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ALACHUA – The Santa Fe High School football team’s losing streak reached the dubious 20-game mark Friday after a 16-0 loss to the Fernandina Beach Pirates.
The game offered an interesting matchup under center, as junior wideout Tyler Gentry started his second straight game at quarterback for the Raiders (0-5), while starter Jay Bryant nurses a broken clavicle.
On the Pirates (3-2) sideline, sophomore wide receiver Beckham Rohe took over for Ian Miller as signal-caller while he recovers from a hairline wrist fracture.
The first quarter flew by, as Santa Fe’s limited passing capabilities meant that junior running back Asaph Bryant ate up yardage and game clock for the Raiders offense.
The first drive of the game saw the home team get down near the red zone, but Gentry floated a ball on fourth-and-long into the waiting arms of Fernandina Beach defensive back Othellus Swift, the first of three turnovers by the Raiders deep in Pirates territory in the game.
Othellus Swift comes away with a pick in the end zone to kill Santa Fe’s first drive. The Raiders had a short field after the Pirates opened the game with an onside kick.
Fernandina Beach’s first offensive drive starts just short of midfield. pic.twitter.com/TyuwD3bWyN
— Paul Hof-Mahoney (@hofmahoney_p) September 20, 2024
“We moved the ball offensively tonight,” Santa Fe coach Jason Wells said. “The problem comes in the moment, without a playmaker at quarterback. Tyler’s never played quarterback before in his life, so this is it. You’re on the stage, you’re under Friday Night Lights and this is your first kind of dive into the storm.”
After a three-and-out on their first possession, the Pirates opened the scoring a little over midway through the second quarter. Rohe hit sophomore receiver Aydin Poe on a simple crossing route that Poe was able to turn into a 41-yard touchdown.
A long drive before the half expired that was capped off with a short field goal gave Fernandina Beach a 10-0 advantage through two quarters.
The Pirates open the scoring with a 41-yard catch-and-run from Aydin Poe.
7-0 Fernandina Beach with 7:11 left in Q2. pic.twitter.com/t3DZrttjla
— Paul Hof-Mahoney (@hofmahoney_p) September 21, 2024
The second half was quiet aside from a long touchdown connection between Rohe and junior wideout Jeremiah Jordan late in the third quarter that sealed this one away at 16-0 after a blocked extra point.
This game marked the third straight outing where the Raiders failed to get on the scoreboard, but the silver lining is that 16 is the least amount of points they’ve allowed since a 15-0 loss to P.K. Yonge on Sept. 27, 2022.
“I liked the fact that we played hard,” Wells said of his defense. “We had some new guys in some new spots and we got into our depth chart quite a bit. Yes, they made mistakes, they got out of positions at certain times … but they played really hard and they ran around really hard all night.”
Up Next
Santa Fe has a bye week to heal before it visits Newberry (2-2) for a district showdown Oct. 4. Fernandina Beach hosts West Nassau (5-1) next Friday in its first district matchup of the season.
