Special to the Telegraph-Times-Monitor
Winless Interlachen rolled into Keystone Heights (5-0) on Sept. 24, hoping to notch its first victory over the Indians since 2016. Whatever hopes the Rams had on the short 17-mile bus ride over were quickly dashed once the whistle blew and Keystone quickly asserted its dominance en route to a 44-0 win over its nearby rivals.
The Indians (5-0) look to keep rolling this Friday, Oct. 1, when they host Fort White at 7:30 p.m.
Interlachen (0-4) tried to catch the Indians off guard by attempting an onside kick to open the game, but Jeremy Miller was quick to recover, setting up the Tribe with outstanding field position just 53 yards away from paydirt. Senior running back Dalton Hollingsworth almost got all 53 of them on the first play from scrimmage, going around the end down to the 10-yard line. The Rams’ defense stiffened there, but on fourth-and-goal from the 3, sophomore quarterback Connor Guy found junior Bryar Schenck wide open in the end zone for six.
As they have done after every touchdown this season, the Indians attempted a two-point conversion, but this time, when Guy went back to pass, he was quickly confronted by a flock of Rams and was sacked.
Despite the result of the conversion attempt, the momentum was already with the home side.
“We came out, we got the ball, were able to convert a fourth down from the 4 to score, so that was huge,” Indians Head Coach Chuck Dickinson said. “You know our goal is always just to try to get the kickoff and set the tempo of the game, and we did that tonight.”
Ricky Astin fair caught Keystone’s sky kick as the Rams began the ensuing drive on the KHHS 38-yard line. After first-down runs from both quarterback Reginald Allen Jr. and Astin took Interlachen into Indian territory, the Rams found themselves facing a fourth-and-4 from the Keystone 43-yard-line. Allen called his own number and attempted a sweep around the right side, but was met by a tribe of Indians, resulting in an IHS turnover on downs.
Keystone went right back to work, with Hollingsworth picking up 6 yards on first down before exploding for a 50-yard touchdown run and then putting the exclamation point on it by running in the two-point conversion to put his team up 14-0 with 5:48 remaining in the opening quarter.
“I’m sure you noticed we don’t go for one. If we can get 50/50 when going for two, then we are just as good as kicking it, and we have been about 50 percent.” Dickinson said.
After a three-and-out by Interlachen, which saw Hollingsworth muff the fourth-down punt and fall on it at his own 4-yard line, Keystone found itself starting deep in its own territory. That’s when Hollingsworth, Tyler Jenkins and Logan Williams continued to assert dominance in the ground game, all playing a role in matriculating the ball down the field in bruising fashion. Hollingsworth punctuated the drive, rumbling from 9 yards out for his second score of the quarter and then followed up with another rush up the middle for his second successful two-point conversion.
The Indians opened the second quarter up 22-0, and the ensuing kickoff resulted in Keystone getting the ball right back as Williams was able to recover it. After the game, Dickinson was quick to point out that it wasn’t an onside kick or any attempt to rub salt into the Rams’ wounds after IHS had attempted an onside to open the game.
“We sky kicked it. It went up in the air, hit the ground and we got it,” Dickinson said. He then added, “We don’t kick deep. We always sky kick it. That’s just what we do.”
The Tribe took advantage of the field position, and after two runs from Hollingsworth that gave Keystone first-and-goal at the 2, Jenkins punched it in, and Hollingsworth ran it in on the next play for another successful two-point-conversion to put the Indians up 30-0 with over 10:03 sill remaining in the first half.
Hollingsworth finished with 204 yards on 17 carries
Interlachen was again unable to do anything with the ball and had to punt it away. Hollingsworth fielded the punt and returned it to midfield, leveling a defender in the process. The Indians bench erupted after witnessing a good, solid football play, but it didn’t stop the referee from throwing a flag and giving KHHS an unsportsmanlike penalty for celebrating a little too much.
The penalty put the ball back at the 40, but Hollingsworth got all 10 of those yards back on his next carry. The Indians then turned right back to Hollingsworth for a gain of 6, but on the next play, Williams was stopped in the backfield, and instead of returning the ball to the referee, he spiked it to the ground in frustration, resulting in another Keystone penalty, this time for delay of game. The penalties proved too much to overcome, and with 5:48 remaining in the second quarter, the Indians had to punt the ball away for the first time all night.
KHHS didn’t have to wait long to get the ball right back, as on the next play, Clayton Kicklighter intercepted Allen’s pass at the Keystone 45. Five plays later, Jackson Williams punched it in from the 2-yard line, and after another successful two-point conversion, the Indians found themselves with a 38-0 lead heading into the locker rooms.
After the score, the running clock rule was instituted for the remaining 2:38 of the second quarter and the entirety the second half. With the clock continuing to run no matter the result of the play, the third and fourth quarters were relatively uneventful and would pass quickly. That didn’t mean that Keystone didn’t find its way to the end zone one last time for the night. With over seven minutes remaining in the game, Jackson Williams scored his second touchdown of the night, this time from 18 yards out. The two-point-conversion would fail, but it was moot. The Indians took a resounding 44-0 lead with the score, which would ultimately end up as the final scored of the one-sided contest.
Keystone rushed for 354 yards, with Jenkins finishing as the second-leading ground-gainer behind Hollingsworth. He had 63 yards on six carries.
Jackson Williams, who had five carries, and Logan Williams, who had eight carries, each finished with 38 yards.
Logan Williams led the defense with 10 tackles and one sack. Hollingsworth had six tackles.
Now, with a perfect start to the season, Dickinson said he’s still not looking ahead.
“It’s one game at a time,” he said. “Like I tell our kids, we can’t worry about who we play. We’ve got to worry about ourselves being the most physical team every Friday night, and tonight we were the most physical team, and you know, with what we do, we are going to run the ball. We are going to be a power running team that throws here and there.”
No matter the offensive philosophy, Dickinson has his kids playing with confidence, and a confident football team is a dangerous football team.
This week’s opponent, Fort White, brings a 3-1 record to Keystone. After opening the season with a 14-7 loss to Newberry, Fort White has now won three straight, with the latest being a 27-19 win over Branford. Fort White also has double-digit wins over Hamilton County and Santa Fe.
