If The First Academy’s football season ended on Friday night, it was an incredible way to cap off a two-year stretch of turmoil and chaos.
TFA, banned from the playoffs for two seasons by the FHSAA, pulled off an incredible comeback to knock off state title contender Lakeland 35-28 in two overtimes. The victory could be the end of the season for the Royals, who would finish 5-5 if a last-ditch effort by TFA parents to get the team’s playoff eligibility reinstated is not successful.
Darren Heitner, the lead attorney for Heitner Legal out of Fort Lauderdale, said Friday his firm has filed paperwork seeking an injunction, on behalf of TFA football players, to get the courts to force the FHSAA to lift its current playoff ban on the team.
TFA’s eighth-grade quarterback Anthony Woods Jr., who is just 13 years old, led a come-from-behind rally for the Royals on Friday night in Lakeland. (Chris Hays/Orlando Sentinel)
“We have sought emergency injunctive relief from the court and hope to have our position heard in the very near future,” Heitner said via email to the Sentinel.
It’s been an up-and-down two seasons for the Royals, but Friday night’s wild finish was quite a way to end a crazy 16-month period of investigations, appeals and rulings.
“Unbelievable has been the story, the word of our last two seasons,” said TFA head coach Jeff Conaway, whose team finished 9-1 a year ago only to have to forfeit the nine victories. “Our team has been through so much. It’s been a rollercoaster.”
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Conaway got an ice-water bath from his players after the victory.
“When you go through the ups and downs of the two seasons like we have, sometimes you come into games defeated, sometimes you come into games exhausted and sometimes things don’t go your way,” Conaway said. “But what I was proud of was the way our team showed a lot fight and a lot of resilience.”
TFA, No. 6 in the latest Super 16 Coaches Poll, was down 21-7 at halftime. The Royals rallied behind the poise of eighth-grade quarterback Anthony Woods Jr., and a dominating second-half defensive performance.
Woods, in his first varsity start, was a bit scattered in the first half, as was the entire TFA offense, which gained only 62 yards before halftime. The second half was a different story.
Woods ran the offense with poise, and the rest of the team got behind him, with Demetrice McCray and Brian Dillard making big plays, and Brian Williams Jr. coming up with key catches.
“It was just about the preparation throughout the week,” said Woods, who is 13 years old. “We knew it was gonna be a dogfight coming in. It was just great coaching, great leadership and in the locker room we had a great speech and we just came out second half, played ball.”
There was a little bit of luck involved. Early in the fourth quarter, trailing 21-7, Woods threw a pass at McCray that ricocheted off his hands and into the arms of Dillard, who grabbed the ball and took off for a 54-yard gain to the Lakeland 7-yard line. Jaelyn Powell punched it in from there and suddenly TFA had some momentum, down 21-14.
Dillard had an incredible night considering that he was rushed to the hospital about 3 a.m., Friday, after waking up experiencing chest pains and difficulty breathing. He was diagnosed with rhinovirus, a virus that causes the common cold, and he had inflammation on the outside of his lungs, according to his father, Michael Dillard. Dillard left the hospital about 6 AM and by game time he decided he was ready to go.
Senior offensive lineman Chancellor Barclay, who is headed to Clemson next year, celebrates a second-half touchdown for the Royals. (Chris Hays/Orlando Sentinel)The defense had an impressive turnaround after giving up 21 points and 202 yards of offense in the first half. The Royals gave up just 64 yards in the second half. Led by the rotating front line of Alex Willis, Srlando Whiley, CJ McCoy, Blaze Jones and Jacob Duffy, the defense shut down gifted athletes quarterback Kelin Hendrix and running back Ja’darious Dobie.
Aided by a crucial sack by Willis, Lakeland was forced to punt with just over three minutes remaining, and Woods and the Royals went to work on offense again.
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TFA was pinned deep at its own 16-yard line, but Woods hit McCray, who made a leaping catch at the 50-yard line and managed to keep going for a 42-yard gain to get the ball to the Lakeland 42. Three plays later, Woods would find big Jdeion Jackson, all 6-4, 280 pounds of him, on a 2nd-and-12 play, for 13 yards and first down at the 6.
Four plays later, on fourth-and-goal at the 1-yard line, with 32 seconds remaining, Dillard, on an end-around throw, tossed a one-yard TD pass to Williams to tie the game.
That set off a frenzied TFA celebration, but the Royals weren’t finished.
In the two overtimes, TFA tied the game again on a Woods to Willis touchdown pass from the 10, and then the Royals scored the game-winner when Woods hit Dillard for a touchdown to make it 35-28 in the second OT.
Then the defense rose up again to stop Lakeland on four straight plays inside the 10-yard line. After the final play, drama ensued, as referees, who made numerous questionable calls during the entire game, gathered for a very confusing five minutes. They finally signaled the end of the game and TFA players went bonkers again.
For standout senior offensive lineman Chancellor Barclay, who transferred from Lake Minneola prior to last season, the victory was personal.
“At Minneola, we lost to them three times,” Barclay said, “So to be able end my senior campaign and to be able to end our season with a W against Lakeland, a team that I really wanted to win against since I was a freshman, is incredible.”
Now TFA awaits word of the possible injunction. The FHSAA will announce the playoff brackets on Thursday at noon, so the clock is ticking on a decision.
Lake Mary overpowers Bishop Moore
Lake Mary started hot, scoring on all of its first four drives in the first half, and did not look back in ending Bishop Moore’s bid for an unbeaten regular season with a 42-22 road win.
The running back tandem of O’Shea Faison and Gavin Isaacs provided the spark for Lake Mary as the duo rushed for a combined 146 yards. Isaacs scored two rushing touchdowns for the Rams (7-3), who came in ranked No. 11 in the Sentinel Super 16 coaches poll.
“We always want to be able to run the football. They pulled safeties out and we were able to pound it in there,” said Lake Mary head coach Scott Perry. “Hats off to the offensive line for the great job they did opening those holes.”
Quarterback Noah Grubbs tossed two touchdown passes – one to Faison and the other to Donovan Little.
D’marion Simmons intercepted Bishop Moore quarterback Blake McCullough on the first possession to set the Rams up with good field position. Grubbs capped that drive off with a 48-yard touchdown pass to Faison.
Jahvon Robinson had a 95-yard kickoff return for a touchdown in the third quarter to answer the Bishop Moore (9-1) score and push the Lake Mary lead to 42-7.
Lake Mary, the 7A state runner-up last season, returns to the state playoffs – as does 3A Bishop Moore — after both get an open week to prepare.
— Chris Martucci
Chris Hays can be found on X.com/OS_ChrisHays.