Orange Park Fl- The Clay County Middle School foot ball season began with a rematch of last year’s county championship game, as Lakeside Junior High hosted Oakleaf Junior High Tuesday night. It was a hard fought contest between two former champions the last two years. However, Coach Merlin Smith and his Yellow Jackets were victorious .18-6.
It was a defensive stalemate through the first quarter as both teams seemed to know each other very well. Lakeside was prepared for the Oakleaf patened sweep, while Oakleaf was prepared for Lakeside’s ground and pound. Finally in the second quarter, Oakleaf started to move the ball. Quarterback Sean Smith his his tall 6 foot 1 receiver Zachariah for a long gain.
This finally set up a short yardage situation where Oakleaf’s Michael Conner or ” Mike Mike” as they affectionately call him, ran the ball around the left end for the game’s first score. This would be a sign of things to come for later in the game.
However halftime saw Oakleaf take just a one score advantage into the locker room. The defense stiffened at their goalline thanks to an interception by Zion Gibson.
In the second half, Lakeside came out hot moving the ball against Oakleaf. a stady dose of their big fullback Easton Isabell was too much to handle for the Yellow Jackets. Isabell is the cousin of Fleming Island starting defensive tackle Gage Isabell . Easton plays defense as well, as his fumble recovery set up the offense and his powerful runs.
Finally after several short runs and first downs, quarterback Eric Gentry would take it in himself for the score as Lakeside fought back to tie the game in the 3rd quarter 6-6 after a failed point after touchdown.
The fourth quarter was here and the game was tied. Oakleaf needed a spark, and they got it in the form of a big kickoff return putting them in Gator land. Conner would get the Yellowjackets into the redzone with just one long running play.
Smith would do the rest with a quarterback sneak of his own resulting in a touchdown. Smith did a nice job of managing the game and not making many mistakes. That seems to be the key for success for Oakleaf this year.
After the defense stopped the Gators on 4th down. Up 12-6 with under 3 minutes to play, ” Mike Mike” went Madden Mode on Lakeside, taking a hand off right, weaving back to his left through the linebckers and turning up near the idelines for a score. Conner finished with two touchdowns on the day, as the Yellowjackets pulled away late for the victory.
Oakleaf will face Orange Park Junior High next week away. Check out the photo gallery of the game below.
