by The Avon Eagles battled all night, overcoming a fourth quarter deficit to nearly pull off a wild win in Florida over Spruce Creek High School before falling just short, 25-22 after a 49 yard field goal missed as time expired. They trailed numerous times in this game and kept coming back, up as late as 1:27 remaining before letting up the go ahead Hawks touchdown.
The Hawks received the ball first to start the game and began from their 25-yard line. They proceeded to run nearly 8 minutes off the clock before scoring on a rollout pass to Cameron Oxendine . The big play coming on a third and 22 completion to Bryce Mills that moved the ball all the way down to the Eagles 25 yard after a third and forever. A PJ Miller 15 yad run brought up a first and goal for the Hawks to set up the eventual score. This gave the Hawks a quick 7-0 lead with 4:18 to play in the first quarter.
On their next possession, the Hawks converted a third and long from their own 44-yard line. Not only did they pick up the first down, but they turned it into a 56-yard pitch and catch touchdown to extend their lead to 13-0. Cameron Oxendine caught it at the 40 of the Eagles, broke 4 tackles and juke stepped several more on his way to the endzone.
Down 13-0, the Eagles put together a lengthy drive that resulted in a 1-yard Cam Wendell touchdown run to get Avon back in it. This score came with a little over 8 minutes to play in the first half that ended by the same score of 13-7 with the Hawks on top. An up and down half that saw the Eagles only muster up 27 rushing yards while Blake Elder finished the half 6 of 11 with 56 yards and an interception.
Meanwhile on the Hawks side of the ball, PJ Miller kept them cooking with his legs and his arm. He finished the first half 8 of 16 with 147 yards and 2 interceptions to go with an Eagle pick. While Cameron Oxendine put up video game like numbers with 5 catches for over 100 yards and two touchdowns.
The Eagles began the second half with the ball and a promising start with runs of 12 and 6 yards by Cam Wendall. The drive fell short however and it resulted in a turnover on downs for the Eagles as they went for it on a fourth and one at midfield and couldn’t convert.
The Eagles refused to fold and just kept coming up with huge defensive stops. They used their strong defensive momentum to strike on offense. This time it was Cam Wendell doing the honors with a 25-yard sprint right down the middle of the field, breaking past Hawks to score and give the Eagles their first lead of the game with 5:49 to play in the third quarter. This was 14 straight Eagle points to turn the tide.
A huge PJ Miller to Mills connection on the next Hawk drive converted a fourth down and moved the ball inside the red zone. A few players later it was the Hawks running back Trell Edwards bouncing to the outside after the Eagles shutdown the middle of the line to score a 6-yard touchdown. This handed the Hawks back the lead at 19-14 with 1:50 to go in the third quarter as the Eagles stopped the two-point conversion attempt.
Facing a third and long deep in their own territory, the Eagles converted with a Blake Elder connection to Caden Clapham near midfield to keep the drive alive as we entered the fourth quarter.
An unsportsmanlike penalty on the Hawks moved the ball to their own 35-yard line as the Eagles continued the drive in the early moments of the fourth quarter. Quiante Smith continued to slice through the Hawk defense moving the ball and the chains once again. It wasn’t much longer after this that the Eagles found the endzone again when Cam Wendell stuck for a 4-yard touchdown run. This handed the lead back to the Eagles, now up 22-19 as the two point conversion pass was good from Elder to Clapham. There was still 8:21 left in the game.
Avon had the ball with a little under 4 minutes to go with a chance to salt the clock away, this is when a fumble occurred and gave the ball back to the Hawks at the Eagles 25-yard line with 3:40 to play.
PJ Miller and the Hawks got to work, facing a fourth and inches from the Avon 11-yard line with 2:35 to play. The Hawks converted and the drive stayed alive as it was clear at this point, they wanted the touchdown win and not the field goal overtime. The gamble paid off as they scored two plays later to take the lead, 25-22 with 1:26 as the kick was blocked.
The Eagles had one chance left and started the drive from the 25-yard line. The first play was a connection from Elder to Barr. The next play was another pass to Barr, completed for the second straight first down. A few plays later, the Eagles faced a third and long at their own 31 yard line when Elder hit Barr again, this time for nearly 40 yards to set up shop at the Hawks 31 yard line.
Following a spike, the Eagles connected short with Sammy Ulery before clocking the ball and setting up a field goal attempt from 49 yards out, the kick was no good. However, it would been five yards closer had it not been for a bizarre “snap infraction penalty called”.
