Week 6 Roundup: Pine Forest, Tate and Catholic return to win column, Jay suffers first loss
A roundup of Week 6 games involving Pensacola-area teams from Friday, Sept. 29
District 1-3S
Pine Forest 35, Fort Walton Beach 20
In his second year playing youth football, Miequle Brock switched from tight end to become a 6-year-old running back.
“And I’ve just been doing it ever since,” he said, laughing.
Brock has also been progressively good at running back ever since then, as he further proved Friday night by rushing for a high school career-best five touchdowns in leading Pine Forest to a district victory against Fort Walton Beach on homecoming night at the Eagles’ Lon Wise Stadium.
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After a 21-7 lead and long halftime for homecoming court presentation, the Eagles, who improved its record 1-1 in district play and 4-2 overall, opened a 35-7 advantage in the fourth quarter on two more Brock runs. Their win followed a tough loss last Friday against West Florida and rare two-game losing streak.
“What makes him special is just his desire,” said Pine Forest first-year head coach Tony Carter, whose son Michael went from being a star running back at Navarre to collegiate success at North Carolina and now in his third season with the New York Jets.
“Brock’s will to win and desire to compete are special and he’s one of those players that you can’t tell him he can’t do something. In our offense we spread the ball around to where we just don’t give it to Brock. But when we do, he is determined to make the most out of every opportunity.”
Fort Walton Beach (3-3, 0-2 District 1-3S), led by first-year head coach Bobby Clayton, who elevated Gulf Breeze during his tenure, scored on the Vikings first possession. The Vikings got a big play on their first offensive snap with a 47-yard pass completion to J’drian Edwards to the Pine Forest 9.
Three plays later, former Navarre running back Eddie Love Jr. scored from the 4.
But from that point, Pine Forest’s defense yielded few long gains, forced the Vikings to punt from their end zone in the second quarter that led into a short field and 9-yard run by Brock for a 21-7 lead late in the second quarter.
“Those guys (Pine Forest) are good,” Clayton said. “They’re big and they just ‘out-physicaled us in the trenches. Hats off to those guys. Their defense played hard and well. We have to do better on offense to keep our defense off the field.”
While both teams struggled in their passing games – aside from the first big play of the game – each time the Eagles needed to get a first down or maintaining a drive, Brock was bouncing off would-be tacklers, making others miss with darting moves, or emerging from a pile at the line of scrimmage to burst open.
“With me, it’s being able to make the right reads, following my blocks and when someone comes up to me, I’ve just got to make them miss,” Brock said. “I had to put trust in my lineman to make the block. And then I’ve got to make the play go.”
Said Carter: “Brock is a phenomenal runner, but we also have a doggone good offensive line. We have some big boys up front led by Jonathan Daniels (6-foot-5, 290 pounds), our offensive tackle, who is an FSU commit.
“And you saw some statement drives where our guys just went and mauled our way down the field. On one of those, we just ran two different plays on an 80-yard drive. And that is statement we wanted to make.”
Brock’s final touchdown with 8 minutes, 11 seconds left in the game was his biggest run. He went 33 yards, darting, powering and bouncing off defenders before diving into the end zone for a 35-7 lead.
The Vikings scored two touchdowns 13 seconds apart with two-plus minutes left in the game to trim the deficit. They got a fourth-and-goal TD pass from senior Harrison Orr, recovered an onside kick then had Orr connect with Dante Core for a big-play score.
“We got a little fight right there,” Clayton said. “Guys showed a little guts. ... It’s still a learning process. We have a long way to go, but I am proud of our guys fighting. You can definitely see (game) was lopsided and we’ve got to tackle better on defense and control the ball on offense better.”
The Vikings will have a bye week next Friday. Pine Forest continues its challenging schedule next Friday by traveling to Niceville next Friday, then a game against state power IMG Academy on Oct. 13 in Bradenton.
—Bill Vilona
District 1-4S
Tate 45, Milton 7
Tate had its fourth consecutive 40-plus-point performance as the team throttled Milton on Friday at Carl Madison Field inside Pete Gindl Stadium.
The home team enjoyed a 31-7 halftime cushion before added 14 more in the fourth quarter.
Aggies head coach Rhett Summerford said his team “ran the football really well,” opening up some play-action options for the offense. And when the Aggies went through the air, “Taite Davis threw it really well.”
Christian Neptune, Andre Colston (twice), Carson Secchiari and Elijah West all scored for the Tate.
On the defensive side of the ball, Nathan Shimek added an interception and the defense put a lot of pressure on Milton’s quarterback.
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“I thought we played a good football game,” Summerford said. “The defense played lights out all night, held (Milton) to seven points.”
After the Aggies’ (3-2, 1-1 District 1-4S) first district win since 2018, they are host to West Florida. Kickoff is slated for 7 p.m. Friday in Cantonment. Suffering their third-straight loss, the Panthers, who scored their only points in the second quarter, have a bye next week.
—Ben Grieco
District 1-2S
Pensacola Catholic 51, Pensacola 7
It didn't take long for the Crusaders to return to victory lane.
One week after Prince Christian Avenue (Ga.) put up 56 points to hand the team its first loss of the season, Catholic lit up the scoreboard for 51 points and raced past the Tigers at Gorecki-LeBeau Stadium.
The team enjoyed a 23-0 advantage at the end of the first 12 minutes before entering the locker rooms with a healthy 44-7 lead.
"Always happy when we could get a victory. I thought we played well in all three phases of the game," Crusaders head coach Matt Adams said.
The home team scored on special teams and defense while the offense rode the legs of C.J Nettles. The junior running back finished with 11 carries for 79 yards and three touchdowns. Elsewhere, Ryan Huff was solid from the quarterback position, completing 9 of 16 passes for 130 yards and a touchdown pass to Justin Weatherall.
Scoring its first points of the season, Pensacola (0-6, 1-1 District 1-2S) has a short week before playing Pace at 7 p.m. Thursday at Jim Scoggins Stadium. Meanwhile for the Crusaders, the "Battle of the Bay" awaits as the team plays at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Gulf Breeze.
—Patrick Bernadeau
Walton 34, West Florida 31
The Jaguars fall back under the .500 mark with a narrow home loss to the Braves.
Stats and quarter scores were unavailable.
West Florida (2-3, 0-1 District 1-2S) will look for better results when it plays at 7 p.m. Friday at Tate.
—Patrick Bernadeau
Non-district games
Destin 22, Jay 6
The last of the area's unbeaten went down Friday night as the Royals couldn't keep pace with the Sharks at Destin Middle School.
Jay fumbled early in the night, leading to a Destin score. The visitors only trailed 9-6 at halftime, but was outscored 16-0 in the second half. It was the first time this season a Royals opponent has reached the 20-point mark.
"Obviously they were upset," Royals head coach Brian Watson said of his players' reaction to the team's first defeat. "We know we have some work ahead of us. We have some tough games and have to get better. We made some errors tonight with a lack of focus on some small things that get overlooked. I think that showed up in the game tonight and I think you got to give credit to Destin for taking advantage of it."
Jay's only touchdown came in the second quarter when backup quarterback Ethan McDonald found Brady Godwin for a 45-yard score through the air. The road team did drive into the red zone to open the second half only to turn the ball over on downs after failing to convert a fourth-and-short play.
The rest of the night belonged to the Sharks, who moved to 6-0.
The Royals (4-1) look to bounce back when they play Holmes County at 7 p.m. Friday from Merle V. North Stadium.
—Patrick Bernadeau
Elberta (Ala.) 43, Northview 26
The Chiefs remain winless on the road in 2023 following a 17-point defeat to the Warriors.
Northview actually enjoyed a slim 12-10 advantage at the half. However, the team simply couldn't slow down Elberta, who won the second half by a 33-14 margin.
"We just could never got on top score-wise and had some bad stuff happen in the second half," Chiefs head coach Wes Summerford said. "It was really a tale of two different halves. I thought the first half we played O.K., but the second half, we just made too many mistakes."
Summerford pointed towards his team's turnovers and a defense that was unable to get off the field for the result.
Wyatt Scruggs scored twice while Joe Wright and Devin Kelly each added a touchdown for Northview, who plays on the road for the fifth time in six games next week. The team hits the field next at 7 p.m. Friday at Baker.
—Patrick Bernadeau
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.
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
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: Football Roundup: Pine Forest, Tate, Pensacola Catholic take home W's
