ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. – Nigel Eldridge did not want to graduate from Beachside without at least once claiming a win against the fledgling school’s biggest rival.
With host Tocoi Creek lined up for a 25-yard field goal to send the game into overtime Friday night, Eldridge broke through the line and swatted down the attempt with little more than a minute remaining. The Barracudas went into victory formation and celebrated a 29-26 triumph in the third edition of the Surf N’ Turf Bowl.
“I was going to be a little bit upset if we lost,” Eldridge, a senior, said with a laugh. “It means a lot. Feels good to get this one for sure.”
It had a lot of meaning as, after the Varsity 4 Game of the Week, Beachside (5-1), in Class 5A, had players pose for photos and videos under the goalpost to mark their first victory in three tries against 6A Tocoi Creek (4-2). For them it was a welcome swing in a rivalry between St. Johns County’s two newest public high schools, located 10 miles apart.
“It’s really important for those seniors like Riley Hofrichter, Brick Balcita and Nigel,” Barracudas coach Pete Duffy said. “It’s their third year in the program, and they were with us from the start and started it with us from scratch. So, huge win for them.”
It was relying upon a senior’s judgment that put away the game. Eldridge had found himself bottled up earlier when he was trying to break through the left side of the Toros’ point-after blocking scheme. So, he shifted a little more to the weak side, broke through the center-right of the line and spiked the kick.
“That’s something that came from (Eldridge’s) feedback,” Duffy said. “We talked about it a little bit, but it came from his feedback, and we said, ‘Yeah, man, let’s do it.’”
Good call, as it brought to a close a game that featured six lead changes and helped overcome a valiant effort from Tocoi Creek’s Vinnie Galella. The junior back earned more carries than usual with tandem partner Davian Garcia sidelined with an ankle injury.
He responded, carrying 20 times for 169 yards and two touchdowns. Galella converted three fourth-down attempts for the Toros, the last coming with a little more than 10 minutes remaining in the game.
After spending several plays getting his left calf iced on the trainer’s table, Galella took the ball on a 4th-and-1 at the Beachside 46, broke through the line and raced for the score. But, after carrying once on Tocoi Creek’s final drive, Galella was helped off and held out for the game with an ice pack on his shoulder and neck area.
“Losing him at the end wasn’t ideal,” Toros coach Zach Harbison said. “We thought we had some pieces to make some plays at the end. But with Vinnie it’s probably a different outcome. He had some explosive plays and that huge run to take the lead. But Beachside battled back.”
Quarterback Eddie Jordan, who passed for 196 yards and led the team with 46 yards rushing, helped the Barracudas shrug off Galella’s last scoring run. Jordan deftly guided his team down the field on eight plays.
With Beachside 23 yards from the end zone, Jordan faked into the line with running back Marco Lanza, rolled right as if to run but slung it to Maddox Hunstad, who shrugged off a tackle attempt and danced into the end zone for the lead.
“We just had to stay poised, stay calm,” said Jordan, who had a scoring run in addition to the touchdown pass. “Last year when we played them, I was new to the school, was learning a new offense and played them in the first game of the year. But this year, showing them this is Beachside football, it feels really good.”
Still, there was one more comeback attempt in a contest with many swings. Runs from Galella, Julio Santiago and freshman Andrew Dolan helped move the Toros down the field, aided by two big Barracudas penalties.
After the Toros got a five-yard penalty of their own, they stared at 1st-and-goal from the 15. A run and an incompletion yielded nothing, and quarterback Ryan Killmer’s nine-yard keeper set up the field goal attempt.
“In hindsight we should have gotten the ball to some of our better players,” Harbison said. “Some to Zander (Erasmus), some to Julio or Bryton (Baker) on the edge. You look back on some of the calls, I’m frustrated with myself. Hats off to Beachside, but it’s a tough loss for us.”
(9) Beachside 29, Tocoi Creek 25
Beachside, 7, 15, 0, 7 — 29
Tocoi Creek, 12, 7, 0, 7 — 26
B – Eddie Jordan 4 run (Owen Carey kick)
TC – Julio Santiago 23 pass from Ryan Killmer (kick failed)
TC – Vinnie Galella 14 run (run failed)
B – Jake House 2 run (Carey kick)
TC – Devin Woods 28 pass from Killmer (Jackson Tsoukalis kick)
B – Marco Lanza 7 run (House run)
TC – Galella 48 run (Tsoukalis kick)
B – Maddox Hunstad 23 pass from Jordan (Carey kick)
Category: B — TC
First downs: 16 — 23
Rushes-yards: 28-119 — 37-238
Passing: 196 — 163
Comp-Att-Int: 19-28-1 — 16-27-1
Fumbles-lost: 0-0 — 0-0
Penalties-Yards: 8-80 — 8-76
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — B: Jordan 11-46, Lanza 9-39, House 8-34. TC: Galella 20-169, Chase McNeil 9-31, Andrew Dolan 4-27, Santiago 2-13, Killmer 2-(-2).
PASSING — B: Jordan 19-28-1-196. TC: Killmer 16-27-1-163.
RECEIVING — B: House 3-60, Hunstad 5-51, Drew Aldrich 5-40, Drew Watson 2-23, Brennan Monaco 4-22. TC: Woods 3-70, Santiago 6-55, Zack Lloyd 2-13, Galella 2-11, Zander Erasmus 2-17, Bryton Baker 1-(-3).