FIT CHAMPIONSHIP: Dr. Joaquin Garcia uses second-half adjustments to propel to victory over Tate for FIT 4A-7A Championship

MIDDLETON, Fla. – Dr. Joaquin Garcia might only be a three-year-old program, but the Bulldogs are showing they could be a legitimate state series playoff contender in the years to come after capturing the 2025 FHSAA FIT 4A-7A Championship in a 10-0 victory over Tate at H.G. Morse Stadium at The Villages High School.

Here are three takeaways from the game:

Defenses battle in the first half

If you were looking for points in this game, especially in the first half, this wasn’t the game for you. Both teams battled back and forth, causing havoc for both offenses. Tate (10-4) managed to muster only 99 yards on 29 plays across five drives compared to Dr. Joaquin Garcia’s (11-3) 18 plays for 45 yards on just four drives in the first half.

Every drive for the Bulldogs ended on a punt, while two of Tate’s drives ended on punts, and the other two ended with a turnover on downs.

Bulldogs break free in the second half

Both teams looked to break the scoreless deadlock, and it was Dr. Joaquin Garcia who got it going with the second-half kickoff that would turn into the first and only touchdown by either team in the game.

On that drive, Caleb Butler struck downfield on an over-the-top pass to Zion Vilma down the Bulldogs’ sideline for 40 yards that got the ball inside the Aggies’ 24-yard line. Six plays later, the Bulldogs found pay dirt when Butler found Jayden Morton in the left corner of the end zone from 18 yards out with 8:50 to go in the third quarter to put Dr. Joaquin Garcia up 7-0.

Mistakes and missed points costly for the Aggies

Tate, which had been averaging just over 30 points per game in the FIT playoff games, struggled greatly to get anything meaningful going downfield, and those struggles came to a head in the fourth quarter.

The first mistake was a missed field goal by Ethan Priest from 40 yards out that came up short of the crossbar, giving Dr. Joaquin Garcia the ball back at the 20-yard line as the fourth quarter started. Needing a stop, the Aggies got what they needed, forcing a three-and-out on the Bulldogs, but that would be for naught when Tate was called for a roughing the punter penalty that reset the chains for Dr. Joaquin Garcia at its own 37.

The second mistake came when the Aggies were called for defensive pass interference in the end zone when Jayden Morton was trying to haul in what would be a deciding touchdown reception from Butler from 24 yards out, which resulted in the play being incomplete. While the Aggies would eventually hold and keep the Bulldogs out of the end zone, Dr. Joaquin Garcia would score points off the miscues with a 24-yard field goal from Gavin Boyd with 6:30 left to go in the game.

The mistakes for Tate didn’t stop there. The unraveling continued until the end of the game.

The third miscue was seeing Priest’s 28-yard field goal blocked when the Bulldogs came in with an all-out rush that gave Dr. Joaquin Garcia the ball back with 3:38 to go. The Bulldogs wouldn’t capitalize on the blocked field goal and would punt it back to Tate in the waning minutes of the game, which would generate the fourth and final mistake for the Aggies.

That fourth and final miscue came with 1:26 left in the game when Tanner Clark was intercepted by Morton at the Dr. Joaquin Garcia 28-yard line, which was returned to the Tate 42. That interception was followed by a punch thrown by the Aggies that resulted in an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty that put the Bulldogs at the Tate 27-yard line, where two kneel-downs closed out the game.

Scoring Summary

Third Quarter

DJGH — 8:50 Jayden Morton 19 pass from Caleb Butler (Boyd PAT)

Fourth Quarter

DJGH — 6:30 Boyd 24 field goal

Stat Summary