Bartram Trail uses late touchdown to survive Ponte Vedra, remain undefeated

Bartram Trail drove 65 yards in 45 seconds to beat Ponte Vedra in a matchup of St. Johns County’s last two unbeatens.

The margin of victory was the width of an upright.

Who wound up being victorious because remained a mystery until the final 25 seconds. Bartram Trail and Ponte Vedra have come down to the buzzer multiple times over the years. Friday’s encounter may have been the zaniest ending yet.

Bartram Trail beat Ponte Vedra 29-27 to remain undefeated.

The Bears (6-0) needed a hook-and-lateral to win the game. Quarterback Chad Dodson found senior receiver Brandon Chim on a hitch. Instead of turning up field, or toward the sidelines, Chim pitched the ball to A.J. Jones, who surprised the Sharks for the final yards of a 25-yard touchdown connection.

Darrell Sutherland, who has seen enough hair-raising conclusions to the Bartram-Ponte Vedra series, said the play is one the Bears run frequently. Bartram’s head coach said his team’s poise is what allowed them to stare a fourth-quarter deficit in the face, on the road, against the No. 9 team in Class 6A and not blink.

“We just kept playing,” Sutherland said. “They have a really good football team. That’s a credit to them. They were taking away things that we wanted to do and they were making plays. It was a great football game.”

That it came down to the waning seconds was evidence of the self-belief of the Sharks (5-1).

Chim’s 38-yard touchdown reception with 3:36 remaining gave the visiting Bears a 23-13 lead.

The Sharks had not scored in more than 35 minutes. Yet, senior right guard Connor Mahoney refused to let his teammates sink their heads. In that moment, Sharks wide receiver Aidan Lingenfelger was not sure whether the comeback would be on. Whatever doubts Lingenfelger’s mind was letting creep in, his body was refusing to execute.

 
 
 
 
 
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Ponte Vedra quarterback R.J. Glod found Lingenfelger for a 40-yard pass with three minutes remaining to give Ponte Vedra a first down at the Bartram Trail 13. Mikey Stephens capped off the drive with a 5-yard touchdown run, following a hole created by Mahoney and Kevin Butler, with 2:10 remaining.

The surprises were only beginning.

Ponte Vedra kicker Neil McDonough recovered the onside kick at the Bartram Trail 43. Stevens picked up a yard on first down. From there, the Sharks placed their undefeated hopes in Glod’s hands.

Ponte Vedra’s quarterback looked downfield twice, only to see his passes broken up by Bartram’s Tre’Vez Johnson and Craig Sinclair. The passes were in position to be caught; the two Division I commitments made better plays to bat it away.

Fourth-and-nine from the 42, facing a secondary that has three Division I prospects and is considered one of the best in Northeast Florida is usually not a recipe for success. None of that mattered to Glod.

He rolled to his right, on a play designed to hit a receiver in the middle of the field. Instead, he saw Lingenfelger in one-on-one coverage. The pass was perfect. So was the defensive back’s placement. Lingenfelger leapt to catch the football for a Ponte Vedra touchdown with 70 seconds to go.

“It was a crazy one. We started fast, set the tone early. The defense kept us in it in the second half,” said Lingenfelger, who finished with six catches for 110 yards and the go-ahead touchdown. “The offense stalled and then we made plays at the end. We just came up short.”

Friday night was the second straight contest, Bartram Trail’s defense held an opponent scoreless for more than 35 minutes; yet, ended the game victorious, in part, because the bounces favored the Bears instead of their opponents.

Jones returned Ponte Vedra’s kickoff to the Bartram 35.

Eric Weatherly ran for 12. Dodson ran for 10 more. Dodson found Zach Rhodes for 25 yards in the middle of the field. Those three plays, put the Bears in position to try virtually anything from the Ponte Vedra 25 yard line with 50 seconds remaining.

Two plays later, they did.

“It was Houston B. I knew it. They were playing Cover 2 on Chim. We threw the hitch. They bit down on it. As soon as he caught it, he pitched it to me. Everyone was inside and they didn’t know I had the ball. What I did from there was I saw the end zone and put it in there.”

Everyone in white knew who had the football.

Jones has scored multiple touchdowns in every game this season. Friday was no exception. He ran 19 times for 109 yards and a rushing touchdown and caught two passes for 32 yards and the game-winning touchdown.

 
Friday night was the first time in 13 years two undefeated St. Johns County programs met this late into the season. Then, and now, the game was an instant classic that will be discussed in the weeks and years to come.

Where Will Grieg’s 24-yard field goal is placed in the future discourse of the game remains to be seen. His effort, with 1:08 remaining in the third quarter, hit the right upright and bounced in to give Bartram a 16-13 lead — the Bears’ first of the night.

“It was a dogfight until the end,” said Ponte Vedra football coach Jeff DiSandro. It’s everything we anticipated it being. At halftime we thought. They are going to fight and scrap until the very end. They did a fantastic job. They are a very good team. ...They are big, strong, fast (and) athletic. They have good leadership. They are coached really well. I have everything positive to say in the world about Coach Sutherland and Bartram. It was nice competing against him tonight. It was awesome.”