- April 19, 2024
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Flagler Palm Coast quarterback D.J. Murray did not have his most prolific running back to hand off to or his usual left tackle to protect his blind side.
Running back Marcus Mitchell (sprained ankle) and tackle Drew Droste (knee) sat out the Oct. 7 homecoming game to ensure they would be healthy for this week's important district contest. Down 22-0 to Eau Gallie, Murray could have packed it in. But he decided to put his team on his back.
The junior ran for three touchdowns in a nine-and-a-half minute span and got within three yards of a possible game-tying touchdown and conversion.
But Robert Stafford, a University of Miami commit, intercepted Murray's fluttering pass, released as he was getting hit, and returned it 97 yards for a touchdown with two seconds left to give the Commodores (6-1) a 35-20 victory.
"If (Murray) doesn’t get hit, our kid’s open in the back corner of the end zone," FPC coach Robert Paxia said. "He gets hit. And the ball just got flubbed up in the air. There's a reason (Stafford's) going to Miami. He’s really, really good.
"We persevered," Paxia said. "We battled, we grinded. We never quit. We controlled our effort and our attitude. And that’s all I ever ask them to do."
FPC fell behind 22-0 on Tyler Sheehan's pick-six with 4:11 left in the third quarter. But Murray scored on a 5-yard run with 23 seconds remaining in the quarter to put FPC on the scoreboard. He added a 3-yard touchdown run early in the fourth quarter and scored again from the 2 with three minutes left to make it a one possession game at 28-20.
"We really showed our grit in the second half when we started turning things around," Murray said. "I think we just came out flat. We underestimated them a little bit. And then, once we realized that it was game time, the defense started making big plays, and I just tried to command the offense with as much positivity and leadership as I could, so we could come out here and try to come back into the game."
It was the third time this season the Bulldogs played a game without a full week's rest. They defeated Ponte Vedra 20-17 four days earlier on Monday, Oct. 3.
"We have not mastered the two games in a week. We’re good when we play one game in a week."
— ROBERT PAXIA, FPC football coach
"It’s just not fun to play two in a week," Paxia said. "We played three in a week, then we had a week off, then we played two in a week. It took us a half to get things ironed out on defense, when normally we have an extra day of practice, and we would have fixed those things. We have not mastered the two games in a week. We’re good when we play one game in a week."
The Bulldogs are 4-0 with six days off between games and 0-3 with three days or less between games. Following the Eau Gallie loss, FPC had a full week to prepare for its critical home game against Nease on Friday, Oct. 14.
The Bulldogs will clinch the District 4-4S title and an automatic playoff berth with a victory over the Panthers. With only three teams in the district, the Bulldogs put themselves in the driver's seat with the win at Ponte Vedra.
Nease is just 1-6, but the Panthers have scored 30 or more points in three of their losses. They feature four-star quarterback Marcus Stokes, who is committed to play for the University of Florida. Stokes flipped from his first choice of Penn State, following in former Nease quarterback Tim Tebow's footsteps to Gainesville.
Stokes has passed for over 1,100 yards and rushed for over 400 this season. But he has thrown just seven touchdown passes with eight interceptions. He has nine rushing touchdowns.
"This is just another bump in the road," Murray said after the Eau Gallie game. "Next week is the one that really matters, so we can do something that’s only been done four times here (winning the district). We finally have a week to prepare for Nease. I feel like we’ll have a great week of practice and be really prepared to play this game and win the district title."
