NASSAU COUNTY, Fla. – It’s been a near-perfect start for football teams in Nassau County this season.
For the first time ever, Fernandina Beach, West Nassau and Yulee are unbeaten at this point of the regular season. The Pirates and Warriors, who play in the Sunshine State Athletic Association, are both 4-0. Yulee is 3-0. And even though they’re not unbeaten, Hilliard has jumped out to a 2-1 start, making it a great time to play football in Nassau County.
All three undefeated head coaches — West Nassau’s Gunnar Cox, Fernandina Beach’s Blake Willis and Yulee’s Kyle Dougherty — say some version of the same thing.
Their players are invested in their programs, and did the work necessary in the offseason to get to this point.
“You can have great talent, all that stuff, but [if] kids don’t buy into the program it’s very hard to win games,” Cox said. “So, they’re buying into the program. I’m really proud of them. They’re taking a good step forward in the direction.”
In some ways, each team has built off its own previous struggles. At Yulee, a nine-win season in 2023 should have paved the way for better things last year. But the Hornets were extremely young and had some tough injuries. The result was a forgettable season that players have worked to leave in the rearview.
Yulee two-way player Turtle Ricks said last year was a major disappointment. But players made the commitment after how the year ended to not let that happen again. The buy-in included more of a commitment to weightlifting and training.
“Going 2-8 one year, especially after a 9-3 season and going 2-8, you know, it’s always like, I know we can do better,” Ricks said. “We know we can do better. Everybody has the same goal ahead, make the playoffs, get a little good run going. You know, all these [younger] kids are really like developing. … I just think the kids take more pride, more put more effort in every day. Just show up, show up, show out. Like everybody just understands what the goal is this year.”
Dougherty echoed that, and said the commitment to turning things around began just about as soon as the clock zeroed out on 2024. This is Yulee’s best start since 2009 (3-0) and 2010 (4-0), the freshman and sophomore seasons of iconic running back Derrick Henry.
“Just a willingness to like, be better. Just their willingness to be better and compete, that’s all they want to do. They just want to come out here and get better at football every day. So, like, the environment is fun. It’s competitive,” Dougherty. “Kids want to work hard. That’s what makes it easy for us, you know. It makes it easy for us to come out. I enjoy every single day out here this year because it’s a group of kids that want to get better and want to be coached.”
Just down the road from Yulee, Fernandina Beach has continued its momentum from 2024 right on into this season. The Pirates reached the Sunshine State Athletic Association state championship game last year before losing to Frostproof, 27-8. Included in that run to the playoffs was a 24-20 win over West Nassau. And whatever the reason was for that postseason success has shown up this year. The Pirates haven’t started out 4-0 since 2007.
Willis said Fernandina Beach has benefitted from keeping players in the county and in the same system. Transfers have always been an issue, but Willis said his team has kept players at home and seen positive results.
“Something just sparked with us that first round of the playoffs. We beat West Nassau. We made it to the championship game, and that didn’t go as well for us there. But I mean, I know taking that momentum into the offseason was huge for us,” said Willis, a 2009 graduate of Fernandina Beach. “And you know, we’re trying to keep it going through here, obviously, for this first part of the season … got a big game this week, so hopefully we’ll keep it going.”
Senior quarterback Ian Miller said that once players got comfortable with Willis and the system, things just seemed to click.
“We finally settled in with [Willis] and our offensive coordinator, our offense is getting rolling,” Miller said. “Our defensive line, they’ve always been great. Defense has always stepped up for us. So, I mean, yeah, we’re just, we’re just staying up. We don’t really worry about anybody else outside the county.”
West Nassau’s hot start has included one blowout after another. The Warriors have three wins by no fewer than 36 points. West Nassau played on beautiful new turf field last week, and will look to get to 5-0 for the first time since 2018 on Friday night. Cox said that how last season ended left a sour taste across the program.
“It did, especially for me. You can ask my wife that. She said I was very grumpy for a couple weeks. So, it did leave disdain. I think it left disdain for our kids too, because we obviously saw it in the weight room,” Cox said. “This past year, our kids bought into the weight room. Seniors pulling kids in the weight room left and right ... So, we’re very hungry right now.”
The Warriors beat Fernandina Beach in the regular season (34-19) but lost to the Pirates in the SSAA playoffs (24-20). That disappointment, much like the pain for different reasons at both Yulee and Fernandina Beach, has fueled West Nassau players this season.
“We’ve grown up together,” said senior quarterback Pryce Arnold. “We’ve been playing since middle school and this our last year together, and we don’t want to end the season like we did last year.”
At some point, one of those teams is bound to lose because they all face one another. West Nassau hosts Yulee in Week 5. Fernandina Beach travels to West Nassau on Sept. 26. Yulee hosts Fernandina Beach on Oct. 10. Yulee leads in both of those series’, holding a 10-8 lead over West Nassau and a 15-3 lead over Fernandina Beach.