Special to the Telegraph-Times-Monitor
Keystone Heights earned the victory in a battle of Indians on Oct. 1, overcoming an early eight-point deficit to take down the visiting Fort White Indians 30-14.
The Indians (6-0), who host Crescent City for homecoming on Friday, Oct. 8, at 7:30 p.m., defeated their last four opponents by an average margin of 43 points and hadn’t trailed in a game all season until playing Fort White.
“I was a little worried that we were going to come out flat, but we needed a game like this. We haven’t been in any games like this this year.” Keystone Head Coach Chuck Dickinson said. “I told our kids it was going to be a physical game, and they lived up to it. Give Fort White credit.”
Things did indeed start out a little rocky for the home side, fumbling the ball away to Fort White (3-2) on just the third play of the game. The visitors took advantage right away, and after an 18-yard run by Darren Clark, quarterback Clayton Phillpot was able to hit Houston Crews on a 35-yard gain down to the 1-yard line. A couple of plays later, Phillpot found Peighton Simard in the end zone to put his side up 7-0 early.
After recovering the visiting Indians’ second straight onside-kick attempt — this time by Caleb Moncrief at the Fort White 35 — the home side went to work. A 9-yard gain by Dalton Hollingsworth, plus a 15-yard horse-collar penalty at the end of the play, moved the ball to the 25-yard line. Hollingsworth would convert a fourth-and-3 play before running it in from a yard out a couple of plays later. He was stopped on the two-point conversion attempt, and FWHS still held a one-point advantage midway through the first.
They would extend that lead on the next drive. Taking over at their own 35 and putting the ball in the hands of running back Darren Clark, who would singlehandedly get his team down to the 8-yard line through both rushing and receiving, FWHS scored, with Phillpot finding wideout Tafari Moe for his second passing touchdown of the night, extending the visitors’ lead to 14-6. It would be the last time Fort White would score on the night.
The Keystone onslaught began on the following drive when the home team would take over at the 42 after another botched onside attempt from Fort White. Hollingsworth went back to work with his backfield mate, Tyler Jenkins, controlling the ground game before Conner Guy would link up with Logan Williams on a 38-yard touchdown. This time, Hollingsworth would not be denied when going for two, and with 5:03 remaining in the half, the two teams were all knotted up at 14 points apiece.
The KHHS defense would then step up and get its first stop of the night after dropping Maliki Clark behind the line on first down, followed by two standout defensive plays by Jeremy Miller to break up passes. FWHS would punt it away with 4:07 remaining, and the kick did not go the visitors’ way, resulting in the home Indians taking over at the Fort White 44 with over four minutes still remaining on the clock.
A big Hollingsworth gain, coupled with a facemask penalty, moved the ball to the 25 before Hollingsworth would make the highlight play of the night, carrying four FW Indians on his back down to the 10-yard line on a 12-yard gain. Williams would then get his second score of the night, taking it in from 10 yards out. After Hollingsworth’s second straight two-point conversion, Keystone found itself up 22-14 with 1:19 left in the half.
Miller’s sky kick was recovered by teammate Bo Overton after a big hit, and KHHS still had time to punch one more in, but Guy’s 32-yard touchdown pass to Moncrief was quickly flagged and called back due to an illegal man downfield. A play later, Dickinson was flagged for what looked to be arguing the call, but he would later clarify that he was just asking the referee why it was called and that he wasn’t the one penalized.
“It wasn’t on me,” he stated. “It was on a player, and that player did not have a very good halftime.”
The second half saw Dickinson tack one on early and then implement his ground-and-pound style that controls the clock and keeps the ball out of the hands of the opposing team’s offense.
“The offense stepped up, and when you grind the ball like that, it is frustrating for a team when there are 48 minutes and you have the ball probably 33 or 34 of them,” he said. “That’s how we win.”
Fort White had won the toss before the game and deferred to the second half. They came out firing with a 33-yard completion on the first play from scrimmage in the third quarter, but on the next play, Luke Snider caused a fumble that was recovered by Trey Jeffries to set Keystone up with the ball at its own 38.
The turnover game has been kind to Dickinson’s side this season.
“We have been fortunate this year that we actually haven’t had a turnover all year, so we were like plus-12 this year coming into this game. I tell our kids, we don’t turn the ball over, we’ve got a chance, and with what we do, as long as we don’t get behind the chains, we are going to be OK.”
The final KHHS score would happen with 8:04 remaining when Hollingsworth, who rushed for 238 yards on 35 carries, found the end zone for his second touchdown of the night.
The victory was secured when Jenkins intercepted a Phillpot pass inside the 10-yard line late in the game to end all of Fort White’s hopes and keep the Tribe undefeated on the season.
Keystone did have an opportunity for an even larger margin of victory, driving inside the 10 with 2:25 to go, but a holding call put the Indians back 10 yards. Dickinson would run the clock out.
Snider led the defense with six tackles, while Clayton Kicklighter had five.
“They fought hard.” he said. “That is the first time we have been behind all year. That was a good thing for us to come back, take the lead like that, and I thought as the game went on, we did what we were supposed to.” He then added, “We became the most physical team on the night.”
On the impressive start to the season, Dickinson stayed humble, saying, “We play one game at a time. I tell the kids going into the week that we are 0-0, and our goal is to win this one.” He concluded with, “We just have to work on the little things and get better each week.”
So far, Dickinson seems to have his team working on all the right things, as well as on all cylinders. While it’s not on the forefront of everybody’s minds quite yet, it’s only a matter of time before people begin to wonder aloud if this is the season that Keystone can record its first-ever FHSAA playoff victory.
This Friday marks Keystone’s final home game. Crescent City (3-2) is coming off a bye that followed a 42-21 loss to Hilliard. That loss snapped a string of wins in which the Raiders defeated Umatilla, Interlachen and Trenton.
