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Baker tops West Nassau in Kickoff Classic

Photos by JUD JOHNSON

The Baker County Wildcats overcame two tumultuous weeks of bizarre conditions and heartache by showing their grit and determination during their annual Kickoff Classic, Friday night at Memorial Field in Macclenny. The Cats are dealing with a life altering practice injury to one of their varsity players, as well as overcoming a flu like virus that swept through the team and

Hank Farmer #30 with the hand-off from Darvin Ruise #1 looks for the end zone.

caused an early end to preseason training camp. Those two event were compounded by last weeks tropical storm which cost last years District 3-3A champions several vital days of practice.

"The fact that we were able to go on the field and focus is a very good thing and I am proud of these guys for that," Wildcat Head Coach Bobby Johns said in praise of his squad after the game.

John’s team has dedicated their season to teammate Milton Johnson who suffered a spinal injury while making a tackle at practice. Johnson is currently being treated at Shands Hospital in Jacksonville. In tribute to Johnson, the Wildcats have replaced their traditional B/C decal with his number (21) on their helmets.

Baker County was joined by West Nassau and the Florida High School Athletic Association in

Baker's #24 Greg Williams meets West Nassau's #24 Matt Peebles head to head. Peebles formerly played for the Wildcats.

donating a large percentage of the games gate admission to the Johnson family. Johnson’s father was on hand and he joined Coach Johns and the entire stadium in prayer for the injured Wildcats recovery.

In the preseason game, which had been moved to Macclenny after last weeks heavy rains left the Warriors field a muddy mess, the varsity squads took the field in the first half and during the opening possessions of the third quarter, before giving way to the junior varsity players.

Baker drove the ball with solid runs from Greg Williams, Harold Moore, Ruben Jackson and Hank Farmer. Starting quarterback Darvin Ruise displayed speed and dexterity until he injured his foot. The Cats showed good depth when Kendrick Sampson came in as backup QB.

Harold "Badness" Moore #15 makes the catch for the first down.

The Cats have some trouble with their offensive front line blocking. Despite being hit with a large number of penalties, the young lineman seemed to settle in as the game progressed. Their blocking was key as Ruise ran a quarterback keeper into the end zone late in the first quarter, for the games first score. The extra point kick went wide but the Cats had a six point lead.

The action came to a screeching halt as game officials sent teams off the field due to lightning in the area. The weather delay lasted for over an hour.

After the delay the teams traded possessions with Baker’s defense racking up some big tackles. James Treece, Cody Wheeler, Jarvis Simmons, Hank Farmer, Harold Moore and Thomas Braddy all laid some bone jarring hits on the Warriors.

This touchdown pulls the Cats ahead.

The Cats gave West Nassau two points when they snapped the ball over the punters head into the end zone for a safety, After the ensuing free kick from the twenty yard line, the Warriors drove down the field for their only score of the varsity action. They shanked the extra point kick but took an 8 to 6 lead as the first half clocked ticked away.

The West Nassau crew had deferred after winning the toss and they opened the third quarter by going four and out. The Baker Boys made they pay with a sustained drive, utilizing the shotgun formation to spread the defense and open some running lanes.

Harold Moore capped the scoring drive when he found a crease and cutback across the field on a 34 yard touchdown run. Hank Farmer plowed his way through the defense to add two more to the Wildcats total on the extra point conversion.

The Cats took the preseason game by a final score of 14 to 8 which pleased Coach Johns. "We

West Nassau fights hard to stay in it.

were able to run our offense early in the game. We didn’t want to show a lot of our plays, wasn’t planning on much…but we showed our gun offense to win the game which was important. We have some more work to do including working on reducing penalties. Those we had tonight came in bad situations on scoring drives," he said.

The Wildcats will start their regular season off with three home games in a row, beginning next Friday night when the Union County Tigers come to town for another in the ongoing series of big rivalry games. The heat will be on as the Wildcats look to improve on last seasons 10 and 2 record and repeat as district champs.