P.K. Yonge hands Keystone Heights first loss

One streak continued as one streak came to an end in P.K. Yonge’s 33-14 win over visiting Keystone Heights Friday in Gainesville.

The Blue Wave (7-3) capitalized on four Keystone Heights (9-1) turnovers and used an explosive first-half offense to extend their win streak to six games while ending the Indians’ perfect season.

“These boys have had so much energy the last couple of weeks it’s been fun to watch,” said P.K. Yonge coach Kevin Doelling.

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The Blue Wave set the tone early when their defense forced a turnover on downs and then drove 80 yards, capped by a Devin Pedro 5-yard touchdown run.

P.K. Yonge's Devin Pedro scores first TD

Pedro added his second TD on a 14-yard run early in the second quarter and P.K. Yonge took a 14-0 lead.

Keystone Heights then marched down the field to the P.K. 14-yard line, but Alex Barnett stripped the ball from the Indians’ Tyler Jenkins and the Blue Wave recovered at the 12. On the next play, Blue Wave’s A.J. Small Jr. took a quarterback keeper 54 yards. Three plays later, Kendrick Wooden Jr. punched the ball in from the 1-yard line and P.K Yonge went ahead 20-0.

On Keystone’s next offensive play, Devin Pedro intercepted the ball and the Blue Wave struck immediately with Small finding Jaren Hamilton on a short pass that Hamilton took 58 yards untouched for a 27-0 lead with 42 seconds left in the first half.

“I thought if we could have scored right before half time and it would have been a 20-8 game, we would have been alright, but giving up that last one real quick, that hurt,” Keystone Heights coach Charles Dickenson said, adding the Indians had only turned the ball over once all season and tonight they had four turnovers.

Neither team scored in the third quarter before the Indians finally found the end zone with 5:51 remaining in the game when Kade Sanders scampered 16 yard and then added a two-point run to get Keystone Heights within 27-8. Two plays later, Keystone’s Trey Jefferies recovered a fumble and a few plays later Jackson Williams ran for a 15-yard score to cut the score to 27-14 with 2:45 left.

But P.K. Yonge closed the door on the next drive as Small took another quarterback keeper 58 yards to seal the contest.

“They’re a good football team and the teams they’ve lost to have been quality losses,” Dickenson said. “They lost to Hawthorne and Union County, there’s two undefeated teams right there.”

Both teams will find out who they face in the state playoffs Sunday afternoon.

“I don’t mean to be cliché, obviously you may have heard us in the huddle at the end, but we ain’t done yet,” Doelling said as the Blue Wave prepares for the playoffs.

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