First Coast Varsity Weekly: Where do 6% of top-ranked sophomores live? The Jacksonville area

The Jacksonville metropolitan area contains less than 0.5 percent of the United States' population — but, according to Rivals recruiting analysts, 6 percent of the nation's most elite football sophomores reside here.

Rivals released its top rankings for the 2025 class, a list that included three Jacksonville-area players in the top 50.

The recruiting service ranked Trinity Christian quarterback Colin Hurley at No. 7, Mandarin wide receiver Jaime Ffrench at No. 23 and defensive end Elyiss Williams of Charlton County at No. 50.

The sophomores are off to solid starts this fall.

Hurley has completed 35 of 65 passes for 591 yards, 395 of them to junior Miles Burris, for the 4-0 Conquerors.

Ffrench has 19 catches for 311 yards and four touchdowns as a primary target for fellow 2025 prospect Tramell Jones, while Williams has a pair of sacks and a blocked punt.

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Baldwin nets long-awaited rivalry win

The date was Nov. 1, 1968.

Richard Nixon was four days from election as president. The Beatles' "Hey Jude" topped the Billboard music charts. And Duval County was just entering its era of consolidation — a consolidation that left Baldwin with its own special status within the county.

On that day, the small-town squad defeated Baker County 9-0 in a battle of two teams separated by fewer than 10 miles along U.S. Highway 90.

It took almost 54 years, until last Friday, for the school to repeat the feat.

So for the town's long-suffering football fans, Friday's 30-7 win — they held the Wildcats scoreless until the final minute — was well worth the wait.

Baldwin's ball hawks followed the same pattern that's carried the team throughout the season. Octavius Barnes and Leon Kirkland have combined for seven interceptions in three games, and on Friday, it was the turn of freshman Christian Green to carry a pick back to the end zone.

As a bonus, the victory pushed Baldwin to the early lead in District 5-2S, a quintet that also includes Fernandina Beach, West Nassau and Yulee.

Long waits are nothing unusual for the program, which won its first-ever playoff game last November against Marianna.

Tornado warning from Bradford D

The unstoppable barrier.

Through three games — and, in a way, a good chunk of a fourth — Bradford's defense has barred opponents from the end zone and the scoreboard after Friday's 28-0 shutout at Gainesville Eastside.

The Tornadoes, in their first year under former Suwannee and Baker County coach Jamie Rodgers, previously shut out Baldwin 35-0 and Middleburg 21-0. They also grabbed a 21-0 lead on Baker County in their season opener before thunderstorms suspended play, to be picked up from the point of interruption on Oct. 6.

It's the first time that Bradford has shut out its first three opponents for half a century. In 1971, coached by David Hurse, Bradford defeated Baker County and Buchholz and then played a 0-0 tie with St. Augustine (the Florida High School Athletic Association did not institute overtime for regular-season games until 1975). However, that Tornadoes team lost its next two games to Suwannee and Bolles.

The last Jacksonville-area team to shut out its first three foes was West Nassau, which shut out NFEI, Episcopal and Providence to open the 2017 season on the road to a 10-2 record and a regional semifinal visit.

Inside Class 2S: Baker County, Baldwin, Keystone Heights, Yulee and more

Beachside's Balcita on fire early

Who's on top of St. Johns County's passing list four weeks into the season?

It isn't Nease's Marcus Stokes, the No. 1 QB recruit in the state, a Super 11 selection and a Florida commitment. And it's not Bartram Trail's Riley Trujillo or St. Augustine's Locklan Hewlett, both drawing attention from recruiters for future classes.

Instead, Brick Balcita of first-year program Beachside is leading the pack in yardage in only three games, albeit against a less formidable schedule. The sophomore has completed 43 of 67 passes for 761 yards and seven touchdowns with five interceptions, while helping the Barracudas to an early 2-1 record for 200-game winner Pete Duffy.

More stats of note across the First Coast:

* Domination is nothing new for Trinity Christian's rushing duo of Treyaun Webb and Darnell Rogers. But at White and Tocoi Creek, the lineups include not two but three running backs already on course for huge yardage.

Three Commanders are combining for nearly 900 yards: Davaughn Patterson (299), Benny Lewis (298) and Tavales Thomas (287), with Patterson and Thomas key contributors on defense as well. And Tocoi Creek fields the combination of Kaiz Ragland (393), Wendell Dean (373) and Davian Garcia (281), with 13 combined touchdowns.

* Is South Carolina commit Grayson Howard going to capture the state tackling title? The Super 11 linebacker has been everywhere for Jackson. He averages more than 18 tackles per game entering a hard-earned bye week.

* One year after Nease's Dom Henry led Florida in receiving yards, Clay wideout Payton Dykas is making a comparable push. The junior stands third in Florida with 434 yards on 27 catches with six touchdowns.

Stats leaders: Football leaderboard for Northeast Florida through Week 4

Peak performers: Week 4 stars from Jackson, Oakleaf, Clay and more

Jaycee Davis, Grace Albaugh reach 1,000

Northeast Florida's 1,000-kill club added its fourth member in three weeks.

Bolles senior Grace Albaugh recorded her 1,000th kill, and a whole lot more, in Tuesday's win over Baker County. Albaugh blasted a career-high 31 kills in the match, raising her career mark to 1,029.

Only days earlier, Union County senior Jaycee Davis likewise reached 1,000 kills for her career, and eclipsed the 1,000-dig mark as well.

It's part of a 1,000-kill parade that isn't slowing down. Two weeks ago, Trinity Christian sophomore Amaria King joined the club during tournament play, receiving a special recognition from the school during last Tuesday's home match. And on Sept. 8, it was the turn of Bishop Kenny's Ally Cavanaugh to reach the mark with 13 kills against Bolles.

So, the logical question: Who's next?

Pounding on the door rapidly is Ponte Vedra senior and 2021 All-First Coast player of the year Zeta Washington, already near 900 career kills. She enters the week with 116 kills for the season and a dizzying .591 hitting percentage, her best yet for the Sharks.

One more to watch, at her current rate, might be Bartram Trail outside hitter Jenna Otts. The senior blasted 109 kills for the week, 30 of them in a four-set win over rival Creekside, as well as 59 more in a two-day tournament at Panama City Beach Arnold. Committed to Gardner-Webb, Otts is already above 200 kills on the season, and stands at 730 for her Bears career.

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Barracudas chomp at River City Classic

It only took one month for Beachside to bring home its first volleyball tournament championship.

The Barracudas captured first place in the Coastal Division at the annual Jacksonville Juniors Volleyball Association River City Classic, held Friday and Saturday with more than 40 teams from the Jacksonville area and beyond.

Beachside (10-1), which had topped Tocoi Creek on Thursday, followed by winning five best-of-3 matches in fewer than 36 hours. They swept Oakleaf, North Marion and Williston, then won by 2-1 margins against Mandarin and finally Fernandina Beach.

The week was a sensational one for the Barracudas, who include no seniors. Freshman Adriana Jeanpierre collected 49 kills and 42 digs for the tournament to earn MVP honors, while freshman Erica Duffy (63 assists), junior Laney Lipovetsky (23 kills, 20 aces) and junior Macey Williams (41 digs) were also among the top performers.

Winning first prize overall in the gold bracket for the Atlantic Division was the Colegio Evangelico Capitan Correa, from Hatillo, Puerto Rico. Trinity Christian led area teams in that division with a fourth-place finish.

St. Augustine finished highest among locals in the Bay Division, coming in third.

Candelino breaks Bale-N-Trail record

Jillian Candelino is fast. Very fast.

The Bolles senior and reigning FHSAA champion obliterated the field in 17:45 to win the Bale-N-Trail Original at Bartram Trail, recording the second-fastest 5K girls cross country time in Florida for 2022 and surpassing the meet record set in 2010 by Lily Williams of Tallahassee Chiles.

No runners from other schools placed within 90 seconds of Candelino, who led Ella Mickler (18:26) in a Bolles 1-2. Elizabeth Csikai, Estella Bruneau and Elizabeth McClure also helped Bolles to a 28-point finish, ahead of Ponte Vedra and Creekside.

Candelino nearly overtook her personal-best mark of 17:36, set at last fall's FSU Invitational meet in Tallahassee.

The boys race brought an individual title for Fleming Island junior Graham Myers, who continued his superb start to the season in 16:03. Creekside won the team  championship, placing Tanner Simonds, Jack Dravo, Jack Zurn and Jacob Harvey within the top 10.

Walker White (17:27) and Sam Loftin headed a Providence near-sweep on the boys side on home turf at the Stallion 5K, where Providence took six of the top seven places, and Truth King of University Christian ran 21:29 for the girls title.

The scene now shifts to Bishop Kenny, site of the annual Katie Caples Invitational along the St. Johns River on Saturday night.

Bears, Sharks win Holleman Invitational

Bartram Trail's boys and Ponte Vedra's girls led the pack as top swimmers across St. Johns County and beyond splashed into action at Saturday's Frank Holleman Invitational.

Raymond Prosinski won the 200-yard freestyle and the 100 backstroke, while Abdelrahman Shahin captured the 100 breaststroke for the Bartram Trail boys to top Nease and Ponte Vedra in the 15-team meet. Shahin also combined with Aidan Wood, Peter Baci and Luke VanDeusen to win the 200 free relay.

Reigning Class 3A champion Ponte Vedra pulled clear of Nease and Bartram Trail to win the girls team title, with five event victories: Annie Wohlgemuth in the 100 butterfly and 100 back, Annabelle MacAdams in the 100 breast, Penny Zarczynski in the 100 free and that trio along with Mary Agnes Smith in the 200 medley relay.

While they finished second in both sets of standings, no team came home with more event victories than Nease, with 12. Top Panther performers included Matthew Koziol, winner of two sprints and two relays, and Olivia Moore, who won both girls distance races and anchored two first-place relays.

Swimmers set more than a dozen meet records at the two-year-old event, including a 23.64 for Fleming Island's Maryn McDade in the girls 50 free.

BK swimmers splash to records

The records keep tumbling for Bishop Kenny swimming, which set four meet records at Saturday's Florida Catholic Invitational in Orlando.

Setting meet marks were the boys 200 medley relay team of Carter Wright, Evan Larson, Zach Jones and Barrie Snyder, in 1:36.87; the boys 200 free relay of Graham Evans, Wright, Matthew Leitheiser and Snyder, in 1:28.19; the boys 400 free relay of Evans, Larson, Owen Kerkezi and Jones, in 3:13.07; and the girls 200 free relay of Rachel Howard, Victoria Weldon, Talley Gettemy and Maria Candelora, in 1:40.14.

The boys 400 free relay also tied BK's school record at the distance.

The Crusaders boys, Class 2A state champions last fall, took first place overall while the girls placed second at the annual meet organized by Bishop Moore.

FHSAA to weigh middle school change

Could middle school athletes soon compete in high school sports? The FHSAA board of directors will make the call next week.

The Florida High School Athletic Association is scheduled to weigh the proposal at Monday's board of directors meeting, the first of five for the 2022-23 school year.

The plan would amend the FHSAA's bylaws to permit middle school students to compete in high school athletics at their zoned public school.

At present, middle school athletes only compete in high school when they are part of a combination school that encompasses both middle and high school grades, most frequently private schools like Bolles and St. Johns Country Day but also some others, including Baldwin and Hilliard in Northeast Florida.

Executive director Craig Damon, in his first board meeting since his official installation over the summer, declined to recommend the proposal.

Also on the agenda:

* The FHSAA is scheduled to adopt a $6.5 million final budget, an increase of more than $300,000 from the tentative budget approved in June. The association attributes the growing expenses to multiple factors, including the additions of two new staff members, rising insurance costs, information technology services and increased officials' fees, projecting a loss of more than $450,000 for the coming fiscal year.

* The association will vote on a revision to its pitch count policy for baseball's postseason. Under current rules, when a team violates the FHSAA pitch count limit in the playoffs and wins its game, its berth in the bracket is vacated and its next opponent receives a bye. The proposal would instead forfeit the game in which the violation occurred, advancing the losing team from that matchup to the next round. The plan passed the baseball advisory committee 6-0 and the athletic directors advisory committee 11-3, but did not receive Damon's endorsement.

* The FHSAA will vote on adding a new policy to provide educational materials to parents with information about sudden cardiac arrest and cardiac screening.

* Also planned will be the ratification of multiple appointments, some of them local. Wolfson athletic director Cindy Tinsley-Talley is being appointed to the FHSAA representative assembly for two years, while Fletcher principal Dean Ledford and Suwannee County School Board member Jerry Taylor are renewing their terms on the public liaison advisory committee.

Around the area

Bolles senior Carter Lancaster committed Monday to California for men's swimming. ... Bishop Kenny placed seventh and Episcopal eighth in the girls Adidas XC Challenge Invitational on Saturday in Cary, N.C. ... The Mandarin boys finished eighth and the girls ninth at the Hare & Hounds Invitational at McAlpine Creek Park in Charlotte, N.C., and Mustangs senior Gavin Nelson placed eighth in the boys race at 16:10. ... Yulee's scheduled football game last Saturday at Port St. Lucie Tradition Prep was postponed, with no make-up date announced as yet. ... Impact Christian football has scheduled its first out-of-state football game, on Oct. 28 at Cornerstone Christian of San Antonio. ... The annual High School 9:12 Basketball Media Day is scheduled for Tuesday, Oct. 25 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Winston Family YMCA in Riverside.

Clayton Freeman covers high school sports and more for the Florida Times-Union. Follow him on Twitter at @CFreemanJAX.

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: First Coast Varsity Weekly: Colin Hurley, Jaime Ffrench on national list