It took one offensive drive for the Newberry football team to score the only points it would need against visiting P.K. Yonge on Friday night.
The Panthers took advantage of a short field on their first possession of the game and marched 50 yards for the score, which came on a 2-yard touchdown pass from sophomore quarterback Keil McGriff to senior fullback Jonathan Powers just three minutes into the game.
Meanwhile, the Newberry defense kept the Blue Wave out of the end zone in a 35-0 win on Senior Night.
“Coach Jackson had them ready to go, they’re a tough bunch,” said Newberry coach Ed Johnson. “They don’t have big numbers but they competed for 48 minutes. It was good for us to get a win, send these seniors off the right way, pitch another shutout, but we’ve got a lot of stuff that we’ve got to clean up on though.”
Senior wide receiver David Schmidt finished with over 100 yards receiving, including a 61-yard touchdown catch from McGriff early in the second quarter.
“Being a senior, we really wanted this win and we were going to do anything it takes,” Schmidt said. “It was a team that we thought we could beat, and we did, but we can’t overlook teams. We have to give everything we have, and for this game we all really did do it for the seniors, so kudos to all the underclassmen because they did it for us and we got the win.”
The Panthers’ second score capped a 91-yard drive for a 14-0 lead with 10:23 to play in the half.
Schmidt had a 23-yard reception on the drive, and following back-to-back offensive holding calls, the senior outraced the secondary for his fifth touchdown of the season.
“That play is just a simple hitch corner,” he said. “I caught the corner and I made one guy miss and all you have to do is keep your feet moving and rely on the blockers. Ty Moses had a big block for me and I give that play to him because he made the way for me and I couldn’t have scored without him. Perfect ball, perfect blocking by the O-line, that was really a team play and I can’t put that on myself. That was a team play.”
But the final score was not indicative of how the game went.
P.K. Yonge only trailed 14-0 entering the fourth quarter.
“I was proud of the guys,” said P.K. Yonge coach Willie Jackson. “They played hard. I told them we played tough for two and a half quarters. That’s a good football team, and what good football teams do is they take advantage of mistakes and we made a lot of mistakes, didn’t make a lot of plays that we were supposed to make, and they capitalized.”
The first mistake was an interception by Newberry sophomore La’harry Debose at the 5-yard line with a minute to play in the first half which ended a potential scoring drive.
Another costly turnover occurred on the first possession of the second half as the Blue Wave (3-5) marched from their own 29-yard line and into Newberry territory.
However, following a first down completion by senior quarterback Lawrence Wright, Jr., the Panthers forced a fumble, which was recovered by junior Zavian Gillum to end the possession.
“We’ve got some really good defensive players,” Johnson said. “It starts up front. We can get a lot better though. That’s the scary part. We’ve still got so much room to grow and hopefully we can figure it out in the next couple of weeks.”
Newberry (6-2) took over at the Blue Wave 42-yard line and, following a 15-yard face mask penalty, had a first down at the 27-yard line.
McGriff completed a 20-yard pass to Schmidt down to the 7-yard line to make it first and goal.
However, a few players later sophomore running back Kaleb Woods was stopped a yard short on a 4th-and-goal run at the 2-yard line.
“We had a couple of good stops,” Jackson said. “We’re growing. It’s a process.”
But with P.K. Yonge backed up at their own 1-yard line, Newberry’s defense held, and following a bad punt, began their next drive at the Blue Wave 24-yard line.
A few plays later Woods scored on a 9-yard run on the first play of the fourth quarter for a 21-0 lead.
He added a 6-yard scoring run on their next possession for a 28-0 lead with 7:30 to play.
Sophomore quarterback Kobe Johnson completed the scoring with a 9-yard touchdown pass to freshman Troy Fleming with 4:36 remaining.
P.K. Yonge will travel to Trinity Catholic (Ocala) next Thursday for the Class 1S-District 3 title, while Newberry will play at Crescent City.
Thursday, Oct. 19
Buchholz 44, Bartram Trail (St. Johns) 7
Friday, Oct. 20
Newberry 35, P.K. Yonge 0
Hawthorne 54, North Marion (Citra) 8
Eastside 43, St. Joseph’s Academy (St. Augustine) 0
Master’s Academy (Oviedo) 49, Oak Hall 22
Union County (Lake Butler) 42, Santa Fe (Alachua) 7
St. Augustine 56, GHS 0
Fort White 45, Ridgeview (Orange Park) 0
Williston 49, Hudson 18
St. Francis Catholic Academy 32, Berean Christian (West Palm Beach) 7
Bradford (Starke) 42, Lecanto 0
Dixie County (Cross City) 41, Hamilton County (Jasper) 7
Branford 35, Hollis Christian Academy 0
Lafayette (Mayo) 35, Trenton 28
Seffner Christian 42, Bronson 0
Aucilla Christian (Monticello) 31, Bell 14
Keystone Heights 1, Taylor (Pierson) 0 (forfeit) Â
Chiefland 1, American Collegiate Academy (Clearwater) 0 (forfeit)Â
OFF – Columbia (Lake City), Suwannee (Live Oak)
