St. John’s Fl- It’s hard to beat any team twice. Especially a playoff experienced team like the one Bartram Trail faced Friday night. Bartram found themselves in a rematch against Gainesville Buchholz(10-2). The Bears got the best of Buchholz back in October, defeating the Bobcats 21-6 to win the District 4S-3 title. Yet Buchholz, led by 3-star Mississippi State commit Creed Whittemore, would return to St. John’s County for the chance to return to the final 4 for a second consecutive year.
Early on their experience paid off, jumping out to a 14-0 lead over Bartram. On just the third play of the game, Whittemore took off up the middle for a 82-yard touchdown run for the game’s first score. The second quarter saw Whittemore score again for Buchholz, this time from 1-yard out as the Bobcats took control early.
Bartram would gather themselves and get on the board in the second quarter. Quarterback Riley Trujillo dropped back and comected on a 69-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Taylor Rhodes to close the gap to 14-7.
A major point in the game came when Bartram appeared to have stopped Whittemore on a 4th and long inches short of the yard marker, however the referee signaled first down giving Buchholz first and goal. Whittemore would take it into the endzone on the next play, one of his three rushing touchdowns in the first half.
A Liam Padron field goal before the half cut the lead to 11-points. Trailing 21-10 at halftime, Bartram would make a furious comeback, and rely on their rushign attack to get them back into the rainy game. Running back Laython Biddle would follow his lead blocker off the left side for the short touchdown run, as Bartram closed to within 4-points. Coach Sutherland elected to go for an extra point instead of a 2-point conversion with Bartram Trailing by 5 points. The successful point after saw Buchholz leading 21-17 in the third quarter.
Bartram defense would continue their second half adjustments successfully keeping points off the board for Buchholz. However, Bartram was unable to get into the endzone having 1st and 10 from the Bobcat’s 25-yard line. Bartram would settle on a field goal trailing 21-20 in the fourth quarter.
Unfortunately, Bartram never got a chance to go ahead as Buchholz milked the clock, driving the ball into Bartram territory, and to the victory. Buchholz advances in the Class 4S playoffs to the state semifinals to face Venice.
As for Bartram (21-1), it was an historic undefeated season as the Bears went 12-1 on the season, unfortunately it was one loss too many, as their only loss came in the playoffs.
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