JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The Landmark Middle School Seahawks took down the Mandarin Middle School Hawks, the defending middle school football champs. The Seahawks won with a final score of 20-8.
In the first quarter and for majority of the second, both teams remained scoreless. It wasn’t until Terrill Kinchen forced his way into the end zone with two minutes left in the half, that the stalemate was broken. The halftime score was 6-0.
The focus at halftime for the Seahawks was “to stay on it and keep pushing”. Coach Carter’s message was heard loud and clear. One minute into the third, Cornel Wheeler caught the ball in the middle of two Mandarin players and sprinted into the end zone to put the Seahawks up 12-0.
With one minute to play in the third, Aaron Lockett noticed that Mandarin’s defense was shifted to the left of him. He ran opposite of them and scored another Seahawks touchdown. Landmark then converted on the two point conversion with a run from Rod Coleman. This put them up 20-0 to end the third quarter.
The only touchdown in the fourth came from the Mandarin Hawks. After multiple carries all afternoon, Troy Butler, finally broke through Landmark’s defense and into the end zone for the Hawks. The Hawks converted on their two point attempt to bring the final score to 20-8.
Landmark and Mandarin now await the results of the Jeff Davis Middle School vs. Ribault Middle School semifinals game set to take place, November 18th at 6pm at Ribault High School.
All four teams will get one more game next Tuesday November 24th at Terry Parker High School. The 3rd place game will be played at 5:30pm and the championship game will follow at 7pm.
