The Buchholz Bobcats entered their playoff opener on Thursday night at Citizens Field as the No. 1 seed in Region 1-6A, but their opponent, the Oviedo Lions, was no typical No. 8 seed.
Buchholz needed all the points they could get as they held off Oviedo in a 49-41 shootout in the Region 1-6A quarterfinal game.
Justin Williams scored three touchdowns, including two in the fourth quarter, as the Bobcats (10-1) never trailed but held off a second-half rally by Oviedo (8-3).
“They (Oviedo) have two really good receivers, a quarterback that can spin it, and they are very capable,” Buchholz coach Mark Whittemore said. “That was the best eight seed in the state, in my humble opinion. I don’t know any other eight-seed that has scored 60 points three times. I don’t care who you’re playing, if you score 60 points with a running clock, you’re balling.”
The game started as another Buchholz rout. The Bobcats took the opening kickoff right down the field and scored on a 10-yard touchdown run by sophomore Ashton Norris for a 7-0 lead.
Oviedo fumbled three plays into their opening possession, and Williams, playing defense, returned it to the Oviedo 5-yard line. Sophomore running back Josh Menefee scored a play later for a 14-0 Bobcats lead.
Sophomore quarterback Andrew Whittemore threw a 38-yard touchdown to Williams for a 21-7 lead halfway through the second quarter, and Whittemore outran everyone on a 66-yard touchdown and the lead grew to 28-7 with 5:37 left before half.
“Defense is a whole other game,” Williams said. “I just like being out there and being an athlete.”
Oviedo then scored right before halftime, and on the opening drive of the third quarter, to cut the Buchholz lead to 28-21.
But Buchholz always stayed ahead of the Lions. Menefee scored his second touchdown with 4:40 left in the third to extend the lead back to 35-21 and, after Oviedo answered again, Buchholz answered with a six-minute drive capped off by another Williams TD run with 5:24 left to extend the lead back to 42-28.
Williams put the game on ice with his third touchdown, a 50-yard run on a jet sweep for a 49-34 lead with 2:20 left
Andrew Whittemore threw for a touchdown and ran for another score for Buchholz.
Oviedo junior quarterback Sebastian Galeano threw for four touchdowns in the loss.
“We did a great job on third down,” Mark Whittemore said. “I’m really proud of our offense. I thought Andrew (Whittemore) did a great job of managing the game tonight because really our job was to keep their offense off the field.”
Buchholz will be back home next week against the winner of Friday’s Oakleaf (Orange Park) at Nease (Ponte Vedra) game.
