CLASS 3S STATE CHAMPIONSHIP PREVIEW: St. Augustine or Mainland could win a state championship for the first time in almost two decades

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Mainland Buccaneers (Daytona Beach) (13-1) vs. St. Augustine Yellow Jackets (13-0)

WHEN: Thursday

WHERE: Ken Riley Field at Bragg Memorial Stadium, Tallahassee

KICKOFF: 3:00 p.m. ET

TICKETS: Ticketmaster.com ($17 prior to; $20 on game day)

TV/STREAM: Bally Sports Florida; Bally Sports app, Bally Sports+, BallySports.com

COACHES: Mainland – Travis Rolland (3rd year at Mainland, 29-10; 7th year overall, 57-22); St. Augustine – Brian Braddock, (8th year at St. Augustine, 71-24; 11th year overall 94-34)

COACHES INTERVIEWS:

TOP PLAYERS: Mainland – LJ McCray (DL, Sr.) 77 tackles, 37 tackles for loss, 13 sacks, one interception, two pass deflections, three forced fumbles, one fumble recovery; Zavier Mincey (S, Sr.) 34 tackles, four tackles for loss, three interceptions, 13 pass deflections; Rodney Hill (LB, Sr.) 97 tackles, 32 tackles for loss, seven sacks, two pass deflections, four fumble recoveries, one forced fumble; E’Zaiah Shine (CB, Sr.) 19 tackles, three tackles for loss, one sack, one interception, four pass deflections; DJ Murray (QB/ATH, Sr.) 1,359 yards passing, 16 touchdowns, seven interceptions, 787 yards rushing, 11 touchdowns; Christian Hudson (DL, Jr.) 69 tackles, 27 tackles for loss, nine sacks, three pass deflections, one fumble recovery, one forced fumble; Myron Shafer (LB, Jr.) 84 tackles, 29 tackles for loss, four sacks, two pass deflections; Khamani Robinson (RB, Jr.) 1,092 yards rushing, 14 touchdowns; Dennis King III (LB, So.) 90 tackles, 31 tackles for loss, 11 sacks, two pass deflections, three fumble recoveries, three forced fumbles  St. Augustine – Locklan Hewlett (QB, Jr.) 2,570 yards passing, 22 touchdowns, four interceptions, three rushing touchdowns; Dylan Cook (QB, Sr.) 966 yards passing, 16 touchdowns, two interceptions; Devonte Lyons (RB, Sr.) 1,476 yards rushing, 27 touchdowns; Carl Jenkins Jr. (WR, Jr.), 56 receptions, 1,094 yards receiving, 14 touchdowns; Trenton Jones (WR, Jr.) 58 receptions, 956 yards receivin84g, six touchdowns; Myles Simmons (WR, Sr.) 45 receptions, 861 yards receiving, 12 touchdowns; Jacques Johnson (DE, Sr.) 42 tackles, 10 tackles for loss, five sacks; Ja’ki Singleton (LB, Sr.) 99 tackles, six tackles for loss, two interceptions, one blocked field goal; Braylon James (SS, Sr.) 84 tackles, five tackles for loss, one sack, four interceptions

TEAM CAPTAINS: Mainland: Emmanuel Yisreal (No. 8), Ramon McCullough (No. 66), Jerard Bell (No. 52), LJ McCray (No. 55); St. Augustine: Myles Simmons (No. 5), Devonte Lyons (No. 6), Drake Lusk (No. 7), Ja’ki Singleton (No. 21)

MATCHUPS TO WATCH:

DL LJ McCray (Mainland) vs. QB Locklan Hewlett (St. Augustine) – Hewlett is going to face his toughest matchup of the season against one of the nation’s top defensive linemen in McCray who is a Florida commit. McCray is the No. 6 prospect in the nation overall while Hewlett is the No. 87 prospect in Florida in the 2025 class according to 247 Sports and has been a Wake Forest commit since June of this year.

RB Devonte Lyons (St. Augustine) vs. LB Rodney Hill (Mainland) – Lyons, who averages 123 yards a game is going to have to find ways to slip past Hill, a Tulane commit, who has racked up tons and tons of tackles this year and makes it an effort to get in the backfield to stop the run game. Lyons holds nearly two dozen offers with Miami (FL), West Virginia, and UCF standing out as the biggest offers on his list.

DB Zavier Mincey (Mainland) vs. WR Carl Jenkins Jr. (St. Augustine) – This is going to be a fun one to watch with Jenkins who averages over 80 yards a game receiving while Mincey has been effective in shutting passing lanes down. Mincey holds over three dozen offers with Alabama, Florida, Florida State, Miami (FL), UCF, and USF standing out among the offers while Jenkins holds over a dozen offers with Arkansas, Louisville, Texas A&M, UCF, USF, and Wisconsin among his notable offers to date.

DE Jacques Johnson (St. Augustine) vs. QB DJ Murray (Mainland) – Johnson is an under-the-radar talent but has been a huge asset to the Yellow Jackets defense. However, with Murray being a dual-threat type prospect with a dozen offers under his belt, could Johnson have an impact here that gets him some love among the college recruiters? This could be an interesting matchup.

OUTLOOK: Mainland was looking for a rematch potentially with Lake Wales to revenge their two-point loss in the Class 3S state championship, but instead it will be a matchup with St. Augustine who is playing for a state championship for the first time since 2007. For either program, this will be the first state championship in a very long time as it has been two decades since the Buccaneers won a state championship which came when head coach Travis Roland was a part of the roster. For the Yellow Jackets, they are seeking their first state championship since 2005 which was won under the legendary Joey Wiles who led the Yellow Jackets to three state championship games during his tenure as coach. When looking at the Buccaneers compared to a year ago, you will notice they are a more run-heavy team compared to the team last year that was very pass-heavy due to losses on the roster with graduation and transfer taking most of the receiving production away. As such, Mainland has leaned more heavily on DJ Murray to run along with the support of Khamani Robinson to move the ball downfield. With that said, the Mainland defense has been worth watching which starts with one of the top defensive linemen in the nation LJ McCray. McCray alone could cause trouble for Locklan Hewlett and potentially Dylan Cook, both quarterbacks who have been highly impressive for St. Augustine. When coupling in the effects of Mainland’s defense, Zavier Mincey and Rodney Hill added in with McCray could cause a triple-domino effect that could put points at a premium for the Yellow Jackets. Overall, this is a matchup that has a ton of interest and should be a primetime matchup that will unfortunately be played in the afternoon.

PREDICTION: Mainland 31, St. Augustine 28