Unfortunately that jolt of energy came at the
expense of teammate senior tailback Cameron Price.
While warming up minutes before the start of the
second half, Price began complaining of chest pains and fell to the ground in
the end zone.
With his parents and teammates looking on, within
minutes Price was transported to Shands Hospital, where he was listed in stable
condition with a heart arithma. The 20 minute delayed the start of the second
half.
The unfortunate chain of events seemed to rally the
Bucs, who outscored Raines 13-0 in the second half to knock off their rivals
27-7 at the Shipyard.
Sophomore quarterback DeAndre Johnson started the
game with four consecutive incompletions before rattling off eight in a row to
end the first half 8 of 12 for 92 yards.
Johnson’s 40-yard pass to a diving senior tight end
Deral Burress just inside the left end zone on the Bucs second possession of
the third quarter gave the Bucs a 21-7 lead.
Raines, which committed its fifth turnover in two
weeks and third of the game, fumbled the ensuing kickoff recovered by Eric
Martin giving the Bucs the ball at the 26-yard line with four minutes left in
the third.
Six plays later, Johnson scrambled 22 yards weaving
around defenders untouched for a 27-7 lead in the closing minute of the third
quarter.
Raines, which began the season with six consecutive
wins, has dropped its last two games thanks in part to six turnovers, which has
resulted in 35 points given up.
First Coast took advantage of three of the four
Vikings turnovers, scoring 20 of its 27 points off them.
Quite opposite of the first half, which saw the
Vikings take advantage of a rare Bucs turnover.
A high snap over Johnson head on a punt on the Bucs
opening possession of the game, gave the Vikings the ball at the 26-yard line.
Junior quarterback Marvin Zanders (8 of 22 for 214
yards) connected with Carlos Tarrats for a 26-yard gain and took a 13 yard sack
to nearly put the Vikings out of scoring position.
Zanders’ 18-yard screen pass to tailback Alex
Gardner a play later gave the Vikings an early 7-0 lead four minutes into the
game.
A possession later, the Vikings appeared to be
headed towards another score driving inside the ten yard line, however Zanders
under threw a pass near the end zone and Bucs defensive back Dorian Killings
picked it off at the 3-yard line.
Johnson (13 of 20 for 208 yards) drove his team 97 yards
on 14 plays, completing all six of his passes on the drive, resulting in a
19-yard pass to Kennard Bright in the left corner tying the game at 7-7 with
7:47 left in the first quarter.
While the offense started to click, the defense led
by Daniel McMillian, Seyvon Lowry, Darius Whitty and Raynard Brown harassed the
Vikings offense throughout the game. The foursome held the Vikings ground game
featuring Alex Gardner (14 yards on 9 carries) to 19 total yards.
Five plays after the score, tailback Keith Stallings
fumbled for the second straight week at a critical time, this time after taking
a few steps following the handoff.
Linebacker Terron Goodman picked up the loose ball
and ran 62 yards down the sideline untouched for a score and a 14-7 lead with under
six minutes left in the first half.
The play seemed to be the beginning of the end for
the Vikings and the possible spark the Bucs needed.
The Vikings offense which had averaged nearly 35
points a game, has self destructed the last two weeks, being held to 21 and 7
points respectively albeit to two solid teams Bolles and First Coast.
First Coast (8-0), which has won 28 regular season
games in a row, hosts Ed White next week with the District 2-7A title on the
line; while Raines (6-2) hosts arch-rival Ribault next Saturday at 2 p.m. with
the District 3-4A runner-up spot on the line.
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