Mike Ridaught
Williston’s Robby Pruitt is in his 40th season as a head football coach.
It should come as no surprise that, with the game on the line at Newberry, he would draw up a throwback.
Senior running back Jharez Williams scored on a 16-yard run on a Statue of Liberty play call with 47 seconds to play as the top-ranked Red Devils edged No. 3 Newberry, 24-22, in a Class 1R-Region 4 showdown.
“We scored twice,” Pruitt said, noting a touchdown in the first half on the same play call that was called back due to holding. “It’s one of those plays you keep in the back pocket. It’s kind of old school, but it still works.”
That proved to be the difference in the game, which was a tale of two halves and dominated by each team.
Williston led 18-7 at the half, but Newberry outscored the Red Devils, 15-6, in the second half.
“That’s a good football team,” Pruitt said. “They’re a lot better than they were earlier in the year. They moved some kids around and got them in the right places. They’ve got a lot of talent. They’ve got so much size on that defensive line.”
Newberry’s defense gave up big plays in the first half, but it kept them in the game in the second half.
Down 11 points, the Panthers (4-2) stopped Williston on their first two drives of the second half.
However, because of the Red Devils’ ball control offense, Newberry didn’t begin its second possession of the third quarter until there was 2:02 left.
Sophomore running back Kaleb Woods took over for the Panthers, scoring on a 24-yard run with 11:24 remaining to make it a one-score game.
Newberry went for two and sophomore quarterback Keil McGriff connected with junior Logan McCloud to make it 18-15.
The Panthers came up with a big play on the next series, stopping junior running back Jamari Williams for no gain on a 3rd-and-1 and forcing a punt.
Newberry began its next drive with 8:48 remaining and still trailing by three points.
Woods ran for four yards and then for 14 yards. He capped the drive with a 6-yard touchdown reception from McGriff on 3rd-and-goal.
Junior Zane Spires kicked the extra point to give Newberry its first lead since the first drive of the game.
“I think he’s the best back in the state if you ask me,” Johnson said of Woods. “It was good to see him running hard tonight. The O-line opened some holes. We’ve just got to get a little bit more of that.”
The scoring pass capped a 63-yard drive that consumed 4:44 off of the clock. The drive was kept alive on a 4th-and-10 completion from McGriff to senior Jayden Holcombe for 39 yards down to the Williston 6-yard line.
“Jayden had a big game tonight playing receiver,” Johnson said. “He’s been doing really great on the defensive side but to see him get out there and make some big, big catches on the offensive side gave us some momentum and that’s something we can build on going forward.”
But down 22-18 with 4:04 remaining, Williston had one last drive.
The Red Devils (7-0) took advantage of a 15-yard facemask penalty on a sack of “Shooby” Coleman by Wyatt Hester that gave Williston the ball near midfield.
“It ended up being a 30-yard penalty because when we sacked him he was behind the line of scrimmage,” Johnson said. “That was definitely a big play. We’ve got to find a way to make that play and get him on the ground.”
The infraction was one of the bigger plays of the game.
“That was huge,” Pruitt said.
A couple of screen passes later by Coleman moved the ball downfield, capping the game-winning 80-yard drive.
The Panthers scored early and scored late, but came up just short.
Holcombe also had a 22-yard touchdown reception from McGriff with 7:40 to play the opening quarter to cap their opening drive of 80 yards for an early 7-0 lead.
Williston responded with 18 unanswered points, before rallying late to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.
Jamari Williams had a 59-yard scoring run, Coleman threw a 35-yard touchdown pass to senior Javon Brown, and senior Eddie De LaCruz drilled a 27-yard field goal, all in the first half, followed by the game-winner with less than a minute to play.
“I knew coming in it was a game that we had to keep our composure,” Pruitt said. “I thought tonight when they had to have it, they did it.”
Williston is off next Friday and will travel to Class 2S Hudson (6-0) on Oct. 20.
“They competed for 48 minutes,” said Johnson, whose team will play at Eastside next Friday. “I would have liked to have seen us finish it there, but we saw some fight, we saw some things we can build on, and we’ll get back to work on Monday.”
Thursday, Oct. 5
Oak Hall 52, Harvest Community (Jacksonville) 7
Buchholz 35, GHS 7
Friday, Oct. 6
Eastside 36, Ridgeview (Orange Park) 0
Suwannee (Live Oak) 49, Santa Fe (Alachua) 7
Williston 24, Newberry 22
Hawthorne 49, Gibbs (St. Pete) 13
Dixie County (Cross City) 19, Chiefland 18
Union County (Lake Butler) 57, Hollis Christian Academy (Jacksonville) 0
Fort White 35, Lafayette (Mayo) 0
Bradford (Starke) 12, Oakleaf (Orange Park) 0
Columbia (Lake City) 35, Bolles (Jacksonville) 31
Keystone Heights 31, Crescent City 28
West Nassau (Callahan) 22, P.K. Yonge 14
Bishop Snyder (Jacksonville) 45, St. Francis Catholic Academy 0
Trinity Christian Academy (Deltona) 44, Bronson 21
OFF – Bell