Friday night’s Vero Beach at Buchholz football game lived up to its billing of Division-I players and highly ranked teams.
But in the end, it was an 11-yard touchdown pass from Florida State University commit E.J. White to University of Kentucky commit Jordan Crutchfield with 30 seconds remaining that was the difference in Vero Beach’s 28-24 win at Citizens Field.
It appeared the Bobcats had rallied for a victory when senior kicker Jay Giunta drilled a 34-yard field goal with 1:28 remaining for a 24-21 lead.
However, the Indians marched 80 yards in 58 seconds to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.
“Utter slug fest, and that’s a great way of putting it,” said Buchholz coach Mark Whittemore. “It’s classic Citizens Field, nasty, just get after you, and coming through the handshaking line, they’re saying, ‘hey, this was a dog fight,’ so both teams knew that they had experienced some pretty serious play. Those were two really good football teams.”
Once again, special teams were on display for the Bobcats, and it almost flipped the script.
Buchholz, which trailed 21-13 at the half, threatened to score on its first possession of the second half.
After stopping the Indians (2-0), who were ranked No. 2 in Class 7A, just outside the red zone, the Bobcats (1-1), who were ranked second in 6A, took over at their own 23-yard line with 8:11 to play in the third quarter.
Sophomore running back Josh Menefee gained 15 yards on three run plays and sophomore quarterback Andrew Whittemore completed passes of six and 19 yards to sophomore Marquel Brooks to cross midfield.
However, Whittemore was stopped on a 4th-and-1 at the Vero Beach 26-yard line to force a turnover on downs.
But that’s when the Bobcats made one of their biggest plays of the night.
After forcing a punt, senior defensive end Evan Walker blocked the punt, and junior Troy Fleming scooped it up and raced 33 yards to the end zone to make it a 2-point game with 43 seconds left in the quarter.
Whittemore completed a pass to sophomore Ashton Norris for the 2-point conversion to tie the game at 21-21.
“Really big play, and that was a huge turn for us,” Whittemore said. “We’re battling, but it came down to just some big boy plays, three of them, really, you know, one, two, and then they went in the end zone. It’s just how the cookie crumbles.”
Giunta, who missed an extra point early in the game, misfired on a 47-yard field goal with 7:36 remaining, but he got another opportunity on the Bobcats’ next possession.
Following an 18-yard punt return by University of Florida commit Justin Williams, Buchholz would end up taking its first lead of the game.
On 3rd-and-8, Whittmore found sophomore Avery Norris on a 13-yard pass play down to the Vero Beach 20-yard line.
Although the drive stalled, Giunta redeemed himself with the go-ahead score.
“There were some problems with the battery, so we’re not going to blame that (misses) on him,” Whittemore said. “It was definitely the battery, so we need to get that fixed, and we’ll be just fine.”
Trailing 24-21 with 1:28 remaining, the Indians marched 80 yards on five plays, with White completing passes of 35, 30 and 11 yards to Crutchfield.
It was one of four touchdowns for White, who was filling in for injured QB Champ Monds.
He had a 2-yard run for a score with 4:04 to play in the first quarter, a 62-yard touchdown pass to senior running back Jonathan Hillsman two minutes into the second quarter, and a 38-yard touchdown pass to UCLA commit Xavier Stinson with 5:09 to play in the half.
The latter capped a 99-yard drive on just five plays, which was aided by a Buchholz roughing the passer and an offsides call.
That gave the Indians a 21-6 lead until Whittemore completed an 8-yard pass to Brooks with 19 seconds to play in the half to make it an 8-point game at the half.
“They’re taking away 13 (Justin Williams),” Whittemore said. “They’re doubling 13 and so we had to have receivers step up tonight and they did. They really did. We had some young kids, they’re sophomores. Marquel Brooks, Emari Colter and Avery Norris stepped up really big for us. Our young running backs, we had two sophomores running the football, so we had six sophomores on the field at times.”
Buchholz will return to action next Friday at Citizens Field as the Bobcats host rival Eastside (2-0).
“Really big city rivalry,” Whittmore said. “They won last night, so they’re going to be confident and ready to go. We’ve got to have a great week of preparation and get ready for the Eastside Rams.”
Kickoff is at 7:30 p.m. The game will be broadcast on 106.9 FM “I am Country” beginning at 7 p.m.
Thursday, Aug. 28
Eastside 28, Rickards (Tallahassee) 25
Friday, Aug. 29
Baker County (Glen St. Mary) 14, Chiefland 0
Bradford (Starke) 35, Dunnellon 0
Branford 33, Wewahitchka 7
Columbia (Lake City) 20, Coffee (Douglas, GA) 14
Crescent City 31, P.K. Yonge 7
Davenport 42, GHS 21
Fort White 26, Belleview 15
Franklin County (Eastpoint) 35, Bell 14
Hawthorne 32, Newberry 7
Lafayette (Mayo) 37, Suwannee (Live Oak) 30
Oak Hall 35, Bishop Snyder (Jacksonville) 19
Santa Fe (Alachua) 54, Zarephath Academy (Jacksonville) 14
Stanton (Jacksonville) 30, Bronson 0
Trenton 48, Dixie County (Cross City) 0
Union County (Lake Butler) 51, Keystone Heights 6
Vero Beach 28, Buchholz 24
OFF – Williston
