Fort White slips by Baldwin in key District 1A-6 matchup

BALDWIN, Fla. — One thing was guaranteed Friday night when Fort White and Baldwin squared off at Earl Fouraker Field: The Indians were a sure bet to win the game. Unfortunately for Baldwin, they would not be the winning Indians.

Four turnovers and an abundance of penalties put Baldwin in a hole too deep to climb out of, causing them to fall to 4-2 (1-1 in district play) on the season. On the opposing sideline, Fort White (3-2, 1-0), who has played a very tough schedule to start the season, opened up district play with a very crucial victory.

The first half was a defensive battle, with neither team breaking. Baldwin would put together a few nice plays, and then stall out around midfield. Fort White did much of the same until the first play of the second quarter when senior WR Dedrick Vanover took a jet sweep 32 yards to the house to put Fort White up 6-0. A fumble and a muffed punt would keep the Baldwin Indians off the scoreboard for the first half.

The second half started about the same way for the two teams, with each team trading punts before Baldwin put together a long drive. Just when Baldwin got into the red zone and looked like they were about to tie it up, star senior running back Isaiah Miller fumbled the handoff from quarterback Gavin Screws. Fort White capitalized on the turnover with a 53-yard TD pass from quarterback DJ Jackson to senior receiver Bryson Brady to put Fort White up 12-0.

Baldwin responded well after its third turnover of the game, putting together a solid drive with Isaiah Miller capping it off with a TD run to cut the deficit to 5. At the end of three, Fort White led Baldwin 12-7 and it looked like we were on our way to a classic finish.

On the first play of the fourth quarter, junior running back JacQuez Pelham powered through some arm tackles and punched the ball in from 18 yards out to give Fort White a 20-7 lead. That play seemed to be the final punch to the jaw for the Indians of Baldwin, as they wouldn’t be able to muster up a comeback in this one. Fort White added another TD from Pelham late in the fourth quarter to put Fort White up 27-7 and they never looked back.

KEY PLAYS OF THE GAME: Baldwin Star running back Isaiah Miller fumbling the exchange from the quarterback in the third quarter. Fort White responded with a quick scoring drive to take advantage of the turnover and took complete control of the game.

STAR OF THE GAME: Fort White running back JacQuez Pelham was the star of the game. Despite lackluster results in the first half and for much of the third quarter, he continued to pound the rock and wear down the Baldwin defense, which resulted in two TD runs in the fourth quarter. Pelham rushed for 115 yards on 12 carries.

QUOTABLE I: Fort White HC Demetric Jackson rebounding after last week’s loss – “It feels good, but more importantly to get that first district win, Baldwin’s a good team. To come out and to get that huge district win was big for us. We know it’s going to be a tough battle the rest of the season.”

QUOTABLE II: Baldwin HC Steven Shields on turnovers – “I told the players going in, that if you turn the ball over on a team like this, that they’re too good and that they’re going to capitalize. They’re a physical football team, they got after us and were unable to move it like we thought we could offensively.”

What’s next?: Fort White will look to improve to 4-2 and 2-0 in district play next week against the Hilliard Flashes, while Baldwin will look to get back on the winning side of things against the Stanton Blue Devils to try to improve to 5-2 on the season.