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Dreadnaughts, Raiders power up for Final Four football runs

By Randy Lefko Sports Editor
Posted 4/20/22

ORANGE PARK - In what could have been one of the more exciting Saturday afternoons in youth football in Clay County, the Fleming Island Dreadnaughts and the Orange Park AA Raiders organization stood …

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Dreadnaughts, Raiders power up for Final Four football runs


Posted

ORANGE PARK - In what could have been one of the more exciting Saturday afternoons in youth football in Clay County, the Fleming Island Dreadnaughts and the Orange Park AA Raiders organization stood tall with thrilling wins at the Youth Spring Football League playoff conference championships as teams battled for a ticket to the Orlando Final Four championship weekend on the May 1 weekend.

Teams will be playing at the Austin Tindall Sports Complex in Orlando with ages ranging from 6-Unders to 15-Unders.

Youth Spring Football is an 8-man youth tackle football league that operates in the Spring from late February to early May. In 2008, the league started with only 12 teams in Florida and now has over 200 teams in Florida along with hosting the tournament in four other states. YSF provides a Division 1 (competitive) and Division 2 (developmental) tournament program that includes both a regular season schedule and a playoff cycle through to a State Championship game, that delivers a “Professional like” experience to all youth football players.

In Saturday’s action, Fleming Island’s Dreadnaughts (12-Under, Div 2) rode the wave of emotion from the recent loss of teammate Connor McKay to cancer to push through a tough game against the MOT team out of Jacksonville for a comeback 20-12 region championship win in the 12-Under Division 2 bracket. McKay succumbed to a brain cancer recently after being a defensive end stalwart for the 10-Under Dreadnaughts that made the Orlando trip last year.

Fleming Island will play the SE region champion Down South Ballers out of the Royal Palm Beach area who won a 25-7 region title over the South Florida Bengals.

Fleming Island had wins of 22-0 over the Clay Chargers and 28-14 over the Volusia Tigers to advance to the conference final.

The Down South Ballers had shutouts of 28-0 and 18-0 to advance.

The other two teams in the Final Four are the Sarasota Devils; winners of 30-0 and 35-0 to advance and the Inbound Warriors, winners at 15-0 and 21-19 to advance.

In the 14-Under Div.2 championship game, Orange Park won a 14-6 grudge match against the Oakleaf Renegades to advance with the Renegades winning at 12-6 match over the Volusia Tigers to advance while Orange Park beat Skill University 19-0 to advance.

Orange Park (4-2) will play the Boynton Beach Bulldogs (4-0-2), who won games of 20-15, 25-0 and 20-0 to advance, in their Final Four opener.

The other two teams in that Final Four are the W. Orange Wildcats out of Orlando and the Elite NE team out of Tampa.

In the 14-Under Division 1 championship game, the Dreadnaughts won a 6-0 game over the Melbourne Ducks to advance to play the Volusia Raiders A, a 13-12 winner in their region final over the Palm Beach Gardens Gators.

In the NE 6-Unders Div. 3 Bowl game, the Clay Chargers lost a 19-12 match to the St. Johns Crusaders.

In the 10-Unders, Fleming Island’s Dreadnaughts lost a 22-8 match to the St. Johns County Crusaders.

In 12-Unders, Orange Park beat the New Smyrna Beach Cudas 20-0 while the Orange Park Raiders D2 team beat the Clay Chargers 29-0 to advance to that final.

Area Spring Football

Mon., April 25: First Spring Practice (non-contact)

Sat, April 30: First Spring Practice (contact)

Spring Games

FRIDAY, MAY 13

Jacksonville Sandalwood at Jacksonville First Coast, 6

Lake Butler Union County at The Villages, 7

SATURDAY, MAY 14

Jacksonville Eagle’s View at Jacksonville Wolfson, 6:30

TUESDAY, MAY 17

St. Johns Creekside vs. Glen St. Mary Baker County at Memorial Stadium, 6:30

THURSDAY, MAY 19

Fleming Island at Jacksonville Mandarin, 6:30

Jacksonville North Florida Educational at Jacksonville Providence, 7

St. Augustine at Jacksonville Bishop Kenny, 7

Jacksonville Trinity Christian at Neptune Beach Fletcher, 6

Jacksonville Westside at St. Augustine Menendez, 7

Jamborees

Lake Minneola, Orange Park at Ocoee, 6

FRIDAY, MAY 20

Jacksonville Atlantic Coast at Jacksonville Andrew Jackson, 6:30

St. Johns Bartram Trail at Lake City Columbia, 7

Belleview vs. Gainesville Eastside, 7

Jacksonville Ed White at Ponte Vedra Nease, 7

Jacksonville Englewood at Baldwin, 6

Jacksonville Paxon at Callahan West Nassau, 7

Jamborees

Tallahassee Chiles, Tallahassee Leon, Tallahassee

Lincoln, Tallahassee Rickards, Crawfordville Wakulla vs. Tallahassee Godby at Gene Cox Stadium, 6

MONDAY, MAY 23

Middleburg at Keystone Heights, 7

Orange Park Ridgeview at Fort White, 6:30

WEDNESDAY, MAY 25

St. Augustine St. Joseph at Jacksonville Episcopal, 7

THURSDAY, MAY 26

Ponte Vedra at Green Cove Springs Clay, 6:30

FRIDAY, MAY 27

Yulee at St. Augustine Tocoi Creek, 7