COVER 3 – STATE CHAMPIONSHIP EDITION: Three athletes that stood out from the 2024 Class 2A State Championship Game

Our Cover 3 feature on FloridaHSFootball.com will be a complimentary part of our Daily Drive Podcast with Christopher Lyke that begins on January 2, 2025. In this year’s week-long state championship extravaganza at FIU’s Pitbull Stadium, the Cocoa Tigers defeated the Gadsden County Jaguars 38-27, completing a three-peat bid as the Class 2A state champions.

Here are three players we felt had a breakout performance in the game itself from Thursday afternoon’s FHSAA Class 2A State Championship Game:

WR Jayvan Boggs – Cocoa

Jayvan Boggs finished the 2024 season with six receptions for 112 yards and one touchdown catch that started the scoring for the game with 8:16 left in the opening quarter. Overall, the future Florida State Seminole became a target favorite for the Tigers in their bid to win a third straight state championship. On a 2nd-and-15 play during the winding moments of the first quarter, Hart targeted Boggs in the short field down the middle for a 54-yard gain. The catch would set up a touchdown from the six-yard line on the very next play to give the Tigers a 14-7 score after the opening period of play.

RB Kemarrion Battles – Gadsden County

If the Gadsden County Jaguars had a chance to win the game against Cocoa, a player such as Kemarrion Battles would be a key component to that recipe. The Jaguars called upon his name a total of 22 times in the game accounting for a net gain of 96 total yards. Of those 22 rushes, Battles would enter the end zone twice. The first touchdown came with 3:36 left to play in the first to tie the game at seven-all in the first quarter. The second time he landed inside the end zone was in the third quarter with 6:07 remaining to give the Jaguars a 15-4 lead. The Battles touchdown would result in the only time the Jaguars would have the lead in the 2A State Championship Game. Battles ended up with a game-high between both teams of 127 all-purpose yards.

QB Brady Hart – Cocoa

There are not enough words to describe the type of player and person that Brady Hart is on the football field. The play calling of the Tigers, combined with the execution of those plays on the offensive side of the ball was simply a masterclass in state championship performances. Hart completed 22 passes out of 31 attempts with one touchdown pass throughout the game throwing a total of 259 yards. His 54 yard throw to Jayvan Boggs in the first quarter was only a small sample size of what he accomplished in the state title game. Outside of the 259 yards passing, the Texas A&M bound quarterback also contributed 64 yards on the ground in 11 rushes. One of those 11 rushes resulted in a touchdown that eventually gave the Tigers all the points they would need to secure a third straight state championship.