By Beth Jones
It was a semifinal showdown between county rivals on Friday night. The West Nassau High School football team hosted Fernandina Beach in the semifinal round of the Sunshine State Athletic Association’s Atlantic division. The West Nassau Warriors rolled to 12-1 with a 20-10 victory over the Pirates (7-6).
West Nassau takes on American Heritage at 7 p.m. Friday in the championship game. The game will be played at The Villages Charter High School.
The season came to an end for the FBHS Pirates.
“Overall I think it was a good year in the sense that we made strides as a program,” said Blake Willis, second-year head football coach at Fernandina Beach. “We ended with a winning record for the first time since 2020, we still were competing to be in the SSAA state title game, and our production in all three phases of the game were improved from last year. We were planning on having a better regular season record, but we still were in the fight to the end for most of the games we lost in the back half of the season.”
West Nassau struck first Friday night, scoring on a 1-yard run in the first quarter. The Pirates evened the score in the second quarter when Beckham Rohe hauled in a 40-yard pass from Ian Miller. The score was knotted at 7-7 at halftime.
The Warriors scored the lone TD of the third quarter on a 19-yard run to take a 14-7 lead, which was cut by three with a 33-yard Hudson Kenner field goal in the fourth quarter. The Warriors scored again on a 10-yard run.
Miller completed 11 of 18 passes for 131 yards. Rohe had four catches for 67 yards, Aydin Poe had three for 30, Ethan Watts had a pair for 16, and Khordel White (15 yards) and D’ante Simms (3) had one reception apiece. Simms also had 27 yards rushing, and Miller had 19.
Traivon Martin and Poe anchored the defense with six solo tackles and eight assists each. Kevin Ortiz had four stops and three assists, and OJ Swift had three tackles and six assists. Watts had two tackles and nine assists, and Cayden McKinstrie and Garrett Beckstrom had two tackles and six assists apiece.
Willis is excited about what lies ahead for the Pirates.
“I think the future is bright for our program,” he said. “We’ve got lots of things in place to take another leap next season. I know we’re all looking forward to it.”
