By Beth Jones
The Hornets are in the playoffs. The Yulee High School football team defeated visiting Pedro Menendez 36-12 on Friday night in the regular season finale, and YHS head coach Kyle Dougherty said his team is now moving on to the playoffs.
Yulee will play Nov. 14 in the first round.
“Not sure who yet or where,” Dougherty said.
The Hornets won their first seven games this season before suffering back-to-back losses.
“It was good to bounce back after two losses,” Dougherty said. “The important thing that happened is that we practiced well and prepared the right way, and the result showed itself. It’s a good turnaround of momentum to get ready for the playoffs.
“Menendez is a well-coached team that had something to play for. I’m really happy with how we played start to finish. Defensively, we didn’t commit the same mistakes we had made the last two weeks. And offensively, we had big-play touchdowns for the first time.”
Senior quarterback Jackson Visconti completed 13 of 21 passes for 206 yards and a pair of touchdowns. Pete Kuhlman reeled in five passes for 51 yards and a touchdown, and Tre Vazquez had a 66-yard touchdown reception. Preston Matricardi hauled in three passes for 26 yards, Turtle Ricks had two for 44, and Jaiden Wright (12 yards) and Jayden Timmon (7 yards) had one catch apiece.
Timmon led the rushing attack with 10 carries for 104 yards and a pair of TDs for Yulee. Corbin Fletcher carried the ball 15 times for 63 yards, and Vazquez had four carries for 24 yards. Visconti ran twice for 14 yards.
Jaiden Wright had eight solo tackles and a pair of assists for the Hornet defense. Teagan Rebane had seven solo stops and two assists, Braden McKendree had eight total tackles, JJ Etienne had seven, and Jaison Brown recorded six.
Donovan Attaway had two quarterback sacks, Rebane intercepted a pass, and Shamar Gibbs recovered a fumble.
Kicker Daniel Armenta had successful three point-after attempts and kicked a field goal.
bjones@nassaunewsline.net
