BY CLIFF SMELLEY
Jy’Quez Cason scored two touchdowns in the fourth quarter, capping drives of 80 and 78 yards as the Bradford High School football team defeated Class 6A Mandarin 18-13 on Sept. 13 in Starke.
It was expected to be a tough battle for the Class 2A Tornadoes (4-0) against a fellow state runner-up from last season. Mandarin (3-1) was ranked number two in 6A by MaxPreps and near the top or at number one in various other polls.
You would’ve found few high-school media outlets picking Bradford to win. Some predictions had Mandarin scoring 30-plus points and winning by double digits, even without senior quarterback Tramell Jones, an FSU commit who was injured in week two.
“Our guys have won 30 out of the last 33,” Bradford Head Coach Jamie Rodgers said. “They expect to win. Somebody asked me if this would be a surprise if we won tonight. I just told him I’d be surprised if we lost, to be honest with you.”
The Mustangs took a 13-6 lead in the third quarter on a 50-yard touchdown pass, but that play accounted for all but 10 of their second-half total yards.
Mandarin was averaging 48 points per game, but Bradford’s defense forced the Mustangs to go three-and-out on seven of their 11 possessions.
While the defense was doing its job, the offense was wearing Mandarin down with a rushing attack that averaged 5 yards per carry in the second half.
“That’s what we like,” Rodgers said. “We’re gritty. We’re tough. We don’t mind trying to wear you down in the end. Our kids believe in the fourth quarter. They believe in the weight room. They believe in being physical.
“If you believe that, you’ve got a chance to win them all.”
Mandarin went three-and-out on its first series, with Bradford’s Trevis Johnson recording a 9-yard sack and a holding penalty also hurting the Mustangs’ cause.
The Mustangs’ second drive didn’t begin with much promise as the Tornadoes’ Reese Wainwright made a tackle for a 3-yard loss. Mandarin, though, was able to pick up two first downs on a 14-yard reception by Jaime Ffrench and a 23-yard reception by Ethan Sherman. The Mustangs later faced third-and-5 at their own 43 when Jeremiah McKenzie dumped Ffrench for a 10-yard loss on a pass play, forcing a punt.
Bradford, which has a bye week before hosting District 5-2A opponent Keystone Heights for homecoming on Friday, Sept. 27, at 7:30 p.m., began its third offensive series with a pair of Iyen Addison runs that netted 7 yards. McKenzie then had a 24-yard run for a first down at the Mandarin 28. A 7-yard run by Gino Addison had an additional 15 yards tacked on because of a personal foul, giving the Tornadoes another first down at the 11-yard line. Gino Addison had two more runs for 5 yards, while McKenzie gained 4 yards on a carry to the 2. Bradford lined up to go for it on fourth down and drew the Mustangs offsides. That left the Tornadoes inches shy of a first down, but they drew Mandarin offsides again. On first-and-goal from the 1, Branden Williams carried the ball into the end zone to put Bradford up 6-0 at the 8:39 mark of the second quarter. The PAT was no good.
After forcing the Mustangs to go three-and-out on the ensuing series, Bradford began a drive at its own 39. A fumble at the 47-yard line was scooped up by Mandarin’s Drake Stubbs and returned for a touchdown. A penalty on
the return negated the score, but the Mustangs had a first down at the Bradford 30. Runs by Shaunqueze Foster helped move Mandarin to the 13 before the Tornadoes’ Tyler Berry intercepted a pass to end the scoring threat.
“Huge,” Rodgers said of the play. “That’s what tough teams do. That’s what tough, gritty kids do. They find a way.”
Mandarin’s last possession of the half began at its own 39 with 1:33 on the clock. Quarterback Knox Annis threw two straight incompletions before hooking up with Ffrench for a 42-yard gain to the Bradford 19. Ffrench, a University of Texas commit, was injured on the play and never returned, finishing with five catches for 55 yards.
Trente Jenkins tackled running back Deion Winstead for a 2-yard loss following the big pass play, but the Mustangs set up first-and-goal at the 1-yard line on Annis’ 20-yard pass to Sherman. Donte Perry scored on a run from there. Winstead kicked the extra point to give Mandarin a 7-6 lead with 31 seconds remaining until halftime.
Mandarin’s offense ran just three plays on each of its first two drives of the second half, producing only 3 yards. The first play of their third possession, though, saw Annis, who was under heavy pressure most of the night, throw a deep pass to Brysen Wright for a 50-yard touchdown that put the Mustangs up 13-6 at the 6:52 mark of the third quarter. The PAT was no good.
“He stepped into that throw in a clean pocket,” Rodgers said. “He made a great throw to (Wright). We weren’t going to let that happen again.”
The Tornadoes didn’t, as Mandarin gained just 7 yards on three possessions the remainder of the game.
Bradford’s offense struggled to start the second half, gaining a total of 23 yards on their first three drives.
The Tornadoes’ fourth possession began on their own 20 with 2:49 to play in the third quarter. Bradford gained 1 yard on two Iyen Addison carries, but benefitted from a 5-yard penalty against Mandarin. McKenzie was tackled for no gain on a third-and-4 play, but a personal foul committed by the Mustangs gave the Tornadoes a first down.
Bradford found itself in a long-yardage situation when Zack Paulk was sacked for an 8-yard loss by Mandarin’s Kindrid Outland, but picked up a first down on a 19-yard reception by Cason. It was the first of three consecutive plays that produced first downs, with McKenzie picking up one on a 12-yard run and Williams picking up the other on a 28-yard run to the 8-yard line. Cason scored on a run from there at the 10:12 mark of the fourth quarter. The Tornadoes unsuccessfully went for two after an offsides penalty against the Mustangs.
Rodgers said he didn’t hesitate in making the decision to go for two.
“I wanted to go for the win, but I still knew we had plenty of time left,” Rodgers said.
The game was halted for 15-20 minutes when Bradford’s Graceyn McClellan was injured during the ensuing kickoff. He was transported to the hospital. His mother, via Facebook the following day, reported that McClellan was doing good and that it looked as if he had “a pretty good concussion.”
Once play resumed, Mandarin completed 1 of 3 pass attempts for 7 yards and punted, resulted in Bradford starting a drive at its own 22 with 9:31 to play.
The Tornadoes then went to a wildcat-type offense, with Cason, McKenzie and Williams all taking turns receiving the snap and running with the ball. First, Cason ran for a 5-yard gain, with a personal-foul penalty adding another 15 yards. McKenzie had runs of 8, 12 and 11 yards as the Tornadoes moved to the Mandarin 27. A 17-yard run by Cason later set up first-and-goal at the 7.
Cason, who rushed for 40 yards on six carries and finished with 145 all-purpose yards, scored a touchdown on a 6-yard run to make it 18-13 with 5:04 remaining.
“I was tired,” said Cason, who added that he was taking a breather on the sideline for most of the drive. “As we got closer, I was like, ‘Give me the ball, Coach.’ I got it done.”
Cason, McKenzie and Williams all start on defense, which is why you don’t see more of the wildcat offense until late in games.
“I know everybody in the bleachers wants to know, ‘Why don’t you do that the whole game?’ Those guys play every down on defense,” Rodgers said. “You can’t do that in the first quarter and second quarter. I want (those players) to give out at the end of the game. That’s when I want them tired.”
Those defensive players still had a stop to make as Mandarin started the ensuing series at its own 20. Johnson had a 5-yard sack before teaming up with Marlin Haywood to hold Josiah Watkins to a 5-yard gain on a pass play. Cason then had a near interception on third down. The Mustangs punted with more than three minutes left in the game.
Bradford, after running three offensive plays, faced fourth-and-2 at the Mandarin 48. Cason fought his way past the first-down marker on a 4-yard carry that allowed the Tornadoes to then run the clock out.
Rodgers said the Tornadoes were supposed to call a time out instead of snapping the ball on that fourth-down play.
“It was crazy. I wasn’t even supposed to get the ball,” Cason said. “It was just a mistake. I turned it into a big play.”
Rodgers said, “We had no play called, and the center snapped it. I asked him, ‘What play were we running?’ He said, ‘I don’t know.’ I said, ‘Well, we didn’t know either. Thank God Quezzie knew.’”
Bradford finished with 299 yards of offense, with 206 coming on 48 rushing attempts. McKenzie led the team with 77 yards on eight carries, while Gino Addison had 66 on 17 carries. Williams added 37 yards on five carries.
Paulk completed 6 of 12 passes for 93 yards, with Cason catching three balls for 45 yards.
Cason also had three kickoff returns for 60 yards.
The Mustangs finished with 188 yards, with Annis completing 10 of 25 passes for 159 yards.
Bradford has now defeated four schools in larger classifications by a combined score of 88-41. Their first three opponents (Baker County, Dunnellon and South Sumter) are all in the top 10 of MaxPreps’ Class 3A rankings.
“It says a lot about our coaches. It says a lot about our players,” Rodgers said, adding that the Mandarin win “just solidified that we’re a gritty program.”
