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Eagles bounce Blue Devils

By Ray DiMonda Correspondent
Posted 1/26/22

FLEMING ISLAND - The night prior, after a come-from-behind one point victory over the 7A-Creekside Knights (15-5), the Clay High Blue Devils (8-7) only had 21 hours to refuel before heading into the …

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Eagles bounce Blue Devils


Posted

FLEMING ISLAND - The night prior, after a come-from-behind one point victory over the 7A-Creekside Knights (15-5), the Clay High Blue Devils (8-7) only had 21 hours to refuel before heading into the Eagle’s Nest of Fleming Island High School to take on the Golden Eagles for a Friday night county rival showdown. With a 19-7 fourth quarter and 23 points from Brandon Peavy, Clay battled the Creekside High Knights to the 57-56 win.

“I thought, man is it hard to play back-to-back and keep that intensity up,” said Fleming Island Head Coach Traavis Chandler, still dealing with the anticipated loss of Mandarin transfer guard Bennie McDuffie, still under an FHSAA investigation for residency questions that started when Fleming Island was 9-0, despite taking classes since August. “They had a big one there last night and I thought even at halftime, normally these guys are coming after us. I think it just took a little bit of energy out of them.”

The Clay fuel tank was nowhere near what was needed to mount any sort of challenge as Fleming Island trounced any momentum the Blue Devils could begin to mount on the way to a dominating 68-39 bell ringing as the Golden Eagles moved to 19-1 on the season. The momentum of the win will be critical as the Golden Eagles will host 5A-Orange Park (17-3) on Thursday in a much-ballyhooed county rivalry game.

With the rivalry creating a bit of first quarter jitters, it took a while for both teams to get in into gear as the Golden Eagles did not come out on fire either.

“I thought our energy level was down a little bit early on, but I thought we picked it up a little bit,” and Chandler’s statement was not downplayed.

At the end of the first quarter, once the Golden Eagles found their groove, they took off flying! As the buzzer went off for the first stanza, Fleming Island was up 16-5.

Clay finally started completing passes and hitting from the field as the Blue Devils added another 12 points by half, but the Golden Eagles never let up and put another 18 up as the Golden Eagles led 34-17 at the half. Early in the third, Fleming Island continued to score with ease as they held the Blue Devil advance at bay. Chandler began going deep on the bench to see what sort of tools would he have as the season run moves toward tournament and playoff time.

“Axel Holmquist came off the bench and played some good minutes, especially in the third quarter. He played very good and we are going to need him. That size and that height,” said Chandler. “Gavin Goldblatt also brought some great energy to the game and helped us out.”

Holmquist contributed eight points on the effort as Goldblatt put up five of his own. In the first half, Fleming Island forwardAntoine Sandy led the team with 17 points and went six for six on free throws. Ahman Greenidge backed up his teammate with 11 points of his own as he led the Golden Eagles with nine rebounds. Colton Zapp was held to two points all night.

The second half was all Fleming Island as they mirrored their first half scores of 18 in the third, and 16 more points in the final quarter to amass the 68-39 final.

“We have to come out fast and quick,” reflected Chandler as he looks at the next step he must make as he gets ready for the next county matchup against Orange Park, the most anticipated county match-up for 2022. “Making sure we are ready from the start; right at tipoff. That’s going to be so important as we get into the end of the regular season. Other than that, just the physical part. Setting Screens, boxing out; I think we can always get better.”

After the Orange Park game on Thursday, Fleming Island finishes their regular season with a rematch with Andrew Jackson (18-2), who is the only loss on the Golden Eagles’ record and Providence (16-3), who gave Orange Park their first loss. Fleming Island finishes with Miami Norland visiting on February 5.