JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Coach Marty Lee had a simple checklist for his First Coast football team in Friday night’s regular-season finale.
Beat Jackson and secure a winning record, work on some things for the playoffs next week and stay healthy and lose no one to ejections. Plus, as a special request from the defense, earn a shutout.
Check. Check. Check. And a big check to that last one.
The Buccaneers defense stifled the Tigers, while First Coast’s offense flashed an efficient, balanced look. Senior Israel Lucas had three tackles for loss on defense and classmate Auston Harris found the end zone three times as the Bucs cruised past Jackson 31-0 in a non-district contest in the News4JAX Game of the Week.
First Coast already was in the postseason as District 1-3M champions and will know its playoff opponent Sunday. But the Bucs (6-4) are on a roll, winning six of the past seven, as a one-point loss to powerhouse Raines is the only blemish during that run.
“We started off a little shaky,” said Harris, who rushed for 95 yards on 16 carries while playing only the first three quarters. “When we lost to Riverside (in the third game of the season), we got locked in. Everybody hit the weight room, everybody watched film, everybody got locked in.”
That dedication has paid off. Despite some great field position, the Tigers (3-7) were overwhelmed by First Coast. Jackson’s average starting field position was the 32 and the Tigers’ took over the ball at no worse than the 38 on their first four drives of the game and never inside the 25 until the final quarter.
Those opening possessions ended with two fumbles, a failed fourth down and a punt. Jackson had two first downs on its opening drive and only added one more entering the fourth quarter, as the team amassed only 71 total yards in the opening 36 minutes.
Lucas was a game-wrecker. In addition to his three tackles for loss, the Howard University commitment added a fumble recovery. Teammate Edward Camon tacked on a sack and a fumble recovery, one of four fumbles recovered by the defense.
“We came out flying to the ball,” Lucas said. “We did our thing. They had some good field position with the kickoffs, but we made up for that at the end of the night. Just wanted (a shutout) to close the season. It’s been a great season so far.”
The offense had no problems providing support. Quarterback Rodney Tisdale Jr. engineered touchdown drives of five, eight, eight and 10 plays, as well as a 10-play possession for a 26-yard field goal from Lennoris Linder.
Tisdale, who showed no signs of being hampered by an ankle injury, connected on 15-of-23 passes for 192 yards before leaving early in the fourth quarter. During one stretch in the second half, he hit on eight consecutive passes as First Coast put the game in hand.
Tisdale spread the wealth, with four different receivers hauling in at least three passes, as Adron Walker grabbed three passes for 78 yards in the opening 13 minutes and Thomas Jackson caught Tisdale’s scoring toss, as well as a two-point conversion pass.
At the same time, Harris was a force, rarely going down on first contact. He scored on two runs of 13 yards and another from the 1, while never getting thrown for a loss on any of his 16 carries.
The senior now has 11 touchdowns in the past four games.
“Our running game has been really good the past few weeks,” Lee said. “So, we’re very good about balance with the run and the pass. Rodney did a great job running the offense, and now we just have to fine-tune it.”
While First Coast has been trending upward over the second half of the season, the close to the season has been disastrous for the Tigers. The defense gave up 10 points a game over the first six games but has allowed almost 40 a game to close the season. A 3-3 start that featured a three-point loss to Nease and five-point defeat to Fletcher has morphed into a four-game slide in which Jackson has lost by a combined 119 points.
“It was a rough end,” Tigers coach Darryl Bartley said. “I changed defensive coordinators in the middle of the year, and we went from giving up 10 points to giving up 40.
“I was hoping to stay close (Friday night) but a lot of mistakes. We can’t finish drives. Get 10 (yards), get 20 and then lose 10, lose 15.”
That was evident even when things seemed to be shifting in favor of Jackson. Aside from the blown field position, one play encapsulated the game and season for the Tigers. In the fourth quarter, Anthony Jones hauled in a pass and broke tackles for a 73-yard gain to the Bucs 15.
But there was a scuffle after the play. Some Jackson players came off the sideline and went on to the field. Four ejections and four personal foul penalties later, 60 yards in penalties were marched off. Jones’ effort netted 13 yards.
Lee’s players stayed on the sideline. Going back to his checklist, that leaves them available for next week’s playoff game. The veteran coach got exactly what he wanted.
“We wanted to beat Jackson and get a winning record,” Lee said. “We wanted to work on things for next week’s playoff game. The main thing is, we didn’t want to get anyone hurt or ejected. We accomplished all those goals.”
First Coast 31, Jackson 0
First Coast, 6, 14, 8, 3 — 31
Jackson, 0, 0, 0, 0 — 0
FC – Auston Harris 13 run (kick failed)
FC – Thomas Jackson 3 pass from Rodney Tisdale Jr. (Lennoris Linder kick)
FC – Harris 13 run (Linder kick)
FC – Harris 1 run (Jackson pass from Tisdale)
FC – Linder 26 FG
Category: FC — J
First downs: 19 — 7
Rushes-yards: 33-125 — 24-29
Passing: 199 — 120
Comp-Att-Int: 16-25-0 — 5-10-0
Fumbles-lost: 1-1 — 5-4
Penalties-Yards: 9-75 — 14-140
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — FC: Harris 16-95, LeShan Evans Jr. 5-24, Phisario Lee 3-10, Frederick Harriel 2-4, Andreus Cox 1-1, Tisdale 3-0, Damian Mack 1-0, Team 2-(-9). J: Lamar Stanfield 7-29, Sylvester Miller 2-16, Antonio Queen 7-14, King Johnson 3-(-4), Fred Gooden 1-(-8), Team 4-(-18).
PASSING — FC: Tisdale 15-23-0-192, Mack 1-2-0-7. J: Johnson 3-6-0-91, Gooden 2-4-0-29.
RECEIVING — FC: Adron Walker 3-78, Jackson 5-46, Michael Thomas 4-29, Evans 3-27, Jordan Anderson 1-19. J: Anthony Jones 1-73, Malachi Pierce 1-23, Brandon Dew 1-12, Stanfield 1-6, Amari Anderson 1-6.