Mustangs denied: Sanford Seminole holds off Mandarin rally in high school football playoff

For a while, Mandarin looked set to release another dose of playoff magic.

Sanford Seminole, it turned out, still had one more gear left.

Top-seeded Sanford Seminole survived a serious scare from eighth-seeded Mandarin, edging the Mustangs 30-28 in Monday night's Florida High School Athletic Association Region 1-4M high school football quarterfinal at The Corral.

"We just ran out of gas," Mandarin coach Toby Bullock said.

Sophomore quarterback David Parks, making the jump this year from the junior varsity squad, plowed into the end zone for the go-ahead score to win a back-and-forth battle worthy of two of the Sunshine State's four most recent large-school state champions — Mandarin captured Class 8A in 2018, followed by the Seminoles two years later.

The young Mustangs had galloped back from 16 points down, a spirited rally that wasn't halted until Seminole linebacker Marlon Hooks intercepted a scrambling Tramell Jones with 3:05 remaining. Two first-down rushes by Goldie Lawrence drained the clock, and the Mustangs never touched the ball again.

"I had to recover and I saw the quarterback look back and [the receiver] had his hands up," Hooks said. "I just stretched my hands out and I had to make a big man catch."

For Seminole, it's about survival, moving on to a Saturday regional semifinal at home against Lake Mary, which shut out Oviedo Hagerty 28-0.

"We were able to kind of get back focused and buckle down and come out on top," Sanford Seminole coach Eric Lodge said.

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MUSTANGS TAKE OFF IN THIRD

In the blink of an eye to open the third quarter, the Mustangs (5-5) transformed from miscue-prone and scoreless to Kentucky Derby pace.

Mandarin scored on two of its first three snaps, a 60-yard up-the-middle dash by Deshard Wescott and a 34-yard run by Tiant Wyche, to chop a 16-0 deficit down to 16-14 in the space of two minutes and 13 seconds.

The Mustangs weren't done. After Carmello Murphy and Grant Pettigrew combined on a goal-line stand, Jones marched the Mustangs 89 yards downfield once more to snatch their first lead at the end of the third quarter on a 4-yard pass to Kieren Jackson that completed the quarter on a run of 21 unanswered points.

That turned their night around after a first half of frustration, marred by a barrage of wild snaps, drops and missed connections in the passing game.

"We just weren't finishing the plays as an offense. Our defense was playing their heart out," Bullock said. "But we ran our game plan from the first half in the second half and we just executed better."

SEMINOLE RUNNERS STEP UP

Still, that wasn't enough to bury the Seminoles (9-2), who displayed the resilience that showed why they earned the FHSAA's No. 1 seed.

Playing without injured quarterback Luke Rucker, committed to Florida Atlantic, Seminole finally broke Mandarin's injury-sapped defense down in the fourth quarter through blow after blow from the ground game.

Rory Thomas hit the heart of the line over and over to rack up 108 yards on 17 carries, and Florida State-committed athlete Lawrence restored the lead with a 1-yard score as part of his 19-rush, 111-yard evening.

Then, after Mandarin pushed back in front, Seminole's line drove the Mustangs back on a 48-yard drive that ended with Parks driving into the end zone on a 4-yard keeper.

"Eventually, we just kind of imposed our will," Lodge said. "We take a lot of pride in the weight room, and I think that really showed up."

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BRIGHT FUTURE FOR MANDARIN

For a Mandarin team still seeking its first regional playoff victory since winning it all in an unforgettable autumn run in 2018, the gritty effort pointed toward more playoff days ahead.

The brightest star on the night was the Mustangs' Wyche, who finished with 233 all-purpose yards — 70 rushing, 77 receiving and 86 on returns. He pushed Mandarin into a short-lived last lead in the fourth quarter, grabbing a third-down pass over the middle from Jones and juking a defender to the grass before blasting off to the end zone on a 65-yard score.

They're also on course to return their starting quarterback in Jones (12 of 23, 210 yards), sophomore wideout Jaime Ffrench (four catches, 77 yards), their cornerback pair in Jon Mitchell and Antoine Belgrave-Shorter, linebacker Jackson Copeland and several other standouts on both sides of the ball.

"We have the ability to be very good," Bullock said. "We expect to be back in the playoffs next year, and that's our goal every year."

Clayton Freeman covers high school sports and more for the Florida Times-Union. Follow him on Twitter at @CFreemanJAX, and sign up for the First Coast Varsity newsletter at https://profile.jacksonville.com/newsletters/first-coast-varsity/.

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: High school football playoffs 2022: Sanford Seminole-Mandarin takeaways