ST. JOHNS, Fla. – Last week was no laughing matter for Ponte Vedra. This week … well, it’s a good sign when everyone is cracking jokes after the game.
A bad loss for the Sharks was out of sight, out of mind Friday night. Following a good week of practice, they were able to hang on in a tight game.
Coach Steve Price joked the close shave at the end was because he didn’t want to see any fans leave early. Most stuck around and saw Ponte Vedra’s defense bow up at the end — including a critical sack by JP Dolan — and stop Bartram Trail 36 yards from the end zone to preserve a 28-21 victory in the Varsity 4 Game of the Week.
The loose feeling began with putting a 17-point loss to rival Nease in the rearview mirror. The Sharks (1-1) watched film of the game Monday. There was no further discussion. Everything was focused on the Bears (1-1).
“That was not us last week. Not us,” said Dolan, who also had a rushing touchdown in the first half. “We just flushed it away. New week. New everything. Next week, Bartram is behind us.”
Dolan, an accomplished lacrosse player, was kidding — or maybe he wasn’t — that he was the most athletic player on the team, and Ponte Vedra needed to utilize him any way possible.
All joking aside, Price said Dolan is an ideal player, who can run over people in short-yardage situations on offense and then shuttle over to defense and disrupt the play.
“I would never ever bet against JP Dolan,” Price said. “He was a running back in middle school, and he was running over people all over the place. He’s talented. He can do a lot of things, and I wouldn’t bet against him in anything.”
Safe to say Price feels that would apply to many players on his team. He said the bounce-back was due in part to the families, who have raised kids who know that adversity is a part of life and keep an upbeat outlook.
“Our kids are really resilient,” Price said. “I think it comes from our families, not from me or the coaching staff. It’s important to come back from disappointing circumstances. You’re going to face disappointing circumstances throughout your life. Those kids know this isn’t the end. We’ll be OK, just get back to work. That comes from the families.”
They were resilient and were rewarded with only the third victory over Bartram Trail in 15 all-time tries, the first since 2016.
“Our morale was definitely down, but this was a big win, a good one for us,” said quarterback Drew Price, who threw for 167 yards and a pair of touchdowns and rushed for 41 additional yards. “We’re just some hard-nosed players.”
The offense opened the game with a 16-play scoring drive and followed with an 11-play possession that was capped by Dolan’s scoring run for a 14-0 lead.
But it didn’t take long for the Bears to get back in it. DeAndre Caldwell caught a short slant from Jaden Weatherly and turned it into a 69-yard scoring pass. After Bartram Trail defensive back Josiah Smith forced a fumble with less than four minutes left in the first half, it took only eight plays for Arthur Lewis to rush in for a touchdown from six yards to tie the game at 14.
Parker Davis gave Bartram Trail a chance to grab the lead at the half, with a strip sack of Price giving the Bears the ball at Ponte Vedra’s 30 with 35.3 seconds left. But Ryker Kemp returned the favor with a strip sack of his own two plays later to keep the game tied at 14 at the half.
“If it wasn’t for the rest of the d-line, I couldn’t get there,” said Kemp, a 6-foot-5 senior end who had two of his team’s four sacks. “They blocked out the rushing routes. The DBs secured the wide receivers. It was a team effort. Every sack was a team effort.”
Ponte Vedra regained the lead to start the second half, when Cameron Tietze took a short pass from Price in the flat, shrugged off the defender and raced 29 yards for the score. An 11-play drive — another long possession — followed, with Brian Case, who had the game’s first score, hauling in a screen pass from Price and going in from 10 yards for a 28-14 lead.
The Sharks defense held up until Bartram Trail scored with less than three minutes remaining. The Bears then got the ball back following the Sharks’ only three-and-out possession and seemed to deliver a back-breaker, converting a 20-yard pass on fourth-and-20.
But there’s that resiliency. After another first down, Dolan broke through for a sack. With steady pressure, the Sharks forced three consecutive incompletions.
It was victory formation time.
Bartram Trail now must do what the Sharks have done — forget this one. A tough week of practice and a bad result mean it’s time to move on.
“The main thing was not practicing well during the week,” said junior defensive lineman Michael Minor, who had two tackles for loss for the Bears. “We had a few off practices and didn’t get the rhythm we wanted for Friday.”
As for the Sharks, they can savor this one … until after the Monday film session. Then it’s time to move on.
“Take it one week at a time, but we’re going to go far,” Dolan said. “I promise you we’re going far.”
Ponte Vedra 28, Bartram Trail 21
Ponte Vedra, 7, 7, 7, 7 — 28
Bartram Trail, 0, 14, 0, 7 — 21
PV – Brian Case 1 run (Noah Ash kick)
PV – JP Dolan 3 run (Ash kick)
BT – DeAndre Caldwell 69 pass from Jaden Weatherly (Lucas Floyd kick)
BT – Arthur Lewis 6 run (Floyd kick)
PV – Camden Tietze 29 pass from Drew Price (Ash kick)
PV – Case 10 pass from Price (Ash kick)
BT – Landon Tippie 17 pass from Weatherly (Floyd kick)
Category: PV — BT
First downs: 18 — 16
Rushes-yards: 37-128 — 30-126
Passing: 167 — 190
Comp-Att-Int: 16-24-0 — 17-31-0
Fumbles-lost: 3-2 — 1-1
Penalties-Yards: 7-45 — 4-35
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — PV: Case 22-81, Price 7-41, Jake Hilley 4-8, Davitt Doherty 1-3, Dolan 1-3, Team 2-(-8). BT: Lewis 15-94, Weatherly 13-17, Coleson Baum 2-15.
PASSING — PV: Price 16-24-0-167. BT: Weatherly 17-28-0-190, Baum 0-1-0-0, Team 0-2-0-0.
RECEIVING — PV: Doherty 8-77, Tietze 3-44, Case 2-23, Caleb Stanton 1-12, Jack Berquist 2-11. BT: Caldwell 9-135, Tippie 2-37, Neko Dawkins 5-12, Mario Middleton 1-6.