A two-month football game? How Bishop Kenny is tackling hectic schedule

Monday. Friday. Monday. Friday.

Not a bad sports schedule for golf, or swimming. But for high school football?

That's been the wild recent pattern for Bishop Kenny, which completed the third leg of a hectic 12-day gridiron schedule on Oct. 19 by finishing off a 49-21 victory over North Florida Educational Institute — a game that kicked off in the dog days of August.

That game was halted by thunderstorms in Week 1 on Aug. 21, with Bishop Kenny ahead 35-14 at the time with 4:28 remaining in the fourth quarter. Rather than declaring it final, the teams agreed to play the final minutes on a late-season Monday.

It probably didn't seem so strange at the time. But when Hurricane Isaias pushed back the Crusaders' Week 8 game against Raines, Bishop Kenny

suddenly faced a bizarrely-compressed football schedule: Oct. 12 vs. Raines (make-up from Week 8), Oct. 16 against Zarephath Academy (regularly-scheduled Week 9 game), Oct. 19 with the remaining four-plus minutes against NFEI (suspended game from Week 1) and Oct. 23 at Parker (regularly-scheduled Week 10 district finale).

"Our kids like playing," Bishop Kenny coach Tim Krause said. "You'd much rather this, I think, than have a long break like a hurricane week or something. So it's been fun."

Crusaders senior running back Caleb Mattison said the team has adjusted well to the unusual workload.

"We've just got to manage it by having a good practice schedule, managing the load of our players, especially at certain positions, having players sit out during certain periods and stretching, and taking recovery very serious as a team," Mattison said.

Once Bishop Kenny and NFEI met once more on the Arques Road field Monday afternoon, the game of two months took a little more time to finish, with 23 minutes of real time required to play the remaining 4:28.

Bishop Kenny's Jerald Dewdney scored a touchdown off a strip-sack and Mattison picked up where he left off by rushing to the end zone for his fourth score of the game. Mattison had run for three touchdowns in the August portion of the game before the interruption, and his performance Monday — together with his 200-plus rushing yards from the first three quarters, which only now became official — lifted him above 5,000 for his Crusader career.

Make-up time is on the way soon for several other football contests pushed back by weather. Beachside plans to play its rained-out game at Port St. Lucie Legacy at 6 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 26. That game comes fewer than 72 hours after the Barracudas' planned District 2-5A finale at Fletcher.

In Clay County, both the Clay-Fleming Island and Orange Park-Middleburg games will resume on Tuesday, Nov. 3, at 6:30 p.m. and 6 p.m., respectively, following halftime storm interruptions stemming from Hurricane Isaias. Clay leads Fleming Island 11-6 and Middleburg leads Orange Park 15-13.

Those games are likely to affect the battle for at-large playoff spots in Region 1-4A, and could potentially decide the District 4-4A victor if Fleming Island upsets 8-0 St. Augustine on Oct. 23.

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Columbia fans rally for national T-Mobile contest

Through nine weeks of football, Columbia stands 8-0 and at the top of the USA TODAY Florida Network rankings for Class 4A.

Now, fans in Lake City are taking aim at a different prize, one that could upgrade students' experience for years to come.

Columbia has earned selection as a division finalist in telecommunications company T-Mobile's Friday Night 5G Lights competition, with fans voting to determine which of 10 schools from the Southeast advances closer to a grand prize of $1 million toward improvements in football facilities.

Fans can vote once per day at t-mobile.com through the contest's end on Oct. 25. As of the vote tallies released Oct. 19, Columbia ranked second in votes in the Southeast behind Covington (La.).

By making the regional list, Columbia has already received a $25,000 prize. They'll also earn a promotional visit from T-Mobile representatives for the Oct. 23 homecoming game against Yulee.

T-Mobile is scheduled to announce the divisional champions on Oct. 29.

Senator trio headlines Gateway v-ball list

Gateway Conference volleyball champion Fletcher earned three selections on the All-Gateway team following last week's tournament for Duval County public schools.

Junior middle blocker Chelsea Akakatang, senior outside hitter Amelia Richter and junior setter Juliette Watson represented the Senators after defeating Wolfson to end a four-year Gateway drought.

Also named to the 12-player list were Kaia Carpenedo and Payton Jones, from Atlantic Coast; Grace Gottberg and Tynlee Jarrell, from Baldwin; Kyla Hollis, from Mandarin; Grishma Maddukuri, from Stanton; and Emma Mae Abernathy, Averie Porter and Carter Rowell from Wolfson.

Blue Devils dominate Gateway bowling

The three-peat is on for Stanton.

Led by a two-game 515 series for Bailey Forrest, the Blue Devils repeated as Gateway Conference bowling champions in the annual tournament held Oct. 13 at Batt Family Fun Center on Jacksonville's Westside.

Stanton dominated the competition with 2,073 pins, far ahead of runner-up Sandalwood and third-place Baldwin. Stanton's three-year streak ties Fletcher (2004-06) and Mandarin (2021-23) for the county's longest.

In addition to Forrest, the Blue Devils' Isabella Ricketts, Gemma Mathews and Mya Greene also placed in the top eight. All-Gateway performers also included Delilah Flanagan-Kemp of Baldwin, Mariska Williams of First Coast, Lily Johns of Sandalwood and Sarah Robinson of Wolfson.

The last Gateway tournament of the fall is set for Oct. 22 at Cecil Field, the county's annual public school cross-country championship.

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: A two-month football game? How Bishop Kenny is tackling hectic schedule

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