ORANGE PARK – The Oakleaf Knights hosted the Fleming Island Golden Eagles on Friday night. And the match-up didn’t disappoint.
Fleming Island received the ball first and opened the game on the first play with a 39-yard run from SR running back Trey Sneed. On the next play JR quarterback Spencer Mollnow hooked up with wide receiver Jerone Goodman for a 45-yard gain that set the ball up at the half-yard line. Goodman would punch it in on the next play and give the Golden Eagles the first lead of the night.
Oakleaf had a slow start to its night on offense, failing to score on its first four possessions. Fleming Island led 7-0 after the end of the first quarter.
The start of second quarter saw the Golden Eagles back the Knights up to its own 2-yard line. On the first play of the drive, Oakleaf quarterback Jordan Johnson connected with wide receiver Rashaan Swain for a 98-yard TD pass.
Oakleaf forced Fleming Island into a three-and-out on its next drive, but had a punt hit one of its players and recovered by Matt Whetstone of Fleming Island. Fleming Island would go on to capitalize on the turnover and take a 10-7 lead with a 39-yard FG from SR Hakeem Reid.
The teams exchanged a couple punts before Oakleaf put together an impressive 10-play touchdown drive and two-point conversion to take a 15-10 lead into the half. Jordan Johnson completed 7 passes on the drive before SR running back Keylan Brown punched it in for six.
Oakleaf received the ball to begin the second half and got a quick 15-yard play, before settling to punt the ball. With the ball back, Fleming Island quarterback Spencer Mallnow hooked up with Isaiah Walker for a 41-yard gain on the first play of the drive. Mallnow and Walker would later hook up on the drive for a critical third-down conversion, before Sneed capped it off with a 9-yard rush for a touchdown to give the Golden Eagles a 16-15 lead.
The Golden Eagles lead would end up being short-celebrated, as running back Keylan Brown found a big seam and rushed 80-yards down the field for a touchdown on the next play from scrimmage to give Oakleaf the 22-16 lead. Oakleaf would force Fleming Island to punt on its next possession and then use two big plays from Brown to extend its lead to 14 before the end of the third quarter.
The scoring would cease from then on out as Oakleaf shut down Fleming Islands offense in the fourth quarter and improve to 5-1 on the season. Fleming Island falls to 2-3 on the season with the loss.
Story of the game
Big plays. Fleming Island head coach Frank Hall pointed to the 98-yard and 80-yard touchdown scores from Oakleaf as being the biggest difference in this game.
Player of the game
Oakleaf running back Keylan Brown was the player of the game in this one. He accounted for 262 all-purpose yards, three touchdowns and multiple two-point conversions for the Knights. Oakleaf head coach Derek Chipoletti spoke to the team before the game about sincerity. He asked his team, “Are you going to come through and back up what you say?” He said after the game that Browns name was the name that came up unanimously in the meeting and that it showed tonight.
