These days, Breed is working as a volleyball official, and had grown to being the head official from the first time I saw him working volleyball matches. We talked about various things before the match I was there to cover between Crescent City and Union County that night. We talked PHS softball and how he got to this point as a volleyball official.
Then I reminded him about the last time I covered a match involving him when he was a linesman and the two combatants and how long ago it was. This short look of pain came across his face.
He remembered. I let him know that in 33 years of covering sports, that match still involved the absolute worst judgment call and ending to an event I have ever covered. Let's say he wasn't in a defending mood.
The night was Thursday, October 28, 2010. The site was Interlachen High School. The volleyball match was for the right to play for the District 6-3A championship one night later. The combatants were coach Holly Pickens' Crescent City Junior-Senior High Raiders and Keystone Heights High School, always a tough team in the sport, whose coach, Belinda Phillips, was in her fourth year with the program after she replaced Scott Conkling in the job as he went off to become St. Johns River State College's coach.
That day was a long one for me personally. Not more than two miles away, I was at the West Putnam Recreation Center that afternoon covering the All-Putnam County cross country championship as Palatka's Matt Hurst and Crescent City's Lona Roberts repeated their championships in the event, his third straight, her second.
The event wrapped up sometime before 6 p.m., the volleyball match starting at 7. I certainly wasn't making a 15-mile trip back to Palatka to write this story up and then head back to Interlachen, so I went to the one place I can unwind between events -- and order a Black Forest ham and cheese sandwich at Subway. Hey, it was either Subway or McDonald's since Interlachen doesn't offer a whole heck of a lot of options.
I arrived at Interlachen High, ran into athletic director Ron Whitehurst to say hello, then he hit me with the stunner going into the match.
"Baker County beat Bradford in the first semifinal."
That was a major upset. Bradford was the No. 2 seed and Baker County was the sixth seed of the event. It automatically qualified Baker County for the state tournament regardless of what would happen in Friday night's district final back in the Interlachen High gym.
It also meant -- at least in my head -- that the winner of the match I was there to cover between the Raiders and Indians was most likely going to win the district championship since both teams had beaten Baker County twice during the season.
The Indians were the No. 1 seed of the tournament and had beaten Crescent City twice during the season, but both times in tough four-set matches. The Raiders were primed for an upset with those results on this mid-fall evening.
Keystone Heights' main players on a team that was 23-2 going in were hitters Chelsea Harvin, Meghan Zinkel and Dakota Thacker. Their top servers were Harvin, Madyson Maxwell and Mackenzie Dicks. They were a solid team and understandably the favorites, their only losses in the regular season to a really good Gainesville Eastside High team.
Pickens, in her 28th year as head coach, had a young team that was ready to bust out and make big moves beyond Putnam County's and District 6-3A's borders. Distribution of the ball came from players like libero Steffanie Sheffield, and Karen Leavenworth, while top front-line players were Breanna Stevens and Vicktoria Williams.
But there was no question as to who the best player on the court was that night going in -- it was 6-foot junior sensation Kayshia Brady, a front-line hitter who if you set her up for the kill, she was knocking it down without much doubt. She was our newspaper's player of the year the previous year and was well on her way to repeating that honor.
At the net, Brady looked imposing to the other team, who had some tall players, too. Sometimes, it's just the presence and swag that mean a lot.
The first set showed the Raiders, who came into the match with a 16-8 record, were not intimidated by the Indians. They got out to a 9-5 lead, but a kill by Taylor Semione gave the Indians the ball back at 9-6. Three unforced Raider errors, a kill by Thacker and an ace by Dicks reversed the course of the set and gave the Indians an 11-9 lead.
Stevens put down a kill to stop the run, but the Indians got the ball back off another unforced error and with the help of a Zinkel kill and an ace by Thacker, the Indians built a 15-10 lead. But another momentum shift came upon the set as a Keystone Heights hit out of bounds and gave the Raiders the ball. Leavenworth delivered the next four points on her serve, helped out by Keystone errors and a block by Alexis Sepulveda to tie it at 15-15.
From there, it was just two teams going point for point. Keystone built up a 20-17 lead, but the Raiders didn't go away. Another Indians unforced error made it 20-18 and two more of those unforced errors off Williams serves tied it at 20-20 before a resounding Brady kill gave the Raiders a 21-20 lead.
Already, this first set was worth the price of admission going in. A Crescent City miss-hit gave the Indians the ball back at 21-all, and another error made it 22-21 in Keystone Heights' favor.
But like a lot of rallies for the Raiders, it all got started with a huge hit for a kill by Brady that other teams couldn't handle. And so after she nailed a kill, the Raiders were back at 22-all with Brady getting the serve. An unforced error, followed by a Stevens kill made it 24-22, one point away from the set.
Still, Keystone Heights had one last chance after Chelsea Cravey put a kill down to cut it to a point. But off a Dicks serve, the Raiders set up and it would be Stevens nailing the kill to end it with a 25-23 victory.
This was a great starting point for the Raiders. They had momentum, but they were doing all they can to contain the excitement. They knew the other team on the side of the net all too well.
And so when the Indians jumped out to a 15-3 lead in the second set, it was just a matter of time before they put it away. Crescent City had its moments in the set, including four straight service points by Brady, including an ace, but this was Keystone's set without question. The Indians took the second set handily, 25-12, locking the match at 1-1.
The third set was definitely more challenging. The difference was three or four points in Keystone Heights' favor, then it got to five points at 18-13. It was at that point the Indians made an error and the Raiders took over at 18-14. It was Brady with the ball in her possession, and she knocked the lead down to nothing thanks to Indian unforced errors (there were a lot of those in this match as it got sloppy at times) and a pair of Stevens kills.
Suddenly, the Raiders were leading 19-18. Cravey stopped the run with a kill to tie it up, but once again, Stevens came up huge with another kill to make it 20-19. Now who was going to step up and string points together for the Raiders from the service line?
It was Brittney Guerrero, one of the younger Raiders. An unforced error was followed by an ace off of miscommunication by Indians players that made it 22-19.
Thacker ended the mini-run with a kill, but Sepulveda responded with a kill of her own to make it 23-20. When Dani Munoz delivered the only ace of the match she recorded, it looked as if this was another Raider win. But back-to-back kills by Zinkel got it back to 24-22. That nervous anticipation was clouding the moment. Could the Raiders hold on and get to within one set of advancing to the final?
The teams got into a short rally on the next point, but while the Indians were anticipating Brady to put the ball down on a kill attempt, it would turn out to be Sepulveda again nailing the kill to give the Raiders the hard-fought 25-22 victory.
Now they were a little more animated, but not quite there yet. They smelled the victory. It was within grasp. But the Raiders needed one more huge effort to get them over the hump. The Indians were looking at each other for answers. I could still see the blank looks on Keystone players. They knew they needed to find the winning mojo again.
The fourth set started with Keystone Heights ahead 6-2. But the bottom was about to fall out again.
This was when Brady started to get stronger. She put down an unchallenged kill to make it 6-3. Then she delivered two more kills off of Williams' services, followed by a Williams ace. Two more Brady kills and two more unforced errors suddenly had the Raiders in the lead at 10-6.
Keystone finally stopped the run with a pair of kills by Cravey and an unforced error that made it 10-9. The teams would trade points. Then at 12-10 in Crescent City's favor, the Indians had an opening. With Chelsea Velazquez on serve (the Indians had three Chelseas on the team), she was getting her serves in, while two kills from Zinkel, one more from Dicks and two more Raiders unforced errors made the score 16-12. Though the Raiders would cut the lead to 16-14, they would never get closer than that. And at 24-19, Zinkel delivered the final kill -- one of 13 she had on the night -- to finish out the Keystone victory.
It was now down to a race to 15 points. Whoever got there first or won by two points was moving on to the final and to a berth in the state tournament. For Keystone Heights, reaching the state tournament was old hat to them. But for the Raiders, a win would have meant something. The Raiders had not been to the state tournament since 1993. Seventeen years is a long time between trips. Now, they were within reach.
Two teams. Fifteen points. The race was on.
Sheffield delivered a service error to start the match and an unforced error -- one of 48 the Raiders had on the evening -- got the Indians out to a 2-0 lead. That would prove to be short-lived as Brady pounded down a kill, then another off of Gabi Martinez's service to tie it up. It didn't stop there. Two more unforced errors by the Indians (they had 41 for the match) and the second kill of the night by Williams gave the Raiders a 5-2 lead.
One-third of the way there. Though Martinez served up an errant serve on the next point, the Raiders got the ball back on another unforced error. Another unforced error made it 7-3.
The moments in this deciding set were fraying the nerves for the players on both sides of the net. Someone had to steady those nerves in a hurry.
The Indians got the ball back on -- you guessed it! -- another unforced error by Crescent City, and Maxwell went on a roll with four points, highlighted by her third service ace of the match and the fourth kill of the night by Semione as the Indians went ahead, 8-7.
But another mistake by the Indians gave the Raiders the ball back tied at 8-all. However, yet another kill by Cravey, her seventh of the night, broke the tie. Worse, the Raiders had a hard time communicating on the court with one another, players shooting stunned looks at one another as if to say, "I thought you had it" on two more unforced errors and Pickens called her last timeout of the night. She had to get this team back on course or all the effort they exerted in over two hours would go to waste.
To the rescue came Brady, who got set up for a picture-perfect spike to cut the lead to 11-9.
But as easily as it was to get the serve back, it was Keystone Heights batting it around before Harvin delivered her third kill of the night. Worse, Raiders players could not return Thacker's fourth service ace. The Indians were two points away from putting it in the books.
The teams swapped unforced errors and at 14-10, the ball was in the hands of Harvin to take care of matters. The Indians set up for the winning kill -- except into the net for yet another unforced error.
This gave the Raiders one last hope to keep it going.
And Sheffield was dealing. First, Sepulveda put down a kill to make it 14-12. Then the Indians couldn't get the ball over the net in three tries for another unforced errors. It was 14-13. Another serve and the ball got back on the Raiders' side of the net. The ball got set up to Brady.
BOOM! No one was returning this back as it landed inside the line to make it 14-14. It would take at least 16 to finish this match out.
Fans on both sides were excited. The IHS gym was loud. That I will always remember. This great back-and-forth match was coming down to the nail-biting end. Sheffield got the ball back for yet another serve and to give the Raiders the lead.
She hit the ball, but perfectly hit the Raiders' side of the net. The biggest point of her season and Sheffield did not deliver.
The Indians breathed a sigh of relief. They had the ball at 15-14, knowing one point was going to finish this. Maxwell now had the ball in her hands to serve out the match. She delivered the ball over the net to a waiting Sepulveda, who double-fisted the ball to Sheffield. Sheffield had one target and one target in mind -- Kayshia Brady, who with one mighty stroke of her right arm could save the game and keep it going.
To this day, I can still see the set Sheffield put to Brady -- perfectly high and within line of nailing a kill. Brady had frustrated Keystone's front line players all evening, so as she went up to get the ball and put it hard down on Keystone's side of the court to tie it at 15-15, it was understandable that Indians players had that "I guess it's time to play defense" look on their faces.
Fate, however, intervened in the worst way possible. As soon as Indians players rolled the ball under the net to hand back to the Raiders for serve, game official Jack Wetherington delivered the call that would still resonate with the Raider program to this very day.
He called "carrying" on what would have been Brady's 24th kill of the night. What he basically said was when she went up for the kill, she momentarily "grabbed" the ball and put it down that way. His explanation was, "She (caught) the ball in the (web) of her hand and put it down."
Instead of 15-all, the match was suddenly over. The Indians had the 16-14 fifth-set win and advanced to the district final against Baker County and had the automatic berth to the state tournament.
I wish I could tell you that Crescent City fans who made the trip to Interlachen were understanding and sympathetic after it ended.
I would be lying to you. Instead, Raiders fans angrily hurled their uncensored vitriol (they were very clean about it) at the officials, who, like they normally would do, thank the teams' coaches and head off either out the door of the gym or into their locker room to change afterward.
Keystone Heights players and Phillips were just stunned. There were no words to describe how they looked other than stunned. The tears began to flow freely on Crescent City's side. I can still see the tears ruining the mascara on Sheffield's face, like she'd been crying for hours and didn't bother to fix herself up.
When everything was finished, I talked to Pickens. Normally stoic after a win or loss, she holds her emotions in. Not this night. She left the gym in tears, saying, "To have our girls fight as hard as they could and have it taken away, it's not right." Just as I was about to ask a follow-up question, she respectfully said she couldn't talk anymore and she and her team left IHS feeling like they just got robbed by an unqualified robber.
I turned my attention to Phillips to talk to her after the match. She was a lot more blunt about the last play.
"I don't like the way this ended," she said. "I hate that it ended this way." She later added that, "Crescent City came to play and we took them for granted."
I walked out of IHS' gym back to my car, feeling the way both coaches felt -- that this ending was not the way it was supposed to be. And so I drove back to Palatka to the Daily News office after this long day in western Putnam County was over. I wrote the volleyball match story first because all the events and moments from that were still fresh in my mind. And it was easier to write the cross country story as long as I had notes and quotes to refer to when reporting on it.
It was after deadline that I finally had a chance to go on to my Facebook page, and something told me to go to Kayshia Brady's page to see what kind of reaction she had to what was considered a "mistake" on her part. What I found was eye-opening.
Her amazing mom had taped the final points of the match and from where she was sitting, it was behind Crescent City's team on the court. Thanks to the video, I had the chance to relive those final moments. And then at 15-14, I could still see the camera pointed toward her daughter as she went up to get the ball and slam it down for what should've been a kill and a 15-15 tie.
I watched that video 25 to 30 times in a row. I even watched it a few days later. What Wetherington described to me was nowhere close to what actually happened. There is absolutely, unequivocally, without doubt no way a "carry." She didn't grab the ball for even one millisecond. There was no doubt in my mind that Kayshia Brady had the sights on her ball and smashed a perfect kill down on a helpless Indians team to tie it up. Even Keystone players reacted as if they knew it was Crescent City's point!
I had video proof -- Kayshia Brady got jobbed. Holly Pickens was robbed. And that entire Crescent City team and fans were screwed royally.
In 33 years of witnessing and covering sports on all levels, that was undoubtedly the worst call I have ever seen ... period. Still holds true to this very day. Crescent City had a match taken from its grasp because of a call that was so bad, even I found it unbelievable.
The very next morning, I was looking in my email folder and had one waiting for me from the other official working the match. He was the other game official there.
I opened it up and got to read his take on what happened at the end of the match. I only shared portions the very next day with coach Pickens. Here's what that email read:
Except it was the wrong call -- an absolutely horrible call at that. That's why I went back to the video Mrs. Brady shot of the end. I was looking for a carry or a "lift." Once I got confirmation from Pickens what the definition of a "lift" was, I was focusing in on Brady's right arm. Nope, never saw a "lift" either.
Any of these officials could explain away what happened. But it was not satisfactory. They screwed the call up. End of conversation. And that one call only cost the Raiders a possible district championship finale and a trip to the state tournament, which may have been for good use to get acclimated to the state tournament atmosphere.
On the same day I got that email, I got one from Alexis Sepulveda, whose sisters I covered and whose oldest sister worked at the newspaper for a short time as a clerk. Like her sisters, Alexis is a delightful young lady. But you could feel the pain and hurt in her email.
"Mark,
I just read the article about last night's game, and I wanted to let you know that I appreciate your honest take on the match. I too was upset about the point reversal and feel as though a possible win was taken away from us.
A few minutes ago, Mrs. Pickens sent a text message to the team. It read, "Just to let all of you know we sent the video to the FHSAA. They cannot by rule change the call but they will review it and talk with the official." She also wrote, "We didn't lose, we may not have won, but we didn't lose." I agree with my coach. Last night's game was the best game all season, and unfortunately, our seniors will remember their last game ending in disappointment.
I wanted to inform you of Mrs. Pickens' communication with FHSAA in case you wanted to follow up. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me."
The few seniors who were on this team had to leave with that bitter taste in their mouths forever, like Stevens, who was unbelievable with nine kills and three blocks, Sheffield and Leavenworth. This was not how it was supposed to end. Play it out until there was no doubt of the ending. For them, there will forever be doubt. And for the record, Keystone Heights would go on to take down Baker County and win the district title, just as I thought the Indians would do the next night.
But for Brady, who was spectacular that night with 23 kills, four blocks, 14 service points and one ace, Sepulveda, Williams and the Raiders that came back the next year, it only served as motivation. The Raiders moved from the bigger District 6-3A to the newly revised and rural District 8-1A, playing schools their own size. Other than one setback in the gym of Pierson Taylor High, the Raiders stormed through the district regular season, then beat Taylor in the district championship on their own home gym for that elusive first district championship in 18 years.
It didn't end there, though. The Raiders beat Chiefland in four sets in the Region 4-1A semifinal at home, then went to Union County's gym to beat the host Tigers in straight sets to advance to the state 1A Final Four in Kissimmee, the program's second trip there and first trip to a state Final Four in 25 years. They lost to eventual state 1A champion Mayo Lafayette in four sets, the last one a gut-wrencher with Crescent City holding a late lead in the fourth set and on the verge of forcing a fifth and deciding set, only to see the Hornets bounce back and win.
To this day, I still believe had the Raiders had the opportunity to play in the 2010 postseason, they may have had the important experience to get through the fourth set and maybe win that Lafayette state semifinal match.
We'll never know. That's the sad reality.
Crescent City got robbed of a possible 2010 state tournament run.
So when I reminded Rick Breed of that time in 2010 when Keystone and Crescent City played, I didn't have to remind him of the outcome.
It was that memorable for all the wrong reasons.
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