Royals pull off 30-26 homecoming win

Jay delighted the homecoming crowd Friday night by building a 30-7 lead with 9:57 left in the third quarter against Freeport but the celebration got put on hold until Trace Seib snagged his third interception of the night to seal a 30-26 victory in the closing seconds as the Bulldogs were driving for a potential game-winning touchdown.

"It was a game to two halves," said Jay head football coach Melvin Kersey. "We were up 24-7 at the half and despite giving up a big play right before the half we should have been up 24-0."

Jay took the second half kickoff and marched right down the field and Stone Brown scored on a 21-yard touchdown run. The two-point conversion failed, but Jay was rolling with a 30-7 lead.

"After that touchdown, we didn't score again and we simply didn't play well in the second half on offense or defense," Kersey said. "We gave up a lot of big plays on defense and let them get back into the game and a chance to win it late. But we made the play when we needed to make the play."

Jay will wrap up the regular season this Friday night when the Royals host Lighthouse Christian. Kersey said Jay will advance to the playoffs, but a win over Lighthouse could affect seeding.

Florida's high school football playoffs were thrown into a mess with Hurricane Michael and the Florida High School Athletic Association stepped up and ruled that eight teams from each region will advance. Kersey noted some regions only have eight teams, Jay's region has nine.

"It's hard to figure the point system now," Kersey said. "There are some teams, like Cottondale, who haven't played since the hurricane."

Jay missed its game at North Bay Haven on Oct. 19 due to the hurricane. Last year the Royals ended up playing three games in a 10-day period to make up games lost to storms.

Under the current rules four teams from each region advance to the playoffs with the top two seeds getting a bye on the opening week. Kersey said due to the change for this year, nobody will get a bye.

This past Friday night, the Royals were clicking on all cylinders early.

James Eddings opened the scoring on a 2-yard run and then carried the two-point try into the end zone to give Jay an 8-0 lead with 10:58 left in the first quarter.

Stone Brown scored on a 24-yard run and Eddings converted the two points to give Jay a 16-0 lead with 3:31 left in the first quarter.

Eddings scored on a 1-yard run with 11:32 left in the half and Solomon Ransom carried the two-point try into the end zone to give the Royals a 24-0 lead.

Freeport cracked the scoreboard with 12 seconds left in the half on a 35-yard pass. The PAT was good and the Royals took the 24-7 lead into the lockerroom at the half.

"We gave up the big play right before the half and it gave them a little bit of life," Kersey said.

Jay came out in the third quarter and scored on a 21-yard run by Brown. The two-point try failed, but the Royals had stretched the lead to 30-7. Freeport then began mounting its comeback.

The Bulldogs scored on a 1-yard run with 3:42 left in the third and on a 65-yard touchdown pass with 1:03 left in the quarter. Both PATs failed, but the Bulldogs had cut Jay's lead to 30-19.

Freeport got to within a touchdown with 2:13 left in the game on a 40-yard run. The PAT was good and Jay's lead was cut to 30-26.

Freeport got the ball late in the fourth quarter and completed a pass to the Jay 19-yard line with about 20 seconds left in the game. The threat to steal the victory was stalled when Seib intercepted the pass that allowed Jay to run out the clock.

Jay ended the night with 289 yards rushing on 46 carries with Eddings picking up 156 yards on 28 carries. Ransom had 78 yards on 10 carries and Brown had 59 yards on four carries.

Quarterback Judd Smith was zero for two passing, giving the Royals a total offensive effort of 289 yards.