Tigers Sharks clip Seahawks’ wings
With a 6-1 record, the Franklin County Seahawks entered Friday’s football contest with solid hope of knocking off arch-rival Port St. Joe for the first time.
But it turned out it would be the Tiger Sharks who would be doing the knocking off, after Port St. Joe left their home stadium with a 42-12 victory.
The Tiger Sharks struck first blood in the first quarter, when junior quarterback Jacob Hensley would hit senior Daren Angelino with a deep post from about 20 yards out for the score.
Senior Josiah Beach would then hit the first for four extra points and Port St. Joe led 7-0.
On the ensuing kickoff, a hard hit would knock the ball loose from the Seahawk runner, and junior Blake Childress would pounce on it for the fumble recovery. But Seahawk junior Eric Smith would recover a fumble on the next play and the Seahawks had the ball back.
After being forced to punt, the Seahawks were the beneficiaries of an unusual play on the St. Joe drive, when a bad snap led to an errant pass that would be caught in the air at the line for an interception.
“Sophomore Luke Childers has done a great job at center, but when he snaps he snaps it so dang hard in the shotgun,” said St. Joe Coach Tanner Jones.
The St. Joe defense made sure the Seahawks were stymied, and then in the opening minutes of the second quarter, a Franklin County bad snap led to a fumble, which was recovered by senior Gregory Dean.
A long run by junior Eli Harris, who would finish the night with 142 yards on 14 carries, set up the first of his two touchdowns with a little less than nine minutes left in the half.
The first of two sacks by junior Jacob Marshall would further thwart the Seahawk offense, and on the subsequent Tiger Shark drive, senior Donnell Hills would scamper down the sideline for a huge gain.
He then went in from eight yards out to score with about four minutes left in the half.
“Hills can fly,” said Jones. “I knew he was tired and I said ‘We got to get him into the endzone.”
Midway in the third quarter, Seahawk junior Owen Juno grabbed a pass in the endzone from senior quarterback Garyson Millender, and Franklin County trailed 21-6.
But the Tiger Sharks came back with a Harris rushing touchdown and with five minutes left in the third, had regained a 27-6 edge.
With just second left in the quarter, Tiger Shark senior quarterback Colton Johnson hit senior Aydan Davis with a 20-yard aerial strike, and the two-point conversion by junior Asher Peacock had the Tiger Sharks up 35-6.
A 30-yard touchdown strike from Millender to freshman Dre North, with seven minutes left to play, narrowed the gap to 35-12, but Port St. Joe would put the finishing touch on about two minutes later, with a rushing touchdown by Davis, who finished with 63 yards on seven carries.
Hills would end up with 78 yards on seven carries.
Jones said that the passing effort “was the best we’ve thrown all year. They were playing nine guys in the box and they were forcing us to put it in the air, so that’s what we had to do.
“We forced them to put safeties back, to at least get off the line, and that kind of opened up some passing stuff,” he said. The kids ran the right routes and the quarterbacks put the ball where it needed to be. I’m proud of both our quarterbacks; they did well tonight.”
Hensley finished with 9 of 12 completions for 113 yards, and Johnson was 2 for 4 for 36 yards.
Jones had high praise for three of his senior lineman, Camden Focht, Daniel Alaniz and King Waters.
“Alaniz and Waters are blocking down, and Camden did a good job of logging that guy, he did a great job,” said the coach.
Jones said the defensive effort, led by five sols and seven assists each for Peacock and Marshall, was in large part due to a strong week of practice. “We had a defensive coach at every single position,” he said. “Nobody ever got a free pass at practice; there was always a coach in their ear.”
Jones also had high praise for the Franklin County effort.
“They run that offense really, really good, they do,” he said. “I told them (coach John Cooper and offensive coordinator Scott Collins) ’you guys are a lot more physical than I thought.’ I was very proud of the way they played, they played hard.
“I really truly thought they showed a world of difference from last year, with how much better they’ve gotten and how much more physical,” said Jones. “They’re fast, they’re quick, they have guys who can make plays, they have athletes. They know what they’re doing, there’s purpose when they line up, on both sides of the ball. I was very impressed with them.
“There’s no longer Apalach kids, no Eastpoint kids (coming here),” Jones said. “They’re all staying at home and you can tell the difference.”
Meet the Editor
David Adlerstein, The Apalachicola Times’ digital editor, started with the news outlet in January 2002 as a reporter.
Prior to then, David Adlerstein began as a newspaperman with a small Boston weekly, after graduating magna cum laude from Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts. He later edited the weekly Bellville Times, and as business reporter for the daily Marion Star, both not far from his hometown of Columbus, Ohio.
In 1995, he moved to South Florida, and worked as a business reporter and editor of Medical Business newspaper. In Jan. 2002, he began with the Apalachicola Times, first as reporter and later as editor, and in Oct. 2020, also began editing the Port St. Joe Star.