JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – With his defense hanging on by a strand in the closing seconds of Friday night’s game, St. Augustine coach Brian Braddock turned to his best player.
Somourian Wingo dropped the ball. Literally.
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But that was fine because Wingo, the receiver turned emergency defensive back, kept it out of the hands of Naeem Burroughs, his Bolles counterpart and Clemson commit who had riddled the Yellow Jackets all night.
It was one of four times the Bulldogs pushed inside the St. Augustine 25 during the Varsity 4 Game of the Week and were denied. But Wingo’s missed pick-six, stepping in front of a pass intended for Burroughs, occurred on fourth down with 8 seconds left, coming just a few plays after a holding call negated a Bolles go-ahead touchdown.
That was enough for the visiting Yellow Jackets to survive an offensive showdown with a 40-35 victory.
There were few stops for either side to celebrate, as the Bulldogs, the top-rated team in the Varsity 4 Super 10, racked up 581 total yards, while St. Augustine (3-0), third in the poll, rolled up 588 total yards.
Of the teams’ 11 combined touchdowns, the shortest came from 12 yards. Four came from beyond 50 yards.
“We were overmatched,” Braddock said of his defense. “We were just relying on will. I coach our defense. This isn’t a night to brag about it. We can build off that will. A lot of defenses, if they’re getting rolled over like we were, the team walks into the end zone.”
Despite huge plays, Bolles (2-1) did not walk into the end zone. They battered the Yellow Jackets with 327 passing yards from Jaden Weatherly, 186 receiving yards and scoring receptions of 69 and 52 yards for Burroughs and 246 rushing yards and scoring runs of 14, 69 and 24 from sophomore back Xander Edwards.
At least St. Augustine could match the Bulldogs play for play. Wingo, a Miami (Fla.) commit, had 12 receptions for 144 yards and two touchdowns, including one while being interfered with in the end zone. Quarterback Brenton James passed for 293 yards and three scores, misfiring on only four of his 26 attempts, while rushing for 72 yards and a touchdown.
Running back Trendell Anderson added 126 rushing yards, a 52-yard scoring reception, and the game’s final score on a 26-yard run, while Nate Preston tacked on 99 rushing yards and a 41-yard rushing touchdown.
Those final two scores loomed large. With the score tied at 28 with little more than seven minutes remaining, Preston dashed in for the touchdown. But, in one of those plays that’s unsung when a team is on the wrong end of the final score, Simeon Caldwell blocked the point-after.
Bolles then took its first lead of the game a little more than a minute later when Burroughs got behind he defense for his 52-yard reception. The point-after was good for a 35=34 edge. But with 1 minute, 45 seconds left, Anderson weaved up the middle for the touchdown. The 2-point run by Wingo was stuffed and it was a 40-35 lead for St. Augustine.
That set up the final stand.
The Bulldogs needed a touchdown to win. It appeared that happened with 32 seconds left when Weatherly hit Ohio State commit Corbyn Fordham for a score. But a holding call wiped it out.
“That’s a really good football team, and we can’t make mistakes against a really good team and hope to win,” Bulldogs coach Matthew Toblin said. “That (holding call) is going to stick in everyone’s minds, but there’s 15 plays. We have to clean some things up.”
A couple of incompletions and a huge 12-yard sack by Markeal Logan pushed Bolles to a fourth-and-32 at the 34.
Enter Wingo, who shadowed Burroughs at the end.
“They have Fordham and Burroughs in the game,” Braddock said. “We just couldn’t match up with Naeem, he’s such a good player. It just would be foolish to close the game out — we believe Somourian is the best player in the area — and it would be silly to not put him out on the field. Try to go out with your best.”
Despite the huge offensive numbers, that marked the fourth time the Yellow Jackets defense rose up when needed. With the Bulldogs trailing 21-14 midway through the second quarter and on the St. Augustine 3, corner back Bo Medlock came off the edge and strip-sacked Weatherly, recovering the fumble to end the threat.
At the end of the first half, with the Yellow Jackets ahead 28-21, Bolles attempted a 26-yard field goal, but a strong rush from Ma’kari Spencer off the edge, seemed to hurry the pace of the kick, which fluttered short into the end zone.
The Bulldogs took the second-half kick and drove to the St. Augustine 22. But facing a fourth-and-12, a pass attempt to Burroughs fell incomplete after Brandon Whitfield put a violent — but legal — hit to Burroughs’ midsection.
Finally, came the last stand.
“Playmakers got to make plays. I needed to step up,” Wingo said. “I was a little upset I dropped the pick, but at the end of the day, we won the game. That’s all that matters.”
It was the second win in a row in the series for the Yellow Jackets in a series that has been revived on an annual basis since 2019, aside from last season’s game, which was washed out after a deluge of rain swept St. Augustine. But after defeating the team regarded as a state title contender, Braddock feels his team must build on it.
“It’s one game. It’s a big game, but it’s one,” Braddock said. “It gives you confidence. You hope your young kids who were overwhelmed tonight can grow from it. The kids with a little more experience, it gives them more confidence — you know you can lead this team.
“It’s only as good as how you build off it.”
(3) St. Augustine 40, (1) Bolles 35
St. Augustine, 14, 14, 0, 12 —40
Bolles, 14, 7, 7, 7 —35
SA – Somourian Wingo 14 pass from Brenton James (Braylon Matos kick)
B – Naeem Burroughs 69 pass from Jaden Weatherly (Langston Florence kick)
SA – Wingo 15 pass from James (Matos kick)
B – Xander Edwards 14 run (Florence kick)
SA – James 12 run (Matos kick)
SA – Trendell Anderson 53 pass from James (Matos kick)
B – Edwards 69 run (Florence kick)
B – Edwards 24 run (Florence kick)
SA – Nate Preston 41 run (kick blocked)
B – Burroughs 52 pass from Weatherly (Florence kick)
SA – Anderson 26 run (run failed)
Category: SA — B
First downs: 29 — 25
Rushes-yards: 41-295 — 31-254
Passing: 293 — 327
Comp-Att-Int: 22-26-0 — 17-31-0
Fumbles-lost: 0-0 — 1-1
Penalties-Yards: 5-44 — 9-80
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — SA: Anderson 15-126, Preston 14-99, James 11-72, Team 1-(-2). B: Edwards 22-246, Weatherly 9-8.
PASSING — SA: James 22-26-0-293. B: Weatherly 17-31-0-327.
RECEIVING — SA: Wingo 12-144, Julio Santiago 5-71, Anderson 3-52, Preston 2-26. B: Burroughs 8-186, Camden Tietze 6-83, Corbyn Fordham 2-57, Edwards 1-1.