No. 2 Edgewater holds off No. 3 Jones in district opener
A blocked extra-point attempt was the difference in front of a standing-room only crowd on a rainy Friday night in Orange County.
Edgewater (4-0, 1-0), ranked No. 2 in the Sentinel Super 16, hung on for a 14-13 win at No. 3 Jones (1-2, 0-1) in an FHSAA Class 3M (Metro) District 3 opener for both teams.
Junior defensive lineman Joshua Alexander-Felton penetrated the middle of Jones’ special teams unit to make the decisive deflection midway through the fourth quarter.
“From the [snap], I already knew I was going to get it,” Alexander-Felton said of blocking the kick. “Then when it happened, it just made me so proud, and we all got to celebrate it. I almost shed a tear.”
The Tigers were in position to tie the score after Derrick Rogers caught a 13-yard pass in the corner of the end zone on fourth down from Maxson Jean-Denis with 6:36 remaining.
Jones promptly forced Edgewater
to go three-and-out on the ensuing possession and appeared likely to retain momentum it generated while rallying from a 14-0 deficit. But Edgewater was able to run out the clock when senior Jaylen Smith recovered a loose ball following a punt after it bounced off a Tiger player.
“It was just one of those games. It was wild,” Edgewater coach Cameron Duke said. “You didn’t know which play was going to be the play that was gonna be the deciding factor.”
The Eagles leaned heavily on senior running back Cedric Baxter Jr., who carried the ball 31 times for more than 250 yards on a soggy surface tailor-made for such a workload.
Baxter took his second carry 90 yards for a touchdown when he found a hole on the right side of the line and outraced a pair of defenders. He then made a cut in the backfield and went 55 yards for a score on the second play of the second half to give Edgewater a two-score advantage.
Senior quarterback Chase Carter rushed for nearly 80 yards on 8 carries, which included crucial gains in the fourth quarter to help keep Jones from gaining another possession.
“Our senior leadership is special,” Duke said. “They were able to keep things in control and continue to fight, and then we got enough breaks there at the end to pull it out.”
D’juan Gilbert, who celebrated his birthday Friday, is one of four seniors on Edgewater’s offensive line responsible for paving the way in the run game.
“We’ve been working hard for this since the summer,” Gilbert said while flashing a smile. “It was a real damp field and it was raining, but we just got through it and played as a team and never stopped.”
Jones, which was unbeaten at home in the regular season since a lopsided loss vs. Cocoa in 2015, reached the scoreboard midway through the third quarter on a 1-yard run by Dylan Wade. Jean-Denis set up the TD when he escaped pressure in the backfield and rushed for a 23-yard gain one play earlier.
The Tigers then ended a 9-play drive for Edgewater when Malik Bryant recorded the first of his 2 sacks to force a punt at the onset of the fourth quarter.
Jones was quickly forced to kick the ball back to the Eagles, who immediately fumbled it away when Terrance Sands delivered a crushing hit near the Edgewater sideline during the return. It took 10 plays for the Tigers to reach the end zone again and line up for a chance to tie the contest.
Junior Jerrian Parker led the Tigers with 42 yards rushing on 14 carries. Senior Jabari Smith finished with 5 receptions for 72 yards.
Edgewater has won three of the past four meetings between the programs, which includes a 52-49 win in four overtimes in 2021 and a 28-14 win in 2019. The Tigers won 31-13 in 2020.
The Eagles host Apopka (2-1) on Friday.
Jones returns home vs. West Orange (2-2), which lost 25-13 vs. Wekiva (2-2).