BY CLIFF SMELLEY
Bradford High School’s football team looks to avenge its only loss this year when it hosts Newberry on Friday, Nov. 22, at 7:30 p.m. for the right to advance to the Region 2-2A championship game.
The second seed Tornadoes (9-1) had no trouble in their quarterfinal matchup against The Villages (see related story), but now face third seed Newberry, which defeated Bradford 21-7 in the regular season to win the District 5 championship.
Newberry (9-2) opened the playoffs with a 24-7 win over sixth seed Palatka. The Panthers are on an eight-game win streak in which they’ve outscored opponents 283-52.
“If it’s not a packed house (at David Hurse Stadium), there’s something wrong,” Bradford Head Coach Jamie Rodgers said.
The Panthers are in the postseason for the sixth straight year and have qualified for the playoffs a total of 26 years. Their postseason record is 22-25, with state runner-up finishes in 1992 (Class 2A) and 2007 (Class 2B).
Newberry hasn’t won at least two playoff games in a season since 2012, when it went 2-1, losing 36-35 in overtime to Trenton in the Class 1A state semifinals.
The Panthers played six teams that finished the 2024 regular season with a winning record and eight teams that qualified for the playoffs. Their two losses were against playoff qualifiers Hawthorne (Rural Class) by an overtime score of 28-27 and Vanguard (Class 4A) by a score of 23-0.
Hawthorne and Vanguard improved to 9-1 and 10-1, respectively, with first-round playoff wins on Nov. 15.
Including their playoff win over Palatka, the Panthers are scoring an average of 32 points per game.
Based on its 10 regular-season games, Newberry averaged 206 rushing yards per game. The ground attack is led by junior Kaleb Woods, who has rushed for 1,083 yards and 10 touchdowns on 117 carries.
The Panthers averaged 206 passing yards per game in the regular season. Senior quarterback Collin Dunmore completed 70 of 120 passes for 1,092 yards and 15 touchdowns, with just one interception. His favorite receiver was junior Hayden Moore, who caught 39 passes for 714 yards and nine touchdowns.
Other receiving stats include senior Logan McCloud with 17 catches for 156 yards and three touchdowns, freshman Javeon Long with six catches for 133 yards and three touchdowns, Woods with nine catches for 116 yards and two touchdowns and senior Trenton Campbell with five catches for 96 yards and two touchdowns.
Opponents are averaging only 11 points per game against the Panthers. Newberry has allowed 10 points or less in six games, with three of those games being shutout wins.
Based on stats from nine of the Panthers’ 10 regular-season games (Santa Fe’s stats in Newberry’s 49-0 win weren’t entered on MaxPreps), opponents averaged 96 rushing yards per game and 122 passing yards per game.
McCloud, a linebacker, led the team in tackles in the regular season with 84, while senior lineman Jarquez Carter (an Ohio State commit) had 61 (39 for loss).
Five other players had more than 40 tackles each: senior lineman Mykah Newton (Miami commit) 49, senior defensive back Jakarus Randolph 44, junior linebacker Davon Rim 44, sophomore linebacker Aidan Michaux 43 and sophomore lineman Amaris Bryant 42.
Carter leads the team in sacks with 15, while Newton has nine.
The Panthers had 12 interceptions in the regular season, with junior defensive back La’harry Debose making five.
Newberry had three fumble recoveries during the regular season.
In the Oct. 11 matchup between Newberry and Bradford, the Tornadoes averaged 2 yards per rush attempt and finished with less than 50 yards on the ground. They’ve rushed for more than 190 yards in every other game.
Bradford quarterback Zack Paulk did throw for 205 yards against Newberry, but he had two first-half interceptions, one of which was returned for a touchdowns.
The Tornadoes trailed 21-0 before scoring in the fourth quarter.
Bradford and Newberry met each other in the 2021 Class 1A playoffs, with the Tornadoes winning that game 51-13.
If the Tornadoes win this year’s playoff matchup against Newberry, they’ll advance to the Region 2 championship game, which will be played Friday, Nov. 29. Bradford would either travel to play top seed Cocoa (7-3) or host fifth seed Berkeley Prep (6-4).
Bradford is attempting to advance to the region-championship round for the third straight year.
Newberry last played for a region championship in 2012.
