ROUND 3 PLAYOFFS: Mitchell Is Now 11-0!

For weeks, those “experts” who claim to follow this game statewide had talked about Mitchell being a novelty – and the unbeaten season the Mustangs were going through would come to an end. Still waiting! Even traveling to Apopka last Friday to take on Wekiva was a given that it would the end to such a magical season. Never happened! <img class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-77091" src="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/redzone/uploads/2020/11/Florida-Player-Spotlight-9-300x188.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="188" />What did happen is now everyone knows this program – and the 11-0 record is not a farce or overblown. After edging Wekiva 24-18, head coach <strong>Andy Schmitz</strong> and his team move on to the next round – as 95 percent of the state has never heard of the Mustangs. When wide receiver <strong>Maguire Anderson</strong> hit <strong>Jonathan Fairbank</strong> with a 28-yard touchdown pass, it was 10-0. A 63-yard kickoff return by safety <strong>Cole Castro</strong> helped setup Mitchell’s second touchdown of the night, a 25-yard pass from <strong>Ezra Brennan</strong> (14-of-27, 186 yards) to Fairbank to push the Mustangs’ lead to 17-6. In addition to that huge win by Mitchell, there were some other impressive performances this past week as well: Senior quarterback <strong>Sammy Edwards</strong>, who ran for two touchdowns while passing for one, ran for 70 yards and went 10 of 12 passing for 111 yards to lead St. Augustine to a 6A win over Pace. Baker County converted two broken plays into explosive touchdowns and forced three turnovers in a 28-19 win against Pensacola Pine Forest. <strong>Scooby Graham </strong>set the tone from the opening kickoff with a run that put the Wildcats in Pine Forest territory and finished with two touchdowns, bringing his season total to 13. Quarterback <strong>Michael Townsend</strong> aired out three touchdown passes, connecting twice with Rico Watkins and once with <strong>Torey Walker</strong> as Tallahassee Rickards beat Jacksonville Ribault, 44-26. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="32648" first="Trevonte" last="Rucker"]</strong>, a University of Florida commitment, had a hand in each of the Ocala Vanguard’s first three scores in three different ways over Clay (9-2), 38-7. In the opening drive, Rucker threw a 15-yard touchdown pass to fellow senior <strong>Tevin Williams</strong>, and he later made a scoring grab from quarterback <strong>A.J. Law</strong> and a 15-yard rushing touchdown. Two touchdown passes from <strong>Gunner Boree</strong> to <strong>Davis Ellis </strong>helped Jacksonville Bolles beat South Sumter, 42-7. <strong>Orel Gray</strong> rushed for two Jacksonville University Christian touchdowns and <strong>Joe Carter</strong> added another in a 2A win, 35-20, against Tallahassee North Florida Christian. 1A Madison County quarterback <strong>R.J. Williams</strong> broke away for the game-winning touchdown early in the final period as the three-time defending champions beat Union County. Sophomore <strong>Sam Singleton</strong> ran for a school record 274 yards and four touchdowns on 18 rushes as Fleming Island trounced visiting Atlantic Coast (5-6) in a Region 1-7A semifinal. <strong>AJ Jones, [player_tooltip player_id="32767" first="Santino" last="Marucci"]</strong> and <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="50206" first="Eric" last="Weatherly"]</strong> combined for four rushing touchdowns, and the Bartram Trail Bears generated four takeaways in a 35-13 regional semifinal victory. Marucci, a Wake Forest quarterback commit, threw for 228 yards and another score. Jones led the ground attack with 107 yards and a couple of touchdowns. Sanford Seminole QB<strong> [player_tooltip player_id="32772" first="Timmy" last="McClain"] </strong>ran for 121 yards, and his momentum-turning touchdown run was his fourth over the last four games in a 40-20 win against Jacksonville Sandalwood. Junior <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="50051" first="Jaylon" last="Glover"]</strong> ran for four touchdowns as Lakeland Lake Gibson rallied for a 48-22 win against Bradenton Southeast. Glover finished the night with 112 yards rushing. Tampa Bay Tech senior quarterback <strong>David Wright</strong> threw for 318 yards and five touchdowns. He was 20 of 34 and did not throw an interception in a 55-34 win against Lakeland. Coming into last Friday night’s playoff game at Naples, the Golden Eagles had a huge advantage over Miami Central – having played 36 quarters of football to the Rockets’ 10. But Texas A&amp;M commitment <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="32660" first="Amari" last="Daniels"]</strong> ignited Central with 210 yards rushing in a 31-21 win. Fort Myers Dunbar linemen <strong>Chris Thomas</strong> and <strong>Demetrie Morgan</strong> spent most of the night in the Palmetto Ridge offensive backfield and sacked Bears quarterback <strong>Evan Rodriguez</strong> on back-to-back plays and forced a punt with 2 minutes to go in a 12-7 win. Senior <strong>Calvin Stringer</strong> ran for 257 yards and five touchdowns as Sneads rolled to a playoff win. <strong>Jason Patterson</strong> added 130 yards and two touchdowns and <strong>CJ McMillan</strong> 118 yards and a touchdown. Stringer raised his season totals to 1,473 yards and 21 touchdowns. Bloomingdale scored on a touchdown pass from quarterback <strong>Tre Simmons</strong> early, and he completed a few big passes and had a 22-yard run on his team’s opening drive of the second half, setting up a score that would be the first of two trips to the end zone for Bloomingdale in a 90-second span. The scoring spurt extended a lead the Bulls held the rest of the way in their 24-14 victory against Armwood. Tampa Gaither (11-0) continued to roll along with a 49-0 win over Clearwater Countryside. The amazing defensive effort, which was highlighted by a pick-6 from junior four-star talent <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="50067" first="Mario" last="Eugenio"]</strong> — his second of the year — another interception from <strong>Eugene Wilson III</strong> and a fumble recovery by<strong> Jean Duclos</strong>, helped hold Countryside (8-4) to minus-9 yards of offense. Sophomore running back <strong>Joquez Smith</strong> rushed for 163 yards on 16 carries and three touchdowns, senior quarterback <strong>Joe Pesansky</strong> (9-of-16, 221 yards) threw for two scores, and freshman defensive end <strong>Peter Pesansky</strong> — Joe’s brother — came up with the defensive play of the game as Tampa Jesuit pulled away from Bishop Moore 43-23. Senior <strong>Kamarii Austin</strong> threw three touchdowns as Lithia Newsome beat Steinbrenner and advanced to a region final for the first time in school history with a 37-20 victory. Austin (7-of-14, 202 yards) connected with<strong> Lamar Frederick </strong>from 11 yards out and Newsome never looked back. Quarterback <strong>Michael Townsend </strong>aired out three touchdowns passes. He connected twice with <strong>Rico Watkins </strong>and once with <strong>Torey Walker</strong> as Tallahassee Rickards beat Jacksonville Ribault, 44-26Running back <strong>De’Andre Francis</strong> sprinted for two scores. With these rushes, Francis now has seven touchdowns in the state tournament. <strong>Jeremy McKnight</strong> and <strong>Keyshawn Mitchell</strong> led the way with nine tackles apiece for 10-2 Madison County as the Cowboys got by Union County, 19-7. This was the seventh time Madison County held an opponent to single digits or less this year. <strong><em>You Can Contact Larry Blustein with prospect or team information at: <a href="mailto:Foridakids1@aol.com">Foridakids1@aol.com</a>. We are also on Social Media on @PrepRedzonefl.</em></strong>