ORANGE PARK – A week ago, we witnessed a classic rematch between the defending North and South Division champions Oakleaf and Lake Asbury and it was speculated we would see them again seven weeks later in the North East Florida Athletic Conference championship game again.
Unfortunately, a week later the highly anticipated rematch might have been derailed as both Lake Asbury and Oakleaf were upset Tuesday in key divisional games. One loss in the division can nearly eliminate a team from playing in the championship game.
Orange Park (2-0 1-0) stunned Oakleaf (0-2, 0-1) 8-7 at Orange Park High Tuesday in a key North Division game ; while Wilkinson (2-0, 1-0) shocked host Lake Asbury (1-1, 0-1) 15-8 in a South Division game.
After a scoreless first quarter, Orange Park struck first on Terrance Johnson 25 yard touchdown reception giving the Wildcats an 8-0 lead.
Oakleaf struck back on a Devin Outlaw 94 yard touchdown run, the Yellow Jackets elected to kick the extra point to cut the lead to 8-7 going into the half.
Neither team could hold onto the ball as the Wildcats received the second half kickoff and fumbled the ball on three straight plays to quickly turn the ball over to Oakleaf.
Oakleaf drove inside the twenty in the fourth quarter, but missed a 30 yard field goal keeping it a one point game.
One final drive in the final two minutes ended after a fourth and 14 play with .24 seconds left fell incomplete, allowing the Wildcats to take a knee and seal the win.
“This feels great, we had this one circled in the calendar all season long, the kids know each other really well,” Orange Park coach Lonnie Crim said. “We have to keep working day by day, now its more intense and we have higher stakes now and we have to stay focused, as they say iron sharpens iron.”
Crim told his team in the after game huddle, “Doesn’t this feel good, now soak all this in cause tomorrow we get ready for Keystone.”
Unfortunately, that won’t happen as Hurricane Irma has changed the schedule next week.
According to Oakleaf coach Merlin Smith, the county has cancelled all after school activities all the way through Monday, thus cancelling games for next Tuesday. Smith says those games will be moved to Oct. 17, while the championship and bowl games will now be played Oct. 24 now.
Teams will now have two weeks off and won’t play again until Sept 19 when Bradford travels to Green Cove, Oakleaf at Wilkinson,
Orange Park at Lake Asbury and PK Yonge at Lakeside. Keystone Heights unfortunately already had that week off and will now have three straight weeks off.
Week 2 Scores
Wilkinson 15, Lake Asbury 8
Green Cove 27, Lakeside 16
Bradford 38, Keystone 8
Sept 19
Bradford at Green Cove, 6
Oakleaf at Wilkinson, 5
Orange Park at Lake Asbury, 5
PK Yonge at Lakeside (Ridgeview), 6
Open: Keystone
