When you line up the best players from all over the Panhandle, it’s bound to be a defensive battle.
And that’s exactly what happened Friday at the Pensacola Sports All-Star football game at Booker T. Washington. The game was divided into West and East teams, and Pine Forest’s Miekle Brock Jr. scored a late touchdown, giving the West team a 13-6 victory.
The West team was made up of players from Escambia County schools, and the East team was made up of players from both Santa Rosa and Okaloosa counties.
There was a chance the West players, who fell to the East for the first time since 2017 but regained bragging rights in 2022, could win, but Friday’s game was more about “seeing the smiles on the kids’ faces.” That was the purpose, Rocky said. said Bayou Christian head coach KC Woods, who led the East team.
“We’ve talked about this in the East as well, and for some people, it’s the last time they get a chance they never thought would come (at the end of the season) and do it again.” That’s great,” Woods said. “For those who have earned or are in the process of earning their rights to perform (from the university), there’s nothing like being able to play on Friday Night Lights again.”
At first, both teams struggled to score points. Between missed field goals, punts and turnovers, it took until 4:59 left in the first half for someone to break the stalemate. West Florida’s Cole Willis made a 24-yard field goal to give West a 3-0 lead.
After more struggles on offense from both teams, Willis made his second field goal of the night. The 39-yard field goal was technically the longest of the season, and the Jaguars had just 37 field goals on the season. Time continued to run out, and West entered halftime up 6-0.
On East’s first drive of the second half, after a few short runs, Milton’s Ethan Diamond and Navarre’s Nate Hanson connected several times (receptions of 36 and 34 yards) to put East in scoring position. Diamond then found Choctaw’s Justin Whidbey on an outside diagonal route. Whidbey then bounced off a defender and ran in for an 11-yard touchdown, but the ensuing kick was blocked.
On the ensuing drive, the West team scored in just three plays, thanks to an incredible kickoff return by Escambia’s Trevion Quilett that took the ball to the East 38-yard line. Three plays later, Brock ran to the sideline for a 23-yard touchdown with 6:06 left in the game.
“It means the most to us to come out here and show our talent,” said Escambia’s Ryan McVay, adding that Friday’s game was his first All-Star Game since he didn’t play in one during his Little League days. added. “They always say the West Side is the best side.”
The East came close to tying the score in the final minutes of the game and fell to 13th in the West, but three consecutive incomplete passes resulted in a turnover on downs and Bullock ran three more times to run out the remaining time.
“(Brock) used to be on my side, but then he left. ‘Damn, I shouldn’t have let you go,'” said Escambia head coach Mike Bennett, who was at the helm of the West team. He said with a laugh. “It’s just one of those things. I’ll always respect him and respect his decisions. … He’s a special player. …
“Well, we had a lot of good football players tonight. Good players, good coaching, and a good time.”
“They’re a nuisance because you have to try to stop them.”
Coaching in the All-Star Game essentially means you have a dream team of the best seniors from all of the area schools. That means acquiring players who may have been difficult to play against during the regular season.
For Bennett, that included Choctaw linebacker Jashawn Armstrong, who had four tackles and one sack in Escambia’s 24-20 loss to the Gators during the regular season.
“Having guys like Catholic’s (Ryland) Bragg blocking for us, that was special. Just seeing some of their work on Twitter, what a great group. Deaf,” Bennett said. “They’re a pain because you have to try to stop them. … I was really happy to have some of those guys today.”
“Some of these guys were tough during the regular season, but being able to play with them and the guys I’ve played with all my life,” West Florida quarterback John Nicholas said. “It’s great to be able to play in my last high school game.” .
But at the same time, it allows some coaches to coach their own players at the end. Bennett has 11 players: Santun Burnside, Cam Mayo, Ta’Darius Wright, Anthony Hall, Messiah Everhart, Lujon Williams, Josh Jackson, Jaylon Harris-Trevion-Quillette, McVay and Ja’Sean Williams. led the Gators to the All-Star Game.
“I love my guys,” Bennett said. “It’s just an incredible group.”
Woodshad has RBC seniors Gideon Rossell and Cam DeWitt.
“These are great young men,” Woods said. “So being able to be around them again with the pads on was a great moment. I’ll cherish it.”
“The beauty of football”
It only takes a few practices to start building chemistry between the players leading up to the All-Star Game. If on two teams he has representatives from 19 schools, it will take a little time for everyone to understand his style of play.
“This just kind of shows you the beauty of football. When you go to practice for three days and come out to the game today, you start to see everyone start to come together,” Nicholas said.
“It doesn’t take much to run a football team,” Diamond said. “Go out and have fun. It was a great time.”
As head coach at Rocky Bayou, which competes in District 1-1S, Woods can always see bigger schools like Niceville and Fort Walton Beach, 4S and 3S schools, respectively, during the regular season. He pointed out that this was not the case.
So to be able to line up RBC players with players from bigger schools and be with them all week is “really cool,” Woods said.
Being able to coach certain players like Shermane Walker of the Gulf Breeze, who made several appearances in the backfield as a defensive end for the East team, is an added bonus.
“With limited practice time, the defense is always going to be far ahead of the offense. We knew we had something good, but then we realized (the West) had something good too. “I realized that,” Woods said. “Guys like Ja’Sean (Armstrong) and Shermane Walker from Gulf Breeze and the rest of our guys, I knew they were going to make big plays.”
all star roster
Below is a list of all area players who appeared in the All-Star Game.
West: Santun Burnside – Escambia; Cam Mayo – Escambia; Michele Block – Pinewood; Tadarius Wright – Escambia; Anthony Hall – Escambia; John Nicholas – West Florida. Messiah Everhart – Escambia; Kendrick Burrell – Booker T. Washington; Edward O’Brien – Tate. Lejon Williams – Escambia. Courtney Clark – Pensacola Catholic. Jacob Spence – Northview; Josh Jackson – Escambia; Tiquan Hunter – Pine Forest; Wyatt Scruggs – Northview. Jaylon Harris – Escambia. Dequan Gaddy – Pensacola High School. Trevion Quillette – Escambia; Ryan McVay – Escambia. Tiquan Stabler – Pine Forest; Joe Wright – Northview. Jamarion Johnson – Pine Forest; Trey Edwards – Tate; Jackson Moore – Tate. DJ Lyons – Northview; Logan Week – West Florida. Jacob LaQua – Pensacola Catholic. Connor Johnson – Booker T. Washington; Jashawn Williams – Escambia; Ryland Bragg – Pensacola Catholic. Corey Odoms – Pine Forest. Nathan Simek – Tate. Cole Willis – West Florida. Lilas Legree – Pensacola Catholic.Clayton Philadelphia – Tate; Andre Colston – Tate; Labron Baldwin – Tate; James Brown – Booker T. Washington; Aveon Riley – Booker T. Washington; Jake Chambers – Pensacola Catholic Church
east: Jadon Leverett – Milton. Malik Cobb – Milton. Hunter Pfister – Navarre. Carson Wolfe – Milton. Chase Taylor – Pace. Kaden French – Milton. Ethan Diamond – Milton. Landon Pliman – Milton. Brock Stout – Jay; Nate Hanson – Navarre. Tucker Knowling – Jay; James Reeves – Milton. Tommy Walker – Milton. Eli Stevens – Jay; Charlie Cottrell – Navarre. Jackson Sparra – Navarre. Cameron Pollard – Navarre. Carson Wright – Pace. Landon Snellgrove – Milton. Manny Kimmons – Milton. Brayden Gates – Pace. Shermane Walker – Gulf Breeze.Jamarion Hadnot – Milton