It was an amazing turnaround for the Oak Hall School and Saint Francis Catholic Academy football programs this year.

Last year, Oak Hall had its first losing season in 10 years, while the Wolves were winless (0-9) in 2024.

But neither head football coach was on the sidelines for their respective schools last year.

R.J. Fuhr went to Union County (Lake Butler) as an assistant, but he returned to the Eagles’ sideline this year, while Tim Place entered his first season as Saint Francis dropped down to 8-man football in 2025.

This past Saturday, both played for a Sunshine State Athletic Association (SSAA) championship.

Oak Hall (9-4) defeated Cambridge Christian (Tampa), 27-10, at The Villages Charter School to win the SSAA 3A Championship.

“I’m extremely happy for our kids and especially this senior group,” Fuhr said. “They have been excellent leaders and have really taken the young guys under their wings. Winning the SSAA 3A Championship is a culmination of a lot of hard work by our kids and also a buy-in and belief in our systems. They have shown tremendous resilience and resolve and I’m so very proud of them.”

Oak Hall, which expected success this year after a rare losing season, has had some big games offensively, including a 51-34 win in the semifinals at The Master’s Academy (Oviedo), but this past Saturday, it was the defense that shone.

“Our offense definitely bailed us out of the Masters Academy game, so as the defensive coordinator, I felt extremely happy about how well our defense played (Saturday),” Fuhr said. “Our offense had another amazing game and we played complementary football on the defensive side as well against a 1,500-yard rusher and a 1,000-yard receiver for Cambridge Christian.”

Junior running back Darius Medley had yet another huge game with 185 yards on 9 carries, putting him over 1,000 yards rushing for the season. He also added 7 solo tackles and an interception on defense.

But his 80-yard touchdown run after Cambridge Christian’s score in the second quarter was the difference in the game.

“It took the wind out of their sails and changed momentum back to us,” Fuhr said. “He is a true home-run threat and is an absolute dude.”

Oak Hall also had a huge first down on their last drive by Taylor Brown, who suffered a fractured ankle in the second week and was able to come back last week and had a big game on both sides of the ball for the Eagles.

“Another huge play was the long pass from (senior quarterback) Aaron Akins to (junior wide receiver) BJ Johnson,” Fuhr said. “Those guys have had huge downfield completions all year.”

Oak Hall, which suffered its first loss at Trenton midseason following a 5-0 start, overcame a 4-game losing streak to win their final four games, all in the postseason.

Aside from Saturday’s championship game, none of the victories were bigger than a 28-22 win at home against Christ’s Church Academy (Jacksonville) on Nov. 7.

Akins capped a 65-yard game-winning drive with a 1-yard TD pass to Johnson with 7.7 seconds left to keep the season alive.

Saint Francis Catholic Academy lost at All Saints’ Academy in Winter Haven, 36-22, in the SSAA 8-man 1A championship game.

The Wolves (6-7) had two touchdowns called back due to penalties, but trailed by just one score, 30-22, with five minutes to play in the game.

“I played for championships before, so really it wasn’t about me,” said Saint Francis Catholic Academy coach Tim Place, who took over in May for a struggling program that decided to drop down to 8-man football this year. “It was about the young people, and just to watch them on this journey was a unique experience in itself.”

The fact that they made it all the way to the championship game speaks volumes to what Price did in his first season.

“It was a broken program,” Place said. “They were 3-45 in their previous 48 games prior to this season, and we doubled the wins in one year. That’s a credit to the young people. They flushed the past, bought into the present, and you know, it wasn’t always easy. I’m not going to sugarcoat it. I, and we being the staff, had to coach them hard, we had to teach them fundamentals, and we’re still not where we want to be yet, but it’s been a unique and gratifying, satisfying journey.”

They decided to forfeit a couple of games early in the season after three upperclassmen removed themselves from the football program.

“I made the decision, not wanting to put a couple freshmen in a position where they weren’t ready for it, and I didn’t want them to have a negative experience,” Place said. “And looking back on it, I would do it again if I was in the same situation…we finished 6-7, but if you count the games we played, we were 6-5.”

Place recognized that he didn’t have a team ready to play at a varsity level 2-3 games into the season, but on Sept. 12, they were ready for the home opener, a 62-0 win against Cornerstone Academy.

Junior Jake Long had a big year for the Wolves with 719 passing, 1,505 yards rushing, and a combined 32 touchdowns. He rushed for 198 yards and a touchdown on 32 carries in the championship game and threw for 77 yards and a score.

“He’s a kid that he’s a legitimate 6’3, 200-pound kid that can run with the ball, he can throw the ball, and I’m not sure he’s ever truly been coached,” Place said. “I’m grateful for all the young men, but the three Longs (cousin Gabe Long, a junior, and his brother Carson, a freshman) are the kids that serve the proverbial T that made us run.”

Place is hoping that this year’s success “attracts some student athletes who want to play that maybe did not have that chance at other schools.”

“In my humble opinion, these young men represented Saint Francis the way it should be represented,” he said. “They did a great job of eliminating the distractions at the beginning of the season, ‘hey, it’s a bad program. It’ll always be a bad program,’ so they flushed it and they lived in the present, and they worked hard and represented St Francis Catholic Academy with class.”

Saint Francis Catholic Academy football is still building, but it’s relevant again.

“The book’s not written, we just finished the first chapter,” Place said. “I would like to think we have an exciting future. I think we have a chance to be pretty good next year, better than we were this year. Hopefully, it brought us positive exposure, not only to the institution, but to the program, which the program sorely needed.”