- Fort White won the FHSAA FIT championship 32-29 over Port St. Joe after a 20-0 second-half run at The Range at H.G. Morse Stadium.
- Jayden Jackson led Fort White with 292 yards and four touchdowns despite leg cramps, securing his high school career with this final victory.
Things started fast for the Fort White football team in Friday afternoon’s FHSAA Florida Invitational Tournament (FIT) championship game.
The Indians built a quick 12-0 lead in the first quarter before Port St. Joe answered with 21 unanswered points in the second quarter.
However, the Indians responded with a 20-0 run in the second half to rally past the Tiger Sharks, 32-29, at The Range at H.G. Morse Stadium on the campus of The Villages Charter School.
“It was a great team effort,” said Fort White coach Demetric Jackson. “Our D-line stepped up in that second half.”
Fort White (8-4) took the opening kick and marched 69 yards on 11 plays, capping the drive with a 22-yard touchdown pass from senior quarterback Jayden Jackson to senior wide receiver Desean Lally.
Freshman kicker Brandtley Bass’s extra point was blocked, but the Indians drew first blood, 6-0, with 7:49 to play in the first quarter.
Following a 3-and-out by the Tiger Sharks, the Indians struck again.
Jackson, who recently signed with Georgia Southern, threw a 36-yard touchdown pass to Lally, which ended a 59-yard scoring drive on just five plays. Bass’s extra point was blocked again, but the lead was 12-0 with 3:11 to play in the quarter.
Port St. Joe’s Asher Peacock returned the kickoff to midfield, and seven plays later the Tiger Sharks (6-6) found the end zone on a 4-yard touchdown run by junior quarterback Jay Curry. Kicker Josiah Beach’s extra point made it 12-7 with 11:53 to play in the half.
The big play on the drive was a flea flicker on 4th-and-8 at the 23-yard line, which gained 13 yards.
The score was the start of 21 unanswered points, highlighted by a 73-yard touchdown pass from Curry to sophomore Zay Jenkins, for a 21-12 lead at the half.
Jackson willed the team to victory in the second half.
He battled leg cramps to finish with 292 yards of total offense (177 rushing and 115 passing) and four touchdowns (3 passing and 1 rushing). He also had a 74-yard touchdown run called back due to holding.
“It’s great to always come out here and play the game that I love, the game of football, and I think to come out and win today was a great ending to my high school career,” Jayden Jackson said.
Jackson’s 8-yard touchdown pass to X’zaevion Gibson got the Indians within three, 21-18, with 3:08 to play in the third quarter.
The 2-point conversion run failed, but the Indians would retake the lead late in the fourth quarter.
With 9:21 remaining, Fort White embarked on a 74-yard drive as Jackson had a big chunk of the yardage with a 49-yard run, weaving his way in and out and down the Fort White sidelines to the Port St. Joe 13-yard line.
“It was a big run, adversity kicked in when I caught the cramps,” Jayden Jackson said. “But adversity is just another thing. We’ve got to push through it. We’ve got to continue to battle and that big run, it came from my willpower.”
Four plays later, sophomore running back Ezekiel Powell took a handoff, bobbled the ball but corralled it, and scored on a 4-yard touchdown run. The extra point kick gave the Indians a 25-21 lead with 4:49 to play.
Jackson’s 13-yard touchdown run for a 32-21 lead with 2:50 remaining proved to be the game-winner before Curry’s 11-yard touchdown run with 1:25 to play.
Despite missing the FHSAA Rural state playoffs, Fort White was able to end the season with a championship.
“It means the world to us,” Demetric Jackson said. “How the system works is how it works. I can’t complain about it. I’ve just got to enjoy this moment of winning this FIT championship, and that’s what we’re going to do. However the FHSAA does their thing to determine who’s in the championship state series and who’s in the FIT, that’s the system we’re in. We’re just fortunate to be in this and we got the number one seed.”
High School Football
FHSAA Football playoffs (area teams in bold)
Friday, Dec. 5
Class Rural Florida Invitational Tournament (FIT) Championship
1 Fort White 32, 2 Port St. Joe 29
Class Rural State Championship
2 Hawthorne 24, 1 Blountstown 8
Class 6A state semifinals
4 West Broward (Pembroke Pines) 24, 1 Buchholz 17
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