Port St. Joe stops Franklin County

PORT ST. JOE – Too many and too much of the host Tiger Sharks spelled defeat for Franklin County Friday night at Shark Field.

Port St. Joe had six players combined to rush for 344 yards and five different players score touchdowns as the Tiger Sharks dominated from the opening whistle of a 38-6 victory.

In snapping a three-game losing streak, Port St. Joe (2-3, 1-1 in District 4-1A) also kept its playoff hopes alive while rendering the mathematics a daunting equation for the Seahawks (2-4, 0-2).

“We’ve been there the last three weeks, we’ve just been sluggish and we’ve been playing some pretty good football teams,” said Port St. Joe coach Vern Barth. “This was a big game for us. We came out very focused.

“We knew we needed to set the tone early.”

That the Tiger Sharks most certainly did.

Port St. Joe’s control of the first half was utterly total.

The Tiger Sharks had 39 offensive plays for 271 yards while holding the Seahawks to 11 offensive plays and 48 total yards.

Port St. Joe scored on its first five possessions, eating up the clock with just one drive fewer than eight plays. The Tiger Sharks also benefited from superb field possession, starting only one march as deep as their own 20 – and needing just two plays and an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty to score on that possession.

Meanwhile, the Seahawks had just two first downs in the first 24 minutes, fumbled twice to set up Port St. Joe touchdowns and failed to generate any momentum.

“Ouch,” said Franklin County coach Josh Wright after a second consecutive trip into Gulf County – the Seahawks were at Wewahitchka last week – ended in a loss. “From the get-go, they had us pegged. They did their homework. On defense, we would go inside and they would go outside. We’d go outside, they’d go inside.

“We just didn’t do the job. They did.”

Port St. Joe took the opening kickoff and marched methodically to the Franklin County 14 before stalling and settling for a Daniel May 31-yard field goal.

The Tiger Sharks would not be denied the end zone again in the half.

Port St. Joe stopped Franklin County on downs and took over at their 20 following a Seahawk punt.

Quarterback Trevor Lang – back in the lineup after losing three weeks to a shoulder injury – sprinted for 26 yards and another 15 yards was tacked on after a horse collar tackle.

Natrone Lee (a game-high 133 yards on 11 carries) burst over the right side of the line on a counter play from the Seahawk 40 one play later for the touchdown and May made it 10-0.

Franklin County’s Dwayne Griggs fumbled on the first play of the next drive, the Tiger Sharks recovering at the Seahawk 47. Eight plays later freshman Travarous Riley went 9 yards for Port St. Joe and it was 17-0 after May’s extra point kick.

After holding Franklin County three-and-out on its next possession, Port St. Joe got the ball back at its 43 following a punt and 10 plays later it was Walt Bowers from the 6 for a touchdown, the extra point kick blocked.

May turned that setback around on the ensuing kickoff when he drilled his kick into the leg of a Seahawk and Chase Nichols pounced on the loose ball to give Port St. Joe possession at the Franklin 43.

Eight plays later it was freshman Jarkeice Davis (99 rushing yards) catching a 7-yard pass from Lang for the touchdown. May’s extra point made it 30-0 at intermission.

Leonard Green caught a 6-yard pass from Zachary Armistead to get Franklin County on the board on the opening drive of the second half, but the extra point kick failed and that was the Seahawk highlight for the night.

Corey North rushed in from the 7 in the final four minutes, Lang hitting Lee for two points to complete the scoring.