St. Johns Country Day School pitcher Brayden Harris, the workhorse for Spartans' second state title in the past three years with the senior on the mound for both Final Four games, was selected as the Class 1A Dairy Farmer Player of the Year, while SJCDS Coach Tom Lucas won Coach of the Year honors after the team beat Schoolhouse Prep in the state semifinals and 6-2 against Orangewood in the state championship.

"I've been training since I was 12 to be ready to win a state high school title and to be able to lead my teammates as much as I could," said Harris, after a strategic coaching move by Lucas got Harris out of the semifinal before pitch counts would keep him from the final game. "Coach Lucas and my teammates knew I was ready to deliver."

Harris was also a lead batter for the Spartans with a truckload of homers and key hits in the Spartans’ region to state run. In St. Johns’ district championship 10-0 win over St. Joseph Academy, Harris had 17 strikeouts. Against Rocky Bayou Christian in the region quarterfinal, a 15-0 blowout, Harris hit a homer and had 12 strikeouts.

In the first of a two-game series against University Christian in the region semifinals, a 4-2 win, Harris had 10 strikeouts. In Game 2, an 8-2 Spartan win, Harris blasted two homers as the designated hitter.

In the two-game series win over St. John Paul II in the region finals, Harris struck out 15 batters in a Game 1, 5-1 win, and in Game 2, a 10-5 win, Harris hit a homer and double for four runs batted in.

Marjory Stoneman Douglas High senior pitcher Gio Rojas, who led his team to a 28-6 record and the Class 7A state title, was the first repeat winner in the 34-year history of the Dairy Farmer Mr. Baseball award, and it marked the fourth time in the past five years a Stoneman Douglas player won the award.

For Rojas, who finished the season with an 11-1 record, an 0.58 ERA and 124 strikeouts in 73 innings pitched, with only 17 walks, the repeat selection was an unprecedented selection. Rojas also had a .312 batting average with five home runs and 25 runs batted in. Over the past two years he had a combined record of 24-1 with an 0.77 ERA and 244 strikeouts in 141 innings pitched with 33 walks. He has signed to play baseball with the University of Miami.

Previously selected the Class 7A Player of the Year, Rojas tallied 152 points and garnered 10 of the 21 first-place votes in winning this year’s award. Finishing as runner-up with 130 points and nine first-place votes was Class 3A POY Coleman Borthwick of South Walton, while Class 1A POY Harris of St. Johns Country Day was third (69). Rounding out the voting were Class 2A POY Tavis Honeycutt of Newberry (43), Class 6A POY Nick Sabatino of St. Thomas Aquinas (31), Class 5A POY Ryan Harless of Mosley (17), Class 4A POY Samir Mohammed of Tampa Jesuit (10), and Rural Class POY Jeffrey Brugh of Union County (10).

For the Florida Dairy Farmers Mr. Baseball coach of the year selections, Nick Borthwick of South Walton High School has been named the Florida Dairy Farmers 2026 Baseball Coach of the Year following a final round of voting by a statewide panel of high school baseball coaches and media representatives. Borthwick led his team to a 30-4 record this season and won the Class 3A state title, the first state championship in school history. In 16 years at South Walton he has a 213-86 record, including a 106-23 mark the past four years with state runner-up finishes in 2024 and 2025.

Previously selected as the Class 3A COY, Borthwick won the overall award with seven first-place votes and 128 points, followed by Class 7A COY Todd Fitzgerald of Stoneman Douglas with seven first-place votes and 109 points.

Class 6A COY Joe Wardlow of St. Thomas Aquinas finished third (49), followed in the voting by Class 2A COY Jon Murphy of Trinity Christian (46), Class 5A COY Mike Gauger of Tallahassee Lincoln and Class 4A COY Miguel Menendez of Tampa Jesuit (43), Rural Class COY Jiwan James of Union County (34) and Class 1A COY Lucas of St. Johns Country Day (5).

Lucas finished with a 26-8 season record with 53-12 runs scored vs. runs scored against slate in the region to state playoff run.

The Florida Dairy Farmers High School Sports Awards program exemplifies Florida Dairy Farmers' commitment to the state's youth. This is the 34th year of these unique awards as we honor the state's top athletes and coaches in FHSAA sanctioned and recognized sports. The program also emphasizes to young people the importance of keeping dairy products a primary part of their diet in their overall nutrition plan.

Knights add two more weapons

By Randy Lefko

randy@claytodayonline.com

OAKLEAF - With two-year quarterback Jack McKissock leaving a void by graduation at the most critical position on the Knights' roster , Oakleaf High football coach Chris Foy smiles coyly when asked who will be his quarterback in 2026.

"We have pretty good depth at that position now; three guys battling for the spot," said Foy, at a recent practice the week of June 12. "We got two guys that are going to bring a whole new look to our offense."

The two puzzle pieces for Foy; Mandarin High transfer Malik Morrison, a senior, and Riverside High transfer Jaidan Delaune, also a senior, both bring unique skill sets to the position that will, more than likely, raised the expectations for the Knights offense more than 6,000 yards and 60 touchdowns that McKissock put on the field in his two-year tenure.

"Jack was a great quarterback because he had great pocket presence and made great decisions in big games to get wins," said quarterback coach Rodney DuBose. "Jack could run and he could get downfield when chased, but these two guys can go 60 yards on a play whether it is scripted or whether it is leaving the pocket."

Both Delaune and Morrison have incredible athletic ability; strong arms, fleet feet (both near 4.7 second 40 speed) and both coming from highly potent offensive schemes from their respective former programs.

Statistically, Delaune was a starter for Riverside with 2,046 yards and 21 scores last year with big games of 408 yards (5 TDs) in 64-45 shootout loss with Ed White and a 361 (5TDs) night in a 47-41 shootout loss to St. Augustine last year.

Delaune also added 144 yards rushing against St. Augustine and 120 yards rushing against Fleming Island (42-33 loss) to add to his resume.

Those numbers for Delaune were despite a 2-8 overall record that was against as rugged a schedule as anyone in north Florida; Oakleaf (6A region quarters), Ribault, St. Augustine (4A region finalist), Raines (3A champions), Trinity Christian Academy (1A state semifinalist) and Bolles (2A runner-up), all region playoff finishers last year.

"Jaidan is the total package," Foy said. "He can throw, he can run and he can run an offense. Just look at his stats."

For Morrison, the transfer to Oakleaf amidst the intensity of the rivalry between the two schools may have brought some tension in the early practices, but Morrison also had two years prior to Mandarin at Raines. That note alone puts Morrison on two of the more dynamic and offensively prolific teams in north Florida with Raines owning season records of 13-1 and 10-2 for Morrison's freshman and sophomore seasons at Raines combined with an 11-2 record last year at Mandarin with Mandarin falling 27-20 to Buchholz in the region final.

"Coming to Oakleaf gives me a better opportunity to be a bigger part of their program," said Morrison, who had limited duty last year for Mandarin; nine games with just 21 passes and one score behind starter Knox Annis, a sophomore last year, with 2203 yards and 22 touchdowns. "I'm a double threat quarterback. I could run it, I could throw it."

In the Knight's spring game dominance at Andrew Jackson High (Jackson and Terry Parker) last month, Delaune and Morrison combined for seven touchdowns in the overwhelming offensive onslaught by Oakleaf.

"I got good reps in both games, but had a hurt shoulder after the Terry Parker scrimmage," Morrison said. "The Oakleaf football family has been great since I got here."

For Foy and DuBose, the question of who will start in August will come down to game situations.

"It's not a bad situation to have; two top notch quarterbacks," Foy said. "We got two guys that played behind Jack (McKissock) last year that know the system."