Sparrow saves Jones, heroics hold off Wekiva
Wekiva coach Rich Bedesem never thought twice about going for a two-point conversion and the victory in overtime against No. 1-ranked Jones Thursday night.
“I had already said if we score, we’re going for two. We already had two more D-line injuries and we were subbing in offensive linemen and couldn’t do it much longer,” Bedesem said. “So we decided to go for it there and win the game.”
Junior Muratovic’s pass, however, failed to find the mark and it was another close loss for Wekiva, 42-41 in overtime.
“We got our tail whooped. That score might say 42-41, but Wekiva whooped our butt in every phase of the game,” Jones coach Elijah Williams said. “We made two out of five extra points. That’s just ridiculous. Defense we got our [butt] whooped. Offense we got our [butt] whooped. We got our [butt] whooped the whole damn game. As far as I’m concerned, we lost.”
The Mustangs were all in with Bedesem’s decision to go for it.
“That’s how Coach Rich is. He wants to win the game,” Muratovic said. “We were all behind him and supported the decision 100 percent.”
Junior running back Stephen Sparrow was all in for Jones. He said before the game he was going to put up some “stats.” The Tigers needed them all.
Jones (4-0), which had moved into the No. 1 spot in the Sentinel’s Central Florida Super 16 rankings this week, got all it could handle with Wekiva.
Sparrow carried Jones. He played receiver in the first half and had an 81-yard shuttle -pass, catch-and-run for a touchdown.
He then rushed for 159 yards and three more touchdowns in the second half after sliding over to the running back spot following an ankle injury to Daquan Harris. His overtime TD sealed the win.
“I was just happy to be there for my team, same as always,” said Sparrow, who is the younger brother of last year ’s Jones-leading rusher Avarius Sparrow, now a freshman at West Virginia.
Sparrow, who transferred this season from Colonial, was one of the few aspects Williams liked about his team’s performance.
“We’ve got to come harder and I guess it’s time for me to step up,” Sparrow said. “I felt because I got here kind of late … we had a couple of leaders already, but I’m ready to step up now. We’ve got bigger games coming up.
“I’m just ready for the fight. Coach said it’s showtime and that’s it.”
Williams was asked if perhaps the No. 1 ranking and his team looking ahead to next week’s showdown with No. 2 Edgewater could have possibly got in his players’ heads. His kicker Jeffrey Saint-Louis, who is a soccer player as well, didn’t even show up until midway through the first half, missing pregame Senior Night festivities.
“We haven’t even talked about Edgewater; not even mentioned them,” Williams said. “These are young kids who got a little [popularity] and you know how they get. They had a little emotional high against Apopka and we knew. … We tried to keep them grounded but these are 14-16-year-old kids.
“And, on top of that, it was Senior Night, and I hate that to have a team like this on Senior Night. We really should have played a lesser opponent. If you watch Wekiva’s film, they are four plays away from being undefeated. They came out and played. … but I’ve played a lot of ball and seen a lot of ball and one thing I can say is that good teams win on bad nights.”
Wekiva is now 1-3 and all three losses have been by a combined 14 points. Thursday, the Mustangs had plenty to do with why Jones struggled, especially quarterback Muratovic.
The senior, who is with his third high school after stints at Olympia and Oak Ridge, is finally finding his niche at Wekiva. Against Jones, Muratovic made mistakes, but he made up for the two interceptions he threw. As Wekiva coach Rich Bedesem felt more comfortable with his quarterback, he let Muratovic unleash.
He ended up completing 22 of 31 passes for 328 yards and 3 touchdowns.
Every time Jones tried to put the game away, Wekiva was there to make a play. Simeon McKell forced the overtime by returning a fumble 41 yards. The two-point conversion pass from Muratovic to Harleeontai Reed tied the game.
“We play tough competition and we’ve already played a couple of good teams and [Jones] is another very good team, well coached,” Bedesem said. “I’m just proud of our guys. We fought all night. We’re undersized and had a couple of injuries on the defensive line that wore on us, but give credit to the kids.
“We went for it at the end and came up a little short.”