With two consecutive wins over Lakeside Junior High and then Lake Asbury Junior High, Oakleaf Junior High punched their ticket to the NEFAC Championship.
It’s been a great run for Oakleaf down the stretch. Against Lakeside, they used a touchdown by Carlos Witherup and two fourth quarter touchdowns by Drake Hobbs to beat the Gators. Oakleaf has had close games all season and it was a close game with Lakeside as well with the score being 14-6 at halftime.
However Oakleaf blew the game open in the 4th quarter.
“Don’t leave here letting them think we aren’t who we are.” were the words of Coach Merlin Smith, who told his team about the close score at halftime.
Who they are is a program that has won 3 Clay County Championships in a row and a team that hasn’t lost to a Clay County team in the last fourteen tries.
A strong effort on defense all night by Camari Davis and the rest of Oakleaf Jr. High defensive line largely limited Lakeside quarterback Cibastian Broughton and the Gator offense. It’s been a key success to their 6-1 season so far.
Oakleaf then defeated Lake Asbury 24-6 tonight, to advance to the NEFAC championship for the fourth time in five years since Coach Merlin Smith arrived. They are 1-2 in those games. Also tonight was Oakleaf’s 15th consecutive win versus Clay County Schools. They’ll face the #1 seeded Baker County Wildcats next week for the title.
