HS football Sweet 16: Choctaw stuns Pine Forest; Baker, Crestview Cinderella seasons end

Forget what you heard. What you think. What the rankings told you.

The Big Green, fresh off the best strength of schedule in 3S, did the unthinkable. Well, unthinkable to everyone outside of rural Fort Walton Beach.

Jesse Winslette scored his fourth touchdown of the night with 1:47 to play and Jayce Brown deflected a pass on fourth down to seal a 30-29 wn at Pine Forest, the prohibitive favorite to win state.

Wait, really!? Yes, The Big Green did it.

Now Choctaw is bound for the Elite 8 and a date with Columbia, which beat Escambia 17-15 in the other Region 1-3S semifinal.

How'd we get here? Welp, seeing that Choctaw lost the first matchup 28-7 to PIne Forest, adversity set the tone. But that defeat looked worse on paper.

"We felt like the first time we played them is when we almost turned a corner as an offense and a defense.  I know that's kind of weird because they beat us 28-7, but we played pretty good defense and we had a plan," Beasley said. "That was was really the first week our guys really started tackling really well. THey're obviously, they got athletes all over the field. We knew we had to play great up front on both sides of the ball and Jesse did a great job delivering the ball all over the field. I knew we were going to have to do that. They did a great job covering Jayce. Cole did Cole things. I don't know how much he rushed for, but he did some outstanding things also. It's great for our program obviously to win this game. It's a big step in the right direction."

A step in the right direction? This team was once 1-4.

"it was just a lot of factual information you had to give the kids. Here's the facts and here's what we're doing. Here are the good things. We held Pine Forest to 28 points and no one had done that until that point. We felt good about that, so you really had to build on the positives and make our kids understand they weren't performing in critical moments. Now we're performing in critical moments. It's a testament to our kids and really a testament to our coaching staff. It's one of the best staffs I've been around. I'm just really proud of our guys in taking another step forward."

That step forward was a win over the last year's state runner-up.

And Winslette was at the center, throwing a touchdown to Brown and running for another three scores.

"It's new this year cause I didn't really run a lot last year," Winslette said of his success in the option. "I was really working on my speed and I was getting my weight up in the offseason, and it really paid off. Obviously you can see, I'm a bigger guy now and I can really power it into the end zone with that extra blocker. Cole's a great blocker. I got to give it up to my O-lineman for real, they're doing an amazing job. They're making the holes for me and I'm just getting in."

The game-winner was set up by a 4th-and-13 completion to Brown.

"We're down 29-23 and we had a dig call and it's play action," Winslette said. "I keep that linebacker inside and I hit the play action right behind him up the middle. Jayce ran a great route. He's clutched up.

"We came here and we were prepared. Coaches got us right. And you know we just did our thang. Props to them for sure."

Brown,l like he's done all year, embraced the spotlight.

"We practice it all, the whole practice," he said. "We do situational stuff. So when the moment came, my teammates and coaches tust me.It just worked out."

That it did. Choctaw is elite.

Chipley 39, Baker 20

Despite 297 yards and two scores from Kayleb Wagner, the Gators had their season end short of Thanksgiving in Friday's 1R Sweet 16.

Jace Tolbert deliverd seven tackles, Tucker Martin added six and Wagner chipped in five tackles.

It's just the second time in eight seasons the Gators haven't made the Final Four.

Buchholz 54, Crestview 33

From Ainslie Lee, Gainesville Sun

The Bobcats saw their season live to see another day after beating the Crestview Bulldogs 54-33 at Citizens Field on Friday night, punching Buchholz's ticket to the 1-4S region final for the third season in a row.

Buchholz (9-2) will play Bartram Trail on the road on Nov. 25 for the region championship. Bartram Trail beat Creekside 42-15 on Friday night, keeping its undefeated season alive.

This year's region-final berth marks the third time in program history the Bobcats have appeared in three consecutive region final games.

Crestview finished its season 7-5.

But before looking on to Buchholz's region final matchup, here are takeaways from Friday night's win at Citizens Field.

Buchholz, Crestview trade blows early

Had the opening quarter and a half proved to be an indication as to how the entire game would play out, we'd be talking about this matchup in a completely different tone.

After both offenses traded punts, the Bobcats would open the scoring as junior running back Quinton Cutler hit the gap hard and fast before trotting 32 yards into the end zone. Buchholz's extra point attempt, however, would sail below the crossbar, giving the Bobcats' a 6-0 lead.

Following Buchholz's score, the Crestview offense, piloted by senior quarterback Jerome Brazan, would march 72 yards down the field before senior running back Jason Jones took a handoff and punched it in from 3 yards out to help the Bulldogs take a 7-6 lead after a successful point after.

Buchholz would once again find the end zone after a 53-yard drive that was capped off by a 1-yard touchdown plunge from senior quarterback Creed Whittemore, giving the Bobcats a 13-7 advantage heading into the second quarter.

And while the Bobcats' defense initially forced the Bulldogs to go three-and-out following Whittemore's score, a penalty during the punt would give the Crestview offense a second opportunity to find the end zone, which it did with a 12-yard connection from Brazan to senior Tristin Wells.

Creed Whittemore has career night

Creed Whittemore's 1-yard touchdown rush in final seconds of the first quarter was his 100th career touchdown with the Bobcats, which is believed to be an Alachua County record.

But Creed Whittemore's night didn't end there as he also added touchdown No. 101, 102, 103 and 104.

The Mississippi State commit finished the night with three passing touchdowns (10 yards to Jacarree Kelly, 9 yards to Cutler, 10 yards to James Williams) and a pair of rushing touchdowns (1 yard, 5 yards).

Even still, Creed Whittemore wasn't finished as he saved some tricks up his sleeve in his final outing at Citizens Field.

Also lining up in the secondary, Whittemore grabbed three interceptions, matching the three he had already tallied this season.

"He wants to do whatever needs to be done," Mark Whittemore said of his quarterback, defensive back and son. "And does it gladly."

Cutler rips through Bulldogs' defense

Standing 5-foot-8 and weighing 155 pounds, Cutler might be one of the smaller guys on the field on any given night. But don't let his size fool you.

What Cutler might not have in size, he makes up for in speed and vision.

"When he gets out here, he's like he's been shot out of a gun," Mark Whittemore said of Cutler. "Unbelievable."

Alongside his 32-yard scoring scamper in the first quarter, Cutler added a 64-yard rushing touchdown, an 18-yard rushing touchdown and a 9-yard receiving touchdown to help the Bobcats hang 54 points on the Bulldogs.

"They played us a lot with no safety," Mark Whittemore said. "And we were able to still run the football, which is a good thing. So I like that aspect. I like our run game."

Buchholz defense seems to find its footing

The Bobcats' defense hasn't had its sharpest stuff lately, giving up a combined 118 points in its last three games — good for an average of more than 39 points per game, which is certainly abnormal for Buchholz.

However, despite struggles to get off the field on third down in the opening half, Buchholz seemed to settle in as the game progressed.

While Creed Whittemore's three takeaways were certainly the highlight of the night, Buchholz's defensive line and linebackers are owed a lot of credit.

The number of defensive guys who made plays for the Bobcats on Friday night is countless. However, sticking out were senior defensive end Gavin Hill, junior defensive end Kendall Jackson, senior safety Donny Hiebert, senior linebacker Colin Nechodom and junior outside linebacker Thomas Weinhardt.

Together, the Buchholz defense applied immense pressure to Brazan and put him on his back a handful of times.

"We've done some things over the last couple of weeks to kinda reorganize ourselves," Mark Whittemore said of the defense. "I think in the last two weeks we've played a little better up front."

Bobcats set to go Bear hunting

When Mark Whittemore mentioned playing Bartram Trail to his team, it was like the Bobcats were struck with a lightning rod as pure energy came from the huddle.

Buchholz traveled to Bartram Trail on Oct. 21, which ended up being the Bobcats' first loss of the season as the Bears topped them, 21-6.

Now, Buchholz is set to return to St. Johns for a rematch in the region final.

"We've got a huge task ahead of us with Bartram," Mark Whittemore said.

Follow sports editor Seth Stringer on twitter at @SethSnwfdn.

This article originally appeared on Northwest Florida Daily News: Sweet 16: Choctaw stuns Pine Forest; Baker, Crestview Cinderella seasons end