage of some mistakes, just like a good coach should. We just got to go back and watch the film and work on the things we need to work on.”

Brock hauled in a 58-yard touchdown catch on the game’s first play. On the next possession, the senior scored on a 1-yard plunge to put the road team ahead 13-0 with 7:37 elapsing from the game clock.

Marquez Jones responded on the ensuing kickoff with a 93-yard touchdown return. After scoring on a short keeper late in the first half, Nicholas gave the Jaguars their first lead at 20-16 midway through the third with a 1-yard pass to Xavier Finley.

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'Make a way and don't make an excuse'

While it lined up against Pine Forest, West Florida had a different opponent on its mind in the latter stages.

The Jaguars suffered a heartbreaking defeat to Pace in their last game on Sept. 8. The two teams were tied late in the fourth quarter before West Florida punted the ball away following a three-and-out with less than four minutes left. The Patriots drove into the red zone and connected on a 28-yard field goal with two seconds left to steal a 24-21 win.

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And for a moment on Friday night, a case of deja vu seemed to be on the horizon.

The home team faced a third-and-7 on the ensuing drive following Maull's pick. Marquez Jones took an option pitch after pounding runs up the middle for minimal gains on the previous two plays. The senior running back initially dropped the pitch, but quickly recovered before getting pushed out of bounds one yard shy of the game-ending first down.

On fourth down, Jones got the handoff again, but was stopped inches short, as the West Florida sideline questioned the spot in animated fashion. Suddenly, a likely tally in the win column turned into anxious moments with Pine Forest regaining possession.

"It kind of brought me back to two weeks ago," Nicholas said. "We were driving it well throughout the second half and we got to that last drive and got stumped. Back then, I was sitting on the sidelines just praying for a win and I got that same feeling tonight. Our defense just stepped up. Going into that moment, I trusted our defense to make that stop."

The man who made last stop was Hoffman, who zoomed untouched around the edge on a blitz and got to Clark untouched as time expired.

"They came out and they punched us in the mouth. But we came out here and we responded. That shows us about what we've become," Hoffman said. "As Coach Lees said, 'Make a way and don't make an excuse.' So going out for the last drive, we were like 'this is our game, our time.' And we have nobody else to thank but the Lord. He's the one who runs everything, we say a prayer before every game asking for us to play our best and that's what we did tonight."

Lees added: "It's part of our guys responding to adversity because we could've folded and we didn't. The Pace loss just showed our guys that if they play hard, they have a shot against anybody. Pine Forest is a very good team, they are going to get a lot of wins, but this is a big win for us."

'It’s going to be OK'

Pine Forest was in command throughout the first 24 minutes despite only holding a 16-13 lead at halftime. The visitors enjoyed a 243-89 advantage in offensive yardage in the first half.

But from there, the Eagles struggled to sustain drives. Their four second-half possessions ended with a three-and-out, a Brock touchdown, and an interception and a sack to end the game.

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The road team was limited to just 10 points over the final 40 minutes.

"(West Florida) had some great effort plays from the defensive line and linebacker positions," Carter said. "Hats off to them for what they did, they just made some plays."

Pine Forest has scored 37 points in its last two games after pouring in 141 through its first three contests. With their backs against the wall, now its the Eagles turn to bounce back.

“We have a super talented team," Carter remarked. "We’re a young team and we just have to let them understand that everybody has to do their job from 1-11. And it’s going to be OK, but it’s just going to take time.”

'Just kept trying to plug away'

Defense wasn't the only reason why the visitors couldn't light up the scoreboard.

The Jaguars dominated the time of possession in the second half. They milked seven minutes off the clock leading up to Finley's touchdown grab. Later, they marched into the red zone before a fumble at the end of the third quarter halted a promising drive.

Wyatt Casey was key in moving the ball. Not a factor in the first half, the senior running back had three carries for 34 yards along with fourth-down catches of 10 and 31 yards during the third.

"Every week, we're trying to figure out what we think we can take advantage of," Lees said. "Their defensive front is very good and we didn't know if could, but we just kept trying to plug away. We knew that they'd give us a few things if we got in certain formations and we took advantage of it. ... The kids kept their heads up and kept playing."

Patrick Bernadeau is a sports reporter for the Pensacola News Journal. He can be reached at (772) 985-9692, on X at @PatBernadeau or via email at pbernadeau@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Football: Sacks, late interception lifts West Florida past Pine Forest