A stingy defensive performance and big plays on the ground and through the air propelled Zephyrhills to a 35-15 win over Rockledge to advance to the Class 4A-Region 2 semifinals.
With Friday’s win over the Raiders, the Bulldogs have set up a semifinal matchup against top seeded Orlando Jones, a 42-7 winner over Lecanto. The game will be at Camping World Stadium in Orlando.
“It’s always nice to get a playoff win. Now, we have nothing to lose,” said Zephyrhills coach Nick Carroll. “We’ll go in there and play football and play in a nice place. We’ll put our best foot forward, bust our butts this week in practice and go do our thing.”
Carroll’s squad had plenty of support playing in front of packed house at Bulldog Stadium.
“Football is all momentum,” Carroll said. “For us to have a good crowd and be loud and all that, definitely helps. We started slow, but we got it going.”
Rockledge lit up the board first with 5:00 left in the first quarter with its running attack when senior running back Jaelyn Bradley dashed 15 yards down the right sideline for a touchdown.
The momentum quickly turned when Zephyrhills senior linebacker Tristan Lennon scooped up a fumble on a bad pitch and took off for a 53-yard defensive touchdown. The two-point conversion failed and the Bulldogs trailed 7-6.
The offense showed up late in the second quarter when senior receiver DJ Pickett took a quick pass and took off 58 yards, making plenty of moves, to score. The two-point conversion was successful and the Bulldogs took a 14-7 into the locker room at halftime.
On the defensive side, junior Deori Pope had a pair of interceptions and defended several other pass attempts to shut down Rockledge’s passing attack.
“I’m really proud of these kids,” said Zephyrhills coach Nick Carroll. “Our defense played pretty good. Rockledge is athletic on both sides of the ball.”
Zephyrhills quarterback Xzavier Jackson hit Pickett again, this time with a 36-yard TD pass to extend the lead. The Bulldogs’ kicking game, which has been lacking most of the season, showed up at the right time. Ethan Stone booted his first of three PATs.
Bulldog running back Roe Miller got his turn to put points on the board when he went 12 yards for a touchdown. Stone kicked his second PAT and the Bulldogs were up comfortably 28-7 in the third quarter.
Saniiyn Black scored the Bulldogs second defensive touchdown to put a dagger in the Raiders. Rockledge was able to take advantage of a late Zephyrhills fumble and score a touchdown late in the fourth quarter.