Spring Roundup: Battle of former Florida Gators teammates ends in tie

NCAAF College Football News, Photos, Stats, Scores, Schedule & Videos...

Lake Mary football coach Scott Perry and Jones coach Elijah Williams were teammates at the University of Florida in the mid 90s. Wednesday night they were foes for the first time, as Class 4A state-runner-up Jones hosted the Class 7A state champions in Orlando.

The two teams made for an entertaining evening, and in between all of the mistakes of a typical spring football game, the Rams and Tigers made it exciting, fighting down to the wire before Lucas Parker’s 40-yard field goal as time expired tied the game at 24-24.

The end of the game was somewhat reminiscent of last year’s Class 7A state final, in which Lake Mary used a Hail Mary pass to snatch victory away from Vero Beach as time expired. New Lake Mary quarterback Remy Jarman, a transfer who steps in for the departed Noah Grubbs, now at Notre Dame, led Lake Mary on a late drive that started with 58 seconds remaining.

Jarman guided the Rams from their own 37-yard line and into field-goal range. The biggest play coming on a 23-yard pass to Maliki Haliburton. He then hit Anthony Tolin with a 13-yard pass with 3.5 seconds left to set up Parker.

“The offense did a pretty good job right there, moved the ball when we had to and put us in field-goal range,” Perry said. “We’ve got a pretty good kicker. He showed that last year and he showed it again tonight. Proud of the effort and proud of my guys, never quit.”

Jones had put Lake Mary in position to scramble, having hustled with a little two-minute offense of its own. Lake Mary had taken a 21-17 lead with 3:30 remaining on a Jarman to Tolin 7-yard touchdown pass.

Jones opened its final drive with a pair of sacks by Lake Mary’s Grady Isaacs and Aaron Young, but the Tigers were not deterred. Jones was working in a new quarterback of its own Wednesday night with sophomore Payton Carroll taking over for the departed Dereon Coleman, who is now at Miami.

Carroll shook off the two sacks and hit Ocoee transfer Marvin Jones with an 18-yard pass, and then he scrambled for a 15-yard gain to keep the ball moving. Two plays later, Carroll hit Aiden Nunoo with a14-yard pass, and after an incompletion, Carroll found Ron Schroeder on the far sideline. Schroeder caught the ball at the 20-yard line, shook off a defender, a raced the rest of the way for a 36-yard touchdown, putting Jones ahead 24-21.

“I was glad that our offense came out striking in the second half,” Jones offensive coordinator Dale Williams said of the Tigers, who struggled with mistakes in the first half, as numerous newcomers were adjusting to new roles. Jones graduated 26 seniors. “We lost our entire starting offense from last season. We had a lot of mistakes early, but they settled down and gave us a chance to win the game.”

Carroll shook off some first-half issues and showed good poise on the final drive.

“They did a good. He was a little antsy in the first half. It was the first time the kid started in high school, so the lights were big and all that stuff,” Williams said. “But we talked to him at halftime and got him to settle down a little bit.”

Lake Mary’s defense didn’t help the Jones offense at all. Led by Young and Isaacs and linebacker Troy Turner, the Rams were making things difficult for Jones.

Lake Mary had six sacks in the game, four by Young, who also had a fumble recovery.

“Defense had a big challenge. That’s a very talented offense right there and they got beat on a couple of nine balls, but that’s gonna happen when you play a team like that,” Perry said. “The pass rush was good and I’m real happy with our effort.”

Jones got to see some players step up who were injured last year, most notably sophomore Cameron Tooley, a star in the making who made a pair of terrific touchdown catches, the first a 37-yard pass from quarterback Jahari Greenaway, who stepped in for Carroll in the first quarter. Tooley, who missed most of last season with a torn ACL, also made a 4-yard touchdown catch of a Carroll pass falling out of bounds in the fourth quarter.

Lake Mary has its own star in the making in receiver TJ Brundidge, the hero of last year’s state championship Hail-Mary play. Brundidge had numerous big plays on the night, including an exciting 60-yard touchdown catch and run after Jarman was scrambling from pressure and found Brundidge open in the flats. Brundidge did the rest on his own, his second touchdown of the night.

Jayden Donaldson, a transfer from Dr. Phillips, had an interception for Jones and Ty’Kevis Davis recovered a fumble.

Spring Games Roundup

Olympia 42, Lake Minneola 18

Olympia quarterback Noble Davis threw for 265 yards and 3 touchdowns, and also rushed for 58 yards and a touchdown. Receiver Jamie Smith had 6 catches for 140 yards and 2 touchdowns. Running back Demetrius Russell had one carry for a 75-yard touchdown.

Athlete Keyshawn Woods ran the ball 8 times for 145 yards and a touchdown and also had a receiving touchdown, and on defense, he had 8 tackles and an interception. Defensive end Russell Britt had 9 tackles, 4 tackles for loss and 2 sacks.

East River 21, Deltona 7

Freshman quarterback Brady Douglas threw for 190 yards and 2 touchdowns for East River. Junior tight end Noah De La Cruz had 6 catches for 80 yards and a touchdown. Freshman receiver Weylan Velez had 4 catches for 70 yards and a touchdown. Junior defensive back Carlton Allen had 13 tackles.

Deltona failed to scored from the 1-yard line, stymied by a pair of bad snaps. For the Wolves, Brian Douglas scored on a 17-yard run and Nazaiah Thomas had 84 yards rushing. Marcus Morris had 2 receptions for 65 yards. Deltona sophomore quarterback Neville Thomas threw for 82 yards, but had one pick.

Lake Wales 48, Lake Brantley 35

Jackson Stecher threw 4 touchdown passes for Lake Brantley

“We shot ourselves in the foot with penalties, but a lot of guys contributed,” Brantley coach Garrett Kruczek said. “We were up at halftime. We had chances to win, but just didn’t.”

Eli Thomas caught two touchdown passes, and Jacob McDonald and Vinny Messina also had TD catches. KJ Bradford had a rushing touchdown.

Chris Hays can be found on X.com@OS_ChrisHays.

More at NCAAF College Football News, Photos, Stats, Scores, Schedule & Videos