By Beth Jones
The Warriors scored one touchdown in each of the first three quarters before the Pirates could respond Friday night. The host West Nassau High School football team (6-1) handed Fernandina Beach (5-2) its second loss of the season with a 32-21 victory.
Both teams were coming off their first losses of the season. Fernandina Beach lost to visiting Santa Fe, and host Yulee (6-0) beat West Nassau.
“The last two games we have not played up to par for our team,” said Blake Willis, head football coach at FBHS. “We’re still trying to get some stuff corrected and taught on our end as coaches. We got away with some stuff in the first few games, and it’s come back to bite us here recently.
“We haven’t done a good enough job for these kids the past couple weeks, and we need to do a better job of holding them accountable to what their job is during the work week so we can be successful as a team on Fridays.
“We’re using this bye week to get this stuff corrected so we can finish out this season how we expected to.”
The Warriors rallied from their loss the week before, scoring on a 1-yard run in the first quarter and on a 4-yarder in the second to take a 13-0 first-half lead. West Nassau went up 19-0 before the Pirates answered. D’ante Simms hauled in a pass from Ian Miller for a 56-yard TD.
Simms was back in the end zone in the fourth quarter, scoring on a 20-yard run to chip away at the Warriors’ lead. West Nassau was up 19-13.
The home team tacked on a pair of TDs to extend that lead to 32-13. The Pirates struck again when Miller connected with Elijah Stewart for a 48-yard TD pass to end the scoring.
Miller completed 15 of 25 passes for 228 yards and a pair of TDs. Simms had two receptions for 70 yards, including the 56-yard TD. Stewart had the 48-yard TD pass, and Aydin Poe reeled in three for 42 yards. Beck Rohe had six catches for 33 yards, and Ethan Watts had a trio for 35.
Simms led the ground attack for the Pirates, with four rushes for 66 yards and a TD. Poe had one run for 10 yards.
FBHS’s Garrett Beckstrom had eight tackles and 10 assists, and teammate Kevin Ortiz recorded nine tackles and seven assists. Poe had six stops and three assists, OJ Swift had three tackles and five assists, and Devin Murray had two tackles and six assists.
Andi Ataiza (28 carries for 138 yards and two TDs) and Smo Green (24 for 185 yards and a pair of TDs) were the Warriors’ workhorses Friday night. Avery Griffin had 10 carries for 64 yards and Chris Messer had two for 50. The Warriors had 437 total yards on the ground.
The Pirates are idle this week and head to Yulee on Oct. 10. The Hornets also have a bye week before that matchup.
bjones@nassaunewsline.net
