By Marty Pallman
Twitter – @mpallman
Thursday, November 17
After two weeks of covering the FHSAA swimming & diving championships for the NFHS Network, Pallman is back calling high school football on Friday night in Gainesville as Buchholz hosts Bartram Trail (St. Johns) on 104.9 FM. On Wednesday, Pallman joined Jeff Cardozo on The Tailgate on 95.3 FM in Gainesville to talk high school football playoffs, plus swimming & diving, and volleyball. Here’s Pallman’s recap of the interview:
FOOTBALL
7A Regional Semifinal – St. Johns Bartram Trail (7-4) at Buchholz (8-2) at Citizens Field – Fourth meeting in two years between these two district rivals. Buchholz won regular season meeting in 2015 35-28 on campus, helping them win district title, and Bartram Trail won rematch in playoffs at Citizens Field 35-21. This season Buchholz won at Bartram Trail 17-10 behind huge game by Luke Whittemore, who caught nine passes for 220 yards including an 86 yard TD catch. Bartram Trail rolled at Ocoee 52-13 last week while Buchholz held off Oviedo Hagerty 31-21. Hagerty rushed for 286 yards, but 203 of those were in first half as Buchholz rushed for 175 yards in second half to take over the game. Luke Whittemore took the opening kickoff back 96 yards for a TD against Hagerty, and had a 50 yard catch for another score. Running back Khauree Sullivan had a 77 yard run in the second half and a 10 yard TD run.
Members of the Bobcats’ football team were our guests on “The Prep Zone” on Thursday night to talk about the game. We’ll have coverage of this 2nd round playoff game on 104.9 FM beginning at 7 p.m. on Friday night. Winner of this game plays the Lake City Columbia at Jacksonville Lee winner in next week’s 7A regional final.
1A Regional Finals – Madison County (10-0) at Fort White (9-2) – Fort White hosts top-ranked team in 1A, Madison County. These two teams played last year in this round, with the Indians played Madison County down to the wire before losing 28-19. Fort White won another District 6-1A title this season, losing only to 7A Neptune Beach Fletcher and 2A Jacksonville University Christian. Madison County has outscored it’s opponents 377-96 and have beaten 5A Tallahassee Rickards, Crawfordville Wakulla and Baker County as well as 3A Tallahassee Florida High. The winner here gets the Trenton-Pahokee winner next week in a 1A state semifinal.
Trenton (9-1) at Pahokee (11-0) – Now Trenton has to take the trip south to the Muck. Newberry fought Pahokee to the end, but lost on a missed extra point in overtime 35-34 as the Blue Devils moved on. Pahokee has six state titles, including three in a row from 2006-08, but has had plenty of struggles since. Trenton has two state championships in the last three seasons, and have been in the 1A state title game three out of the last four years. Trenton’s only loss was to Wakulla in their opening game, but the Tigers have found their legs under Bill Wiles and have nine straight wins after pounding Frostproof 50-13 last week in first round of playoffs. Montrez Jackson rushed for 172 yards on 16 carries and three TD’s in the win.
Oak Hall finished off an undefeated season last Thursday with a 41-13 triumph over Tallahassee John Paul II to win the North Florida Football Conference title. The Eagles finished with their first conference championship of any kind since 1975 and also finish a school-best 10-0 in 2016. Chase Trunnell rushed for 150 yards, Matt Armstrong threw for two TD’s and ran for another and Trey Saunders rushed for three more scores as Oak Hall ends it’s 2016 season with a conference title.
VOLLEYBALL
St. Francis won their first state volleyball title as Wolves finished 24-3 with sweep of Naples Seacrest Country Day last Saturday in Ocala. 25-19, 28-26, 25-23 were the final scores at West Port High School in Ocala. This St. Francis team included seven seniors, including captains Megan Mitchell, Emily Boehlein, and Abby Benton and they swept through the postseason, losing only one set, to Tampa Bay Heat in the state semifinals. Their only losses all came to eventual national champ Rock.
Newberry made it’s first state championship game appearance, but lost in to straight sets to now four-time defending 1A state titelist Sneads. The final was 25-8, 25-18, 25-10 as the Panthers ended their season 20-7. Sneads hasn’t lost a game to a 1A team since the reclassification.
SWIMMING & DIVING
Oak Hall swimmer Isabel “Izzy” Ivey won two individual state titles at the 1A state swimming and diving championships in Stuart last Friday. Ivey, who is a member of the US National Junior team, won the 200 IM and 50 freestyle with both winning times just being off state records. Eastside senior Naomi Peng won the 2A individual diving title last Saturday. Peng’s state title is the first individual crown for Eastside since Allison Wagner in 1994. The Eastside girls finished sixth overall as a team, matching their finish in 2014. The Rams won the 2A state title back in 2009.
