Keystone Heights High School football coach Chuck Dickinson said Tocoi Creek’s touchdown with seconds left in the first half changed the momentum of the game, over which his team never recovered.
The St. Johns County school beat Keystone 35-0 last Friday, dropping the Indians to 2-7 with one game remaining on their schedule.
The coach said he was pleased with the team’s first-half performance, noting that the Indians had a successful drive in the first half that was thwarted by a fumble. He said that he was hoping to reach the locker room down by 7 against the 5-3 Toros.
But with under a minute remaining in the half, Tocoi Creek’s Wendell Dean broke an 83-yard scoring run, opening up a 14-point lead for the Toros at the half with the extra point.
“I was hoping we could get in at 0-7, at halftime and regroup,” Dickinson said, “and they scored right there with like 7, 10, 12 seconds left. That sort of gave them a lot of momentum, and we just didn’t do anything the second half.”
Dickinson noted that his team didn’t give up, getting to the Toros 5-yard-line with 25 seconds remaining in the game due to his defense holding Tocoi Creek to a 4-and-out late in the game and running back Bryar Schenck breaking a 52-yard run.
Schenck led the Indians in rushing with 91 yards on 13 carries. Cartez Daniels ran for 58 yards on 22 carries and Vernell Jackson had 5 yards on 1 rush.
Schenck also led Keystone in receiving with 2 catches for 23 yards. Ben Ulsch also had a catch for 37 yards.
Quarterback Ford Taylor completed 3 passes on 7 attempts for 60 yards.
Schenck and Kyle Perkins led the team in tackles with 8 each.
Wyatt Van Zant had 7 stops, while Andrew Lowery II recorded 5 tackles. Noah Branch and Colton Hollingsworth had 4 stops each.
Carson Eatmon punted 4 times for 106 yards with an average of 26.5 yards.
Dickinson said that with one game remaining, the Indians can set a positive tone for the offseason with a win.
“I told the kids, you’ve got to believe in each other and keep working hard,” he said. “We need to win this game for our seniors and also for the underclassmen to go out with a victory, have a good off-season and get ready for next year.”
Keystone hosts P.K. Yonge (2-7) Friday at 7:30.
