The Buchholz football team is moving on in the high school state playoffs.
On Friday night, the No. 2 seed Bobcats scored the game-winning touchdown with less than three minutes to play and added a field goal late in a 34-24 win against No. 3 seed Pace in a Class 6A-Region 1 Semifinal at Citizens Field.
It wasn’t easy, and it wasn’t always pretty, but it sure was gritty.
“It was one of those wins that, we knew this is what it was going to be. We did bumble, stumble around there at the beginning of the game,” said Buchholz coach Mark Whittemore. “We dropped a touchdown, we dropped another touchdown, and then we had one called back for illegal man downfield, but if you look back in history, two years, you’ll find almost the exact same thing happened over there.”
Two years ago, in the first round of the Class 4S state playoffs against Pace, Buchholz went up 14-0 but the Patriots got back in it before falling in a shootout, 35-34.
The Bobcats (9-3) took a 10-0 lead in the first half, but the Patriots (10-2) answered and nearly took the lead. And in the second half, they did.
“We kind of expected that,” Whittemore said. “That is a really good football team, I mean look at them over there, those are guys that really, really wanted it, so we didn’t expect to kind of just punch them and then just go away.”
Trailing 21-17 midway through the second half, Buchholz junior quarterback Trace Johnson threw a 21-yard touchdown pass to junior Justin Williams for a 24-21 lead with 52 seconds to play in the third quarter.
Once again, Pace answered, taking advantage of an unsportsmanlike penalty against Williams following the touchdown and getting a short field thanks to an 18-yard return by Pace’s Brooks Washington.
The drive stalled at the Buchholz 11-yard line, but Pace kicker Caleb Nelson made a 28-yard field goal to tie the game at 24-24 with 8:51 to play in the game.
On the ensuing kickoff, junior DJ Hicks had a long kick return to give the Bobcats the ball at the Pace 35-yard line. The Bobcats were able to move the ball but faced a 4th-and-1 at the Pioneers’ 4-yard line with 4:42 to play.
Williams got hurt on the previous play and had to come out, sending Caleb Young Jr., into the game. The junior pounded his way up the middle for two tough yards to give Buchholz a first-and-goal.
A couple of plays later, Williams reentered the game, faked a run inside and bounced it outside for a 1-yard score and a 31-24 lead with 2:41 to play in the game.
The defense ensured there would be no comeback, as junior Evan Walker sacked Pace quarterback Ben Tyner and stripped the ball. Senior Elijah Daniels scooped it up at the 15-yard line and returned it to the 6-yard line with less than two minutes to play in the game.
“I saw him rolling out and I just hawked him down, punched the ball out, and then big 54 picked it up and tried to score,” Walker said. “I thought he was going to score. It was a great play.”
Junior Jay Giunta put the nail in the coffin with a 23-yard field goal with 10 seconds to play.
Special teams clinched the victory, and special teams helped secure the win.
Buchholz carried the momentum into the locker room at the half after Walker blocked Pace kicker Caleb Nelson’s 29-yard field goal on the final play of the second quarter.
That preserved a 10-7 lead at the half for the Bobcats.
“It was a big play for us,” Walker said. “We needed to get the stop. They’re a talented team. I thought they were going to punch it in but I just shot the gap and blocked it. It was a great play and one of my favorite plays this season by far.”
Another big play came after Pace took its first lead at 14-10 with 8:34 to play in the third quarter on a 35-yard touchdown pass from Tyner to Mississippi State commit Joeseph Skipworth.
Williams completed a 38-yard pass to his quarterback, with Johnson running out of bounds on the Buchholz sideline at the Pace 38-yard line. Then, on the next play, Johnson resumed his QB duties with a 38-yard touchdown pass to Williams down the left sidelines for a 17-14 Buchholz lead and capping a two-play, 76-yard drive.
“Trace and Justin had a phenomenal season last year going over 1,000 yards, Justin did, and he’s over 1,000 yards again so those types of play. They come natural obviously, they’ve got a connection, and tonight it showed,” Whittmore said.
Johnson threw three touchdown passes, including a 26-yard scoring pass to Hicks with 10:23 to play in the opening quarter.
Despite the double-digit lead, the game ended up being a see-saw affair.
“We knew that it was going to be tough to stop their running game,” Whittemore said. “They were able to hit some big passes on us which is not actually their MO. Kudos to them, but we knew we were going to have to respond on several occasions. We were coming into the game knowing there was going to be some tit for tat.”
Buchholz anticipated a return trip and rematch at top seed and unbeaten Nease (Ponte Vedra). However, the Panthers were upset at home by No. 5 seed Oakleaf (Orange Park), 31-14, giving the Bobcats a home game on Nov. 29 in the regional finals against the Knights (9-3).
FHSAA football playoffs
Friday, Nov. 22
Area teams in bold
Regional Finals
Rural
Hawthorne 44, Lafayette (Mayo) 15
Williston 28, Fort White 19
Union County (Lake Butler) 28, Pahokee (7-3) 18
Rural (Division B)
Trenton 26, Baker 21
Dixie County (Cross City) 41, Jefferson County (Monticello) 32
Regional Semifinals
Class 2A-Region 2
Newberry 34, Bradford (Starke) 19
Class 6A-Region 1
Buchholz 34, Pace 24
