NEW PORT RICHEY– Clay High senior Jaylan Jenkins has moved through the Blue Devil offensive lineup with stints as quarterback, running back and, most recently, wide receiver, but it was his 90 yard kickoff return for a score to open the second half that ignited the Blue Devils to a 39-16 region 2-5A championship win over host River Ridge High School Friday in Port Richey. Clay senior running back Colin Wilson, nursing a sore ankle, still barraged the River Ridge defense for 187 rushing yards and three scores; all 40-plus yard jaunts.

“Coach told me that our offense needed a spark and that a good kickoff return would help,” said Jenkins, who narrowly missed a first half kickoff touchdown by half the width of his cleat that was deemed out of bounds 46 yards from his start point. “I almost broke one in the first quarter, but stepped out of bounds. The second one, I made sure I stayed away from the sideline.”

Clay’s third region title in the past four years sets up a state semifinal showdown with unbeaten Ponte Vedra High School, 13-0 and coached by former Clay High coach Matt Toblin.

“It’ll be a good matchup,” said Clay coach Joshua Hoekstra, shortly after learning about Ponte Vedra winning the region 1-5A title against Rickards. “I got a lot of friends on that staff.”

Final Four fun facts

The rest of the Final Four lineup does not make the Blue Devils’ journey any less daunting with Tampa Jesuit and American Heritage set to clash with both teams still unbeaten in 2016. American Heritage won state titles in 2013 (over Clay High 66-8) and 2014 before falling to eventual 2015 champion Bishop Moore in that region final.

Toblin’s Sharks, led by senior quarterback No. 12 Nick Tronti’s 2,755 passing yards and 29 touchdowns and senior wideout No. 5 Marshall Few’s 53 catches with nine touchdowns, had to hold off a game Tallahassee Rickards team to take the region 1-5A title 30-21 in a thriller also on Friday night.

Ponte Vedra’s regional opener was a 51-19 blowout of Yulee while the next two were a bit dicier with Ribault falling 35-32 despite a second half comeback and the final against Rickards. Rickards scored three times in the first half and racked up 350 yards of offense, but still fell short to the Sharks. Rickards could not score on two drives that ended inside the Ponte Vedra 10 yard line. Tronti accounted for four scores with three off his 93 yards rushing and one off his 206 yards on 12 of 18 passing to snag the Ponte Vedra win.

The Sharks attack centers around Tronti’s arm with a 235.6 yards per game passing average and a 165 yards per game on the ground. The Sharks’ defense has 20 interceptions. Besides Few’s 53 catches, Ponte Vedra has senior J.D. Pirris, No. 1, with 44 catches and seven scores and senior Jake McGuire, No. 7, catching 29 passes with three scores.

Against Rickards, on fourth and 20, Few caught a 37 yard strike that led to a Ponte Vedra 35 yard field goal and a 23-21 halftime lead.

Against River Ridge, the Clay defense got stung twice by the Royal Knights passing attack with quarterback Trevor Hawks hitting wideout Dylan Spaeth behind Clay safety Raequan Williams for a 7-0 first quarter lead. Hawks was methodical in exploiting the Blue Devil secondary with three passes penetrating the Clay defense to set up the touchdown pass from 23 yards out.

“Getting down 10 points and coming back with 39 points was just a matter of settling down on defense,” said Clay coach Joshua Hoekstra. “It’s been a long day, traveling, getting here this afternoon and waiting around.”

Clay, without senior running back Colin Wilson in for the first offensive series, had sophomore Cedrick Brown with four handoffs in the first five plays that netted just 20 yards to the Clay 40 before quarterback Caleb Eason misfired twice with passes to send in the Clay punt team.

“He didn’t have as good a practice as we wanted and it showed,” said Hoekstra. “It was good for him to learn.”

River Ridge took over from their own 39 yard line and proceeded to pass their way to the Clay nine yard line before the Blue Devil defense got a coverage sack from defensive tackle Angelo Dorsaingvil to force a 19 yard field goal for the Royal Knights.

“We had to switch our thinking from defending the pass in the secondary to rushing the quarterback in the pocket,” said Clay senior linebacker Rico Schnitzler. “They were not running up the middle where Tobiah (Griffin) and Angelo (Dorsaingvil) were, so we forced them to the corners and those guys did their job.”

After Jenkins jetted down the sideline on the ensuing kickoff where he stepped out of bounds at the 46, Clay, with Wilson now in the backfield, seemed determined to not let the game get away so quickly and proceeded to control the line of scrimmage. With two Wilson runs and two Jenkins passes getting the Blue Devils to the River Ridge 40, Wilson broke off right tackle and rumbled to paydirt for the first of his three scores on the night.

Revved by the ferocity of Wilson’s scoring run, the Clay defense pounded River Ridge into three incompletes and a punt with cornerback Marquez Delafield nearly picking off a Hawks’ pass at the River Ridge 36 yard line.

“We just keep asking the kids to play as hard as they can and “Fletch” set the tone tonight,” said Clay defensive coordinator John Stilianou, referring to defensive tackle William “Fletch” Cornwell. “He played with his hair on fire tonight. Last week, it was Dors (Angelo Dorsaingvil), the week before it was Cody (Cody Devore). This week, Fletch stepped up.”

Clay took over after the punt, but Eason again was misfiring on his passes forcing Jenkins to set up in shotgun position for a play after River Ridge nearly intercepted an Eason pass.

Eason returned after just one play, and with some presumably poignant advice from Hoekstra and offensive coordinator Ryan Wolfe, nailed wideout Ajay Belanger with a 37 yard strike to the River Ridge 24 yard line. Clay went twice to Brown and twice to Wilson to the 11 yard line where Eason again found Belanger for a quick slant to the one inch mark. Clay, after some discussion on the ball placement on the near score, pounded twice behind guard Jarrod Leeds before Brown scored to put Clay up 14-10 with 6:32 left in the half.

“That was the same pass as the Baker County touchdown,” said Belanger. “I thought I was over. We still got the score.”

River Ridge kept to their game plan that got them the region final invite and used four passes to get to the Clay 30, but the Blue Devil defense, led by Cornwell’s sack and quarterback hurry, got its first interception of two on the night, with Delafield cashing in at the Clay 15 yard line in front of a slant pass attempt.

“We wanted to hurry him in the pocket,” said Stilianou. “Once we started getting to him and chasing him, we kind of eliminated the deep ball. Then the secondary started getting opportunity.”

With just 1:56 to halftime, Eason was sacked twice as the half ended at the Clay 38.

As previously mentioned, Jenkins blasted the second half kickoff for a score. Clay’s exuberance after the score proved somewhat fateful as Jenkins was hit for an unsportsmanlike flag on his score while an offsides flag on the actual kickoff put Clay at their own 15 for the ensuing kickoff.

“I felt like the first one should have went all the way,” said Jenkins. “The blockers up front were on target the whole way.”

Luck was on Clay’s side as the kickoff from Chris Hancher traveled to the River Ridge 30 then bounced to the 20 before the returnman was tackled at the 25 yard line.

Dorsaingvil stopped a run play on first down that led to a River Ridge punt from the 34.

Clay’s offense went right back to Eason finding Belanger with another pass near the River Ridge 40, but a spirited tackle added an additional 15 yards to the play and a Clay first down at the River Ridge 22. Clay failed to convert a fourth and inches and lost possession at the River Ridge 17.

“Caleb and me are getting a good connection in the huddle,” said Belanger. “Each game, we are getting more confident in his throws and me going after the ball. That one catch was tough because the guy was all over me.”

River Ridge again went to their pass game and, again, the Clay defense, this time cornerback Jordan Copeland, thwarted the effort with the second interception of the night. Copeland pick was yet another post pattern attempt at the Clay 15 that he returned to the River Ridge 48 yard line behind a crew of Clay blockers.

“The secondary had their eyes where they needed to be,” said Stilianou. “With the heavy pass rush up front, their quarterback was forced to throw earlier then he wanted.”

Wilson would lose two yards on first down, but hammered the Royal Knight defense on second down with a twisting, rumbling ramble through the heart of the defense to score at 5:03 of the third.

On the next River Ridge drive, it was a third cornerback, junior Christian Swilley, who nearly snagged a Hawks’ pass.

After a punt, Clay took over at their own 34 and again Wilson got called to power the ball downfield. With runs of five and eight yards, Wilson went four handoffs to the River Ridge 46 before taking the fifth to the house with a measure of desire in the senior ballcarriers step. Wilson ran off left tackle, got bottled by three tacklers, spun, bolted right to open space, got tripped up near the five yard line, spun again to stay in bounds and dove with one hand on the turf into the end zone to complete the highlight reel effort that put Clay up 33-10 with 1:05 left in the third period.

Hoekstra’s final fourth quarter strategy was simple; 14 straight handoffs to junior tailback Tyler Lewis who plunged in from a yard out for a 39-10 lead with 5:08 left in the game.

River Ridge would score one more for the final 39-16 score.