Jackson HS- As the clock ticked closer to zeros in the final quarter of the Duval County Middle School championship, a big smile resonated from the faces of the Ribault boys basketball team. Reality had set in, that they were being crowned the 2021 Duval County Middle School Boys Basketball Champions.
It was domination from start to finish for the Ribault Colts as they jumped out to an early 10 point lead over Landmark. The Colts came out aggressive and active on both ends of the court which translated into second chance points off offensive rebounds.
Landmark tried to keep it close with their never give up spirit. It’s the reason they were able to advance to the championship after defeating Mandarin 32-30 in their semifinal.
Yet Ribault was battled tested themselves. They defeated a tough Jeff Davis team 60-59 in a thriller of a semifinal, to advance to the championship and were playing supremely confident basketball. By the fourth quarter, Ribault had built a 23 point lead, cruising to a 50-32 victory in the championship.
Ribault got great effort from several players including #2 Fields scored 16 points for Ribault, #1 Naheem Burroughs who scored 5 points and had tough defensive efforts in the contest. Cornell Wheeler for Landmark finished with 10 points to lead the Seahawks.
Keron Jackson was named championship MVP scoring 20 points and electrifying the crowd with high flying plays and a thunderous dunk. Said after the game “
He certainly wasn’t the only one flying high in the 2020-2021 season at Ribault. The Lady Colts won the girls basketball championship earlier that evening. Also, the football team won the middle school championship for the year as well. Ironically, the football team also defeated Landmark. One might say, it is truly the year of the Colt.
