Classic baseball as it ought to have been played

One thing was absolutely sure: Santa Fe College's baseball team was going to the Florida region Division I junior college tournament at Joker Marchant Stadium in Lakeland. The Saints had won the Mid-Florida Conference regular-season title.

The question now was: Who else was going to represent the conference?

Three teams -- and myself -- arrived in Sanford for the weekend-long tournament involving College of Central Florida, host Seminole State, and the team I was there to watch, St. Johns River State.

If he were still around and had his faculties about him, my boss, Andy, would have gladly jumped in his car and headed south to Sanford for this event. The relationship he had with longtime Vikings coach and Palatka native Ross Jones was simply stupendous.

With myself in the role of sports editor since Andy had retired the previous December, it was now my turn to cover the Vikings' baseball team. I certainly didn't have the lattitude that Andy had because as much as I appreciated the work my new assistant, Anthony, had done, he was not me. I could lay out a whole sports section for Andy. Anthony wasn't me and I had to cover this basebal team when I could.

But we had no Sunday paper ... or Monday for that matter. So it gave me some free time to go down to Sanford and see the fate of the Vikings in this magical weekend. I arrived just mere minutes at Seminole State's field and quickly got to the field and scribbled both lineups down before the noon first pitch.

First up was St. Johns River against Central Florida. The winner was going to get Seminole in a best-of-3 series. The Vikings left little in doubt for this game, blasting the Patriots, 11-2, aided by home runs by Tripp McKinlay, Daniel Labrador, and two home runs by all-conference catcher Jakob Runnels.

Rumor had it that the air conditioning was not working properly in the Central Florida on the way down to Sanford. Well, now they could open the windows wide again for the uncomfortable trip home.

With the Patriots gone, the Vikings were now set to face off with the Seminole Raiders, who had beaten the Vikings three out of four games in the conference season. And as the second game began, I started wondering why I'm not feeling comfortable. Turns out temperatures were sizzling in the low 90s on this day.

Now I was just hoping to survive from my perch on top of where the scoreboard operator and public address guy were situated in comfortable climes.

Game one in this three-game series was no contest as Seminole pitcher Rese Brown retiring the last 19 Vikings hitters he faded and striking out 11 batters in a victory for which he threw 107 pitches in the complete game. He allowed just two hits. One of the hits in the 5-1 victory was a home run by Ramses Cordova.

That was it for the first day. St. Johns went back to Palatka and the Vikings were down 1-0 in the best-of-3 series. Since I did not have enough money on me to take a hotel, I, too, drove back to Palatka and got a halfway decent night's sleep.

By 10 a.m., I was back in the car and back on the road to Sanford for the second game ... maybe game three. The Vikings needed a better performance at the plate to have a shot at this or else Seminole was celebrating a championship.

They more than responded on yet another hot day in Seminole County. The Vikings blasted Raiders pitching to the tune of 13 runs on 10 hits, but two swings generating seven of the 13 runs. J.J. Sousa hit a three-run home run, then it was Runnels delivering a grand slam to end the 13-4 game.

This was set up the deciding third game ... and become an all-time classic.

Seminole starter Cameron Carter was looking like Brown did in the first game. He had the Vikings eating out of his hands through six innings as the Raiders held a 2-0 lead. Then came the seventh.

Runnels doubled to get things going. And Cordova once again proved to be clutch as he blasted a two-run home run to left field to tie the game up.

Starter Zane Stephens had done yeoman work for five innings to start, allowing two runs, then left Tanner Bauman came in and relieved Stephens and went four solid innnings of shutout ball.

The 10th inning arrived. Connor Morgan, struggling with three strikeouts on the day, hit a slow roller toward left reliever Garrett Hester. Hester had a hard time picking the ball up, then threw a strike to first baseman Edgar Alvarez as Morgan slid into the base.

He slid in safely. The first-base umpire didn't see it that way. Jones went ballistic as he stormed out of the dugout to argue his case.

"It's not even close," Jones told me afterward. Then he added, "I should have gotten thrown out for that. That was a terrible, terrible call that changes the conplexion of the inning."

In the bottom of the 10th, it was Seminole's turn. Bauman walked Jaylen Youngs and Marcos Sevillano. Bauman was about out of gas and Jones knew it. He took Bauman and brought in reliever Jordan Wimpleberg to keep things going. But Wimpleberg walked Corey King to load the bases.

Load the bases with no outs. The last rites were being administered to this Vikings team that kept fighting and fighting and fighting all throughout the weekend. It was simply one batter at a time and Wimpleberg had Alvarez up first. He got a comebacker for which he threw to Runnels at the plate to get Youngs. Then Wimpleberg struck out Zach Levenson for the second out. He got out of trouble by getting Luke Hatcher into a forceout at second.

Problem was the Vikings couldn't get anything off Hester in the 11th. Suddenly, they were back to having to defend in the bottom half of the frame.

Christian Webb put a perfect bunt down that third baseman McKinlay could not get to for a base hit.

I suddenly had this "Uh-oh, these guys want to end things now" feeling.

Hunter Noblitt walked and when Wimpleberg attempted to pick off Webb at second, the throw sailed into the outfield to move Webb to third and be the winning run nd Noblitt to second. It was only the second error of the three-game series between the teams.

Yes ... two total errors. Both teams played baseball the way it ought to have been played.

Marcerio Allen hit a grounder to sure-handed second baseman Chase Malloy, who looked Webb back to third, then threw to first for the first out.

That brought up Youngs, the team's steady catcher. Wimpleberg got ahead at 1-2 on Youngs. Then he got too much of the plate on his next pitch.

Youngs stroked a shot between the diving McKinlay and Cordova into left field to score Webb and win the game and spot in the state tournament in 11 innings, 3-2.

Vikings players walked off the field slowly as Raiders players charged the field behind them to jump on Youngs for the winning hit. And after about 10 minutes, Vikings players stopped lingering on the field and headed onto the bus to head back to Palatka.

But I wanted to talk to Malloy, whose dad was a longtime scout with the Philadelphia Phillies. Malloy reminded me of another fantastic Vikings player, Myles Straw, who made it to the Major Leagues. He may not have had quite the talent, but Malloy had the heart and determination to lead this team.

"It's been a battle ... a dogfight .. between us all year," he said of the rivalry with Seminole. "And they came out on top. Things fell for us in (Game 2), but they didn't in this (last) game. That's just baseball."

You could see he was disheartened. Malloy stayed a third year at SJRSC after COVID-19 shut the 2020 season down a month or so into the season. Now the dream of going to the state tournament was gone.

A tired Jones chose to wax philosophically after the deciding game.

"There was a lot of baseball in the last 31 hours," he started. "They never stopped competing. That's the thing to me I was proud of. We had good at-bats. We hit the ball hard, just right at people. Just one of those games where you ask, 'What do you do?'"

Turns out they couldn't do any more than they did in four games in a two-day period. I wished coach Jones a safe trip back and headed to my car. Because I got to sit inside the protected area with the scoreboard operator and the PA guy on this Sunday, I didn't get lobster red like I attempted the day before.

 I drove away from Jack Patelias Field up College Road to Lake Mary Road and heading toward I-4 to go home. Before 7 p.m., I arrived at the McDonald's near the I-4 entrance way and stopped for dinner. That gave me a chance to eat and reflect through my notes the greatness of this game I just covered most recently.

I knew it was the best baseball game I covered at either high school or college level. The Vikings had their opportunities, but in the end, the Raiders took advantage of the last one that mattered.

By the next day, I woke up that morning and had written 37 inches -- or over 1,100 words -- on my laptop on the weekend games. I got red from the first day, but I was entertained by the end.

Baseball as it ought to have been played. I came to that conclusion one last time.

One more footnote to that weekend: I had taken a lot of pictures of the four games, but this one stands out the most. It's Wimpleberg coming off the mound dejectedly while Seminole players were rushing on the field to jump on and celebrate with Youngs.

I submitted this photo for the Florida Press Club annual contest for best action shot in my division.

I won. It was the first time I ever won with a photograph I took.

Guess I'm not the complete hack I claim to be.

Our Super Tuesday of softball and baseball

Part of the job as a sports editor is being part showman, whether YOU think the ideas that involve the job are goofy or not.

My late boss Andy was keyed up for this day 17 years ago here in Putnam County. It was as if EVERYTHING important in the county was happening on this Tuesday afternoon and night. And looking back, I now understand the hype since we never have lived up to this particular day again.

On the docket for Tuesday, April 24, 2007: State tournament softball games for both Palatka and Interlachen. District tournament baseball games for Palatka and Interlacchen where, with wins, the teams would qualify for the state tournament.

Then there was the case of the St. Johns River Community (now State) College softball team, coached by Toni Willis, a former Vikings player under Toni Thompson. Never in the program's fastpitch history had the Vikings made it to the state tournament. And with a win in a neutral-site game at Santa Fe College in Gainesville against Lake City Community College this afternoon, the Vikings were going to play in the state tournament as a fifth-place team in the challenging Mid-Florida Conference.

So my day started at 1:30 p.m. with a trip up State Road-100 from my home and onto SR-26 and then SR-222 into Gainesville and a straight shoot right to Santa Fe. It was a beautiful afternoon for the Vikings and Timberwolves to play this tie-breaking matchup.

Willis' plan was to start Keystone Heights High graduate Marian McCall in the circle and eventually switch to Williston High product Roxzanne Rawls. But it wasn't going to be easy since the Vikings had lost three of four in the regular season to the Timberwolves.

Upstairs in the press box overlooking the field, I sat for most of the game next to Santa Fe's coach at the time, Chris Ahern. The game was scoreless going into the fourth with the Vikings hitting. Rachel Torres, who was the Vikings' top hitter all season, led off with a bloop hit that she hustled into a double. Stefanie Hunt sacrifice buted her to third, bringing up Chelsi Garner.

"They need to get this run now," Ahern would tell me. "They can't let this situation go. They've done a nice job of holding (Lake City) down."

She was right -- this was "the" opportunity for the Vikings. And Garner delivered with a single to left field to make it 1-0.

But McCall, fighting stomach issues all week, ran into big-time trouble in the fifth. I'd seen this script before and all good things normally came to an end in a bad way for the Vikings. Opposing pitcher Shelly Law singled for Lake City's first hit of the game. Stacey Bardroff walked and both moved up a base on a sacrifice.

Stephanie Schellhorn tried to squeeze bunt Law home, but McCall got to the ball quickly and tossed to catcher Torres, who made the tag on Law for the out. But it wasn't over yet: Kayla Hamalainen walked to load the bases and the next hitter, Jane Gordon, was at 2-0 in the count when Torres went out to talk to McCall. After the game, I asked her what Torres told her.

"Less thinking, more throwing," she said.

On the next pitch, Gordon flied out to end the threat.

The Vikings added to their miniscule lead when Katie Shannon -- affectionately known as "Tater" on the team -- blooped a single to left field on a 3-2 pitch from Law to score Kim Turvey and Palatka High product Megan Harris to make it 3-0.

Lake City put a runner on base against Rawls in the seventh with one out, but Schellhorn hit a hot smash liner right at third baseman Hunt, who snagged it, then fired across the diamond to first baseman Garner to complete the double play and send the Vikings into celebration mode.

For the first time, the Vikings were state-tournament bound! Willis, who like Harris played her high school ball at Palatka High, realized a dream she had since taking the program over in 2003: "When I took this program over, I wanted to make it a program in which we would go to the state tournament every year. It's a dream come true."

I got out of there and found a local coffee shop down the road with Wifi for which I can type my story and boxscore in. That was 5 p.m. Thirty minutes later, the story was done and I was having dinner with a dear online friend named Lisa who didn't live far from where I was in Gainesville. We had Chinese food and after saying our goodbyes, I was off to Interlachen for the Rams' state tournament game at home with Mount Dora.

The problem is there was no "direct" route to get to Interlachen High. You can't go in a straight line with so many bodies of water in the way. So I had to go back the way I came and it took about 45 minutes to do so.

It was 7:15 and the game started at 7. I had quite a bit of catching up in recording Interlachen's first state tournament game since 1999. I can't tell you how helpful coach Ron Whitehurst was that day.

The Rams were 20-3 and coming off a district championship the week before at Pierson Taylor. The Rams had a dynamite lineup that included Whitehurst's daughter, Brittani, Jessica Byrd, Kim Traxler and Sam Loder, just to name a few.

But Mount Dora had a young lady in the circle named Ce Ce Dail. And she was wild ... but wildly effective. As Whitehurst told me after the game, "She was wild within the strike zone. We got our first two runs via third-strike drops."

Dail's performance was far from a thing of beauty -- she threw 150 pitches in going the distance with eight walks, but 12 strikeouts.

Two run-scoring singles -- Dail's one-run single and Natalie Hodges' two-run safety -- against starter Katy Jordan gave Mount Dora a 3-0 lead in the first inning.

True to form, Dail got in trouble in the bottom of the first inning on walks to Courtney Lewis and Traxler and a single by Byrd. But Dail struck out Whitehurst and Loder and got Seana Crane on a comebacker.

As coach Whitehurst mentioned before, the Rams got their two runs on dropped third strikes that scored Caitlin Hagan and courtesy runner Lindsay Kurtz. And Interlachen went for more: With Byrd on third and two outs, Traxler walked ... and just kept going. The Rams were trying to catch the Hurricanes off guard.

It didn't work. Dail was not fooled in the circle. She simply threw the ball to second to nail Traxler and end the inning.

"I don't believe I just saw that" was my reaction as I momentarily put my hands over my face.

Afterward, I asked Whitehurst what got into him to try that play. He said, "We've beaten people with our legs this year. We're not changing the way we play. It was worth taking a shot."

And it was -- you don't get to 20-3 with smoke and mirrors. Plus Whitehurst was looking at Dail, this wild card in the circle, and looking to be aggressive since you didn't know what to expect from her.

Hodge, who was 4-fof-4 with four RBIs, singled in a run in the third to make it 4-2. Then an error by the Rams in the fifth on a play at third base allowed another run to score to make it 5-2.

But Interlachen made it interesting. The Rams loaded the bases in the bottom of the fourth down 4-2, but Traxler hit a comebacker to end the inning. They made it interesting in the sixth when Byrd boomed a triple to the left-center field gap to score Christina Andrews and Byrd to make it a one-run game.

They had Traxler at the plate in a big moment with one out. You can feel the momentum turn in Interlachen's favor and just like almost every game that season, the Rams would find a way to win. Traxler could not hit a ball any harder than she did.

It was directly at shortstop Jordan Bixler for the second out. Then after striking out Brittani Whitehurst twice already, Dail struck her out a third time to end the threat.

Hodge's fourth hit scored Dail in the seventh to give the Hurricanes a 6-4 lead, then Dail shut the door on the Rams in the seventh. Dail owned the middle of the Rams' lineup as Whitehurst, Loder and Crane -- batters four through six in the lineup -- were a combined 0-for-11 with a walk and nine strikeouts.

And it was over -- *I* went 1-1 for the day in covering our local teams. Interlachen would repeat as district champion the next season, the last district title for the program since.

I got back to the office and Andy got there the same time. He had covered BOTH the Palatka softball and baseball games in town that night. (Here's the thing: Palatka softball, for which he went to, won in a quickie over Crystal River, 3-0, in the state tournament, then he left from the high school to head to the famed Azalea Bowl to cover the "other" Palatka game, Palatka's 8-0 win over Menendez in the District 5-4A semifinals that automatically qualified the Panthers for the state tournament. I wouldn't have put a byline on that story since I got there later, but them's not my rules.")

I wrote my Interlachen story after he had gotten my SJRCC softball game story via email earlier in the day. While I finished up my second story and began working on the scoreboard page, I also had to call Jeff Finch, Interlachen's head baseball coach. The Rams were in Keystone Heights to face Union County in the District 6-3A semifinals and if the Rams had won, they were going to the state tournament for the second year in a row.

It wasn't to be as the Rams lost, 7-2.

By the time Andy got his two stories done and he had all my work, he was able to lay out the front page ... and he made a special look with the five games we had all starting on the front and jumping inside to page 3B.

Oh, the joys of a 1 a.m. deadline back in the day. How I miss thee.

To review: PHS baseball and softball won, IHS baseball and softball lost and SJR State softball won and was heading to the state tournament for the first time in fastpitch program history.

What a day. By the time the paper began to print, there was a sigh of relief, then a moment of silence that, yes ... we had just had a special day in Putnam County that rarely comes along.

Tuesday, April 24, 2007 WAS a special day. So many postseason dreams were seen or died that day.

I learned to cherish them ... they only come so few or often. Goofy or not.

The night Palatka shut down an entire basketball program for good

The story that I find unique in all these years here is one that took place on a Friday night, March 2, 2018. Like all those other stories above, this, too, happened on the road. When you leave your home area, you really aren't in control of what happens to you or your story.

This night, though, was different. Palatka High School's boys basketball team, coached by Bryant Oxendine  and winners of the Region 2-6A championship the year before and running through an amazing 27-2 season, was looking to repeat that regional title on the road against 27-3 New Port Richey Ridgewood.

On the outside, you might think it's a terrific matchup between two great opponents.

But there was more to this night. In November 2017, the Pasco County school board had voted to end Ridtgewood High and turn it into a technical school and the students there would go to either Gulf High or Fivay High the following year.

It was no secret that night to Oxendine or his players who the villain was in what would be the last high school basketball game hosted in that Ridgewood gym.

"I had read about it before we went down there," Oxendine said recently. "It did overwhelm me a l ittle bit, thinking in my mind this would be that team's last game on that court. I know I didn't want my kids to focus on that."

The problem was it was a 2-hour, 45-minute trip to Ridgewood for Oxendine and his team. And he made it clear on the trip: No basketball talk. He even said he made up something he was mad about so his players wouldn't be thinking about the sentimental part of this very different game.

"We get there and already, it's getting full," Oxendine said of the crowd. "I think they had the students wearing white shirts to have a white-out night. We go into our locker room and I'm thinking, 'Let's see how they respond to this.'"

When I walked into the gym for my one and only time in my career that night, it was a growing madhouse. Ridgewood was trying to make it to Lakeland for the 6A Final Four and many, many students were filling into this nice-sized gymnasium. By estimate, there was easily over 1,000 fans at this game.

You would think the Panthers players -- even with that 27-2 record -- would be a little intimidated by it.

You would be right. Palatka was dominated in rebounds, 11-2, and was fortunate to be down 15-10 at the end of the first quarter because the Panthers forced the Rams into eight turnovers.

Center Mitchell McKinnon's three-point play capped a 6-0 run and gave the Panthers a 16-15 lead. The lead would change hands five times in the quarter before the Rams went in with a 25-24 lead.

"I knew we had not played our best half of basketball," Oxendine said. "But I knew we were defending well. We were in this game."

Oxendine also reminded his players of something that rang true the entire season: They were a third-quarter team. And with that shot of enthusiasm -- and a Ridgewood-dominated fan base continuing to yell everytime the Panthers had the ball -- Palatka went on a 9-3 run to start the quarter, taking a 33-28 lead.

Ridgewood did not back down and went on a 5-0 run to tie it at 33-all. The Panthers answered back with another strong run of 8-4 and held a 41-37 lead going into the fourth quarter.

Two things started to tell the tale down the stretch: A technical foul against Ridgewood's Will Dawson was called.

"Wesley Roberts was asking me who was going to take the techncal foul free throws and my coaches were asking if Chamar (point guard Dumas) or Malik (forward Beauford) would take the free throws and I said to them at that point, 'Let Wesley take them.' And he hit both free throws as part of a 13-point night."

The other thing was how ragged Ridgewood players looked after chasing around the Panthers all evening.

"I saw (Ridgewood) fade and get tired and our guys were not tired," Oxendine said. "By the fourth quarter, we were running them out of their shoes and there were two or three guys on their team that had their heads looking down and someone in the crowd said, 'They're tired.' I could see that and it's something I'll always remember."

But the Panthers player who had the biggest impact on this night was Dumas, the four-year varsity senior who Oxendine said played the best game of his career, scoring a team-high 16 points with seven assists, six rebounds and a steal. Throughout the game, Dumas put his team on his back and eventually guided it to the 64-51 triumph that led to a second straight Final Four appearance, the first time a county boys basketball team had done that in 54 years.

"It was the best game he ever had," Oxendine said of Dumas. "He didn't score a lot of points, but he defended well, he got to the (basket) and he set the tone for us in what was a college basketball atmosphere. He took charge of our team."

At the final buzzer, those who made the long trek from Palatka to Ridgewood were dancing and celebrating the triumph. And those who came to cheer the home team on in what was the last game in that gymnasium left broken-hearted, some even teary-eyed. After 40 years as a program, it was over.

Even Ridgewood head coach Derek Delgado had to hold back tears talking to media members after the game.

"This program had never been to a Final Four before and we really wanted it," Delgado said after the game. "We were so close."

They were until Palatka tired the Rams out down the stretch. And after Oxendine celebrated this title with his team in the opposing locker room afterward, telling them to enjoy this win until midnight, he had to leave the gym that just hosted its last basketball game ever.

"You see all these people coming up to you and congratulating you as you are walking toward the bus and then you get on and you sit and you realize those guys are never going to see their team play again," said Oxendine, who begins a new coaching venture with Interlachen Junior-Senior High this winter. "That's where it hit me. We were a footnote in history as the last team to play (Ridgewood). That's a huge thing to me."

Palatka's bus was heading home, and my car was desperately searching for a fast-food restaurant opened after 11 p.m. to write the story and send to Andy. Thankfully, US-19 was not far from the high school. But it became increasingly difficult to find a restaurant that was open that late, and also had a plug outlet. More and more fast-food places don't provide plug outlets anymore.

Three restraurants had Wi-fi, but not the outlet. If desperate, there was always a hotel to find, but it didn't have food like I was needing at this time.

Finally, I found a McDonald's somewhere between New Port Richey and Holiday. It had an outlet. No one was occupying the seat. So I brought my laptop and paperwork from the game in to type. It's 11:20 p.m. and my deadline is just before 1 a.m.

I order something to eat. Then I get going on the story after reviewing the notes from the game. I get the story written and sent to Andy by 12:20 a.m.

But I had more to do. Interlachen's track and field team was at a meet at Jacksonville Wolfson that night and coach Gerald Swayze was nice enough to get me the information I needed to write a story. So after toggling between the email he sent and the story I was writing through email, it took another 20 minutes to get that done. 

By 12:45 a.m., I was done. I had my last bites of food and was reminded that the restaurant was closing at 1 a.m.

"Thank you so very much for helping me out," I told the manager. By 12:55 a.m., I was on my way back home taking the long route: US-19 to SR-44 in Crystal River, then up CR-491 into Marion County and onto SR-200, which got me to I-75, then US-301 and eventually SR-20 for the final 26 miles home.

By the time I reached my front door, it was just about 4:15 in the morning.

It was a long night, but a very enjoyable night.

I saw the joy of victory and the agony of defeat.

And the end of a high school program.

These Panthers were hardly intimidated

This night five years ago was pretty special.

All I kept hearing was that this Gainesville Eastside High School boys basketball team was dominant and had too many ways for Palatka to handle. There's no way that the Panthers would hang with the host Rams and that the Eastside gym would be too intimidating for the Panthers to handle.

I found that astounding considering that some of these Panthers like Wesley Roberts, Malik Beauford, Y'dontae Smith and Mitchell McKinnon had gone to two FHSAA Final Fours. No matter where these guys traveled, the crowd was the "least" of their concerns.

So on this Tuesday night, February 26, 2019 -- and after I had eaten at Sonny's BBQ up the road from the school where my waitress was a former Interlachen High girls soccer player -- I had made the short jaunt from there to Eastside High for the Palatka-Eastside game.

The Panthers had all those solid veterans and were 24-4 going into this Region 2-6A semifinal showdown. But the Rams certainly had the homecourt advantage. They were 12-0 at home during the year and were 26-2 overall. They had a gunner who was not afraid to take the ball to the basket in Koren Bradley. They had steady senior guard James Pope and a dominant big guy in forward Emontea Shannon.

If that was not enough, the Rams also had a strong shooting guard-strong forward at 6-foot-4 who was a better football player, but a very good basketball player named Anthony Richardson.

Yes, THAT Anthony Richardson who went on to play quarterback at the University of Florida and is now the projected starting quarterback for the 2024 Indianapolis Colts after recovering from an injury.

He was just another good basketball player on this great Rams team. But Bryant Oxendine, now in his third year as Palatka coach, was not intimidated by this Rams squad at all.

Even as the bleachers was filling up, and before long, fans started to stand up against the wall behind the basket on the gymnasium entrance side.

The teams spent the first half measuring each other out and by the break, Eastside had the 29-26 lead.

But I've seen Palatka teams under Oxendine rally in the third quarter. They got rejuvenated in that third period, but Eastside stuck with the Panthers and held a 47-46 lead going into the fourth quarter.

Then it got interesting.

The Panthers would take the lead, only to see the Rams take it back. Palatka had the ball with 33 seconds to go and Oxendine called a timeout. He set up a play for his point guard, Smith, to find an alley way to the basket, draw a defender to him and dish the ball to an open man underneath OR ... just take the ball himself to the basket to give the Panthers the lead.

But with 33 seconds left, Smith started dribbling to find that opening. There was none. There was no defender leaving his man to pick him up. So Oxendine called another timeout with eight seconds to go and the ball to be inbounded in front of the Panthers' bench on their side of the court.

"We called the play (the first tine), but (Eastside) didn't bite for it. We called another time out and ran a play called 'in-the-quarter' play. We wanted to take the last shot. I told Y'dontae to run the clock all the way down," Oxendine said.

So Smith got the ball in front of the bench. He passed off to McKinnon, Palatka's 6-5 center and tallest player, near the sideline. McKinnon got the ball back to Smith and Smith began to dribble in front of Bradley.

With one quick step, Smith beat Bradley. That drew Shannon from his forward spot in front of Beauford toward Smith. Finally, McKinnon was not in a hurry to head to the basket, so that meant the guy who was covering him was just hanging out until he saw Smith make his move to the basket.

Yup ... Anthony Richarsdon.

Richardson (slightly) and Shannon left the young men they were guarding and Smith had a wide-open Beauford under the basket that he threw a perfect short pass to and Beauford nailed the shot to give Palatka the 61-59 lead with 4.6 seconds left.

Pandemonium among Palatka fans broke out. Eastside legendary coach Herman "Pop" Williams called a timeout.

That's when it got a bit off the rails. The officials had to reset the clock time and Eastside did not have one of those clocks that they can punch in a time and just go from there We had to wait over a minute so the clock would get to where it needed to be.

Under his basket, Bradley threw a pass to Shannon. Shannon raced as fast as he could and just as he was ready to take a shot, he was fouled by Smith.

Yes ... fouled! What the hell was he doing?! Smith would explain later he didn't think Shannon was going to shoot. Seriously?! They are in hurry-up mode and down two points!! How can you NOT see this coming?

But the damage was done and all of us who had made the trek across State Road-20 to Eastside were not out of the woods yet with 1.6 seconds left in regulation. Shannon was two successful free throws away from tying this game again.

Once the ball was handed to Shannon, he took a few dribbles, then put up his shot.

Clang! Off the back iron!

Palatka fans were elated, but the moment was nearly marred by one fan who didn't think about what his actions were going to be like when he stepped out onto the court in celebration.

The whistle blew.

Oh, no!! NOOOOOOOO!! Please, officials ... don't let this game be decided by an enthusiastic kid who didn't know his place at that time. Another officials meeting took place for about 30-45 seconds. I mean ... they were literally thinking about slapping the Panthers with a technical foul.

In the end, the officials chose not to penalize Palatka, much to the chagrin of the Eastside fans. So Shannon got the ball from the official and we ALL KNEW what was going to happen next. Down two and with one free throw left, Shannon was to bang the ball off the rim and then a free-for-all would take place in those last 1.6 seconds. It was inevitable.

Except it didn't happen. Shannon, for some reason, sank the free throw to make it 61-60. OK, so now I'm expecting Mitchell McKinnon to get the ball in to a teammate and that teammate be fouled to send them to the line.

McKinnon got the ball from the official and hit Roberts.

But no one was near Roberts. Suddenly, 1.6 seconds turned into 0.0.

Palatka fans celebrated, then hit the court to hug and celebrate with the players.

Palatka had survived the 61-60 win. It was emotional, and at one point in my interview, I asked the tougher-than-nails Oxendine if he even cried a little afteward.

"Hell, no. We don't cry here!" he answered.

OK, so for much for emotion. Oxendine did say, "We're a good basketball team. I tell these guys everyday just to compete."

And while the elation was there on one end, I ended up with a couple of other reporters, I think one from the Gainesville Sun, interviewing Williams. For all the great the Rams had that year and in the previous ccouple of years, they couldn't conquer the Panthers in three straight postseason games the last three years.

Oh, and Williams was blunt when he said this.

"We don't have the toughness to dig down. They are great kids, but they've got to learn to dig down and play hard. And Palatka started to come up into us. It was a great officiated game. I just think we didn't stand up to the challenge ... the boxing match. If we had stood up to the challenge, I think we would've come out on top."

Getting out of the gym and back in the car, I sped back east on SR-20 to get back to the Daily News building to recount what I had just seen. And what "Pop" Williams said afterward.

It made great sense because in all those postseason losses, Eastside may have had the better record, but it did not have the physical presence to push Palatka around.

And Palatka made more plays than Eastside in the end. I got back to the building by just after 10 p.m., wrote the story after chasing down some spring sports stuff. And got done with plenty of time with everything.

Palatka WAS the better team that night ... not by much, but the Panthers were. Their physical AND mental toughness was better. Unfortunately three nights later, the bid to make it to Lakeland for a THIRD consecutive Final Four was taken away by a better Brooksville Nature Coast High team, especially when Palatka shot 6-for-28 from the field and had to play catch-up most of the second half.

But the Eastside win will always stand out. The Panthers were tested ... they knew they were going to be tested ... and stood up to a really good Eastside team.

A Rams team that was 12-0 at home ... until that game.

These Pathers were unique.

Oh, so close

The Jacksonville Jaguars were a study of futility. Either the team was woefully bad or teasing its fan base with almost being a playoff team.

The 2016 season ended at 3-13 and saw management fire the affable Gus Bradley with two games left in the season. Though Doug Marrone didn't have that gregarious personality, he was very friendly with us media types who have covered this Jaguars team, me since 2003.

Until the 2017 season, I had never witnessed a Jaguars postseason game in person. But with what the Jaguars had -- and the blossoming play of fourth-year veteran quarterback Blake Bortles -- the 2017 season was setting up to be something special. We just didn't notice it was going to happen.

So when the Jaguars clinched the AFC South title -- and first divisional crown since 1999 -- us scribes knew we were going to get one home game at least. That was January 7, 2018. It was far from a pretty game, but if you loved defense, you were in your element.

The Jaguars beat the offensively deprived Buffalo Bills, 10-3.

This meant a trip to the AFC Divisional round and a matchup in Pittsburgh. I told my boss, Andy, that if the Jaguars found a way to beat the famed Steel Curtain, I would be on a plane with our Jaguars/Gators photographer, John Studwell, by the following weekend to New England and to cover the AFC Championship game between the Jags and the defending Super Bowl champion Patriots.

First, though ... the Steelers. Unlike the previous game I saw in person, defense was optional. The two teams battled it out until the Steelers simply ran out of time.

Jaguars 45, Steelers 42. Mark was on his way to Foxborough.

Suddenly, it was reality, and not that I was going to be in Foxborough for the AFC Championship. Checking air prices for the trip became harsh reality. A simple flight from Orlando International to Providence went from $79 round trip ... to $258 round trip.

That was out. Orlando to Boston was not much cheaper and also out. And prices from Jacksonville International to key New England cities were ridiculous.

The only thing that worked for John and I -- and we spent more time on the phone than we normally did during regular seasons -- was a trip from Orlando to Hartford. That was $157 round trip. This was not including the hotel (I worked a deal on whatever points I had with the hotel chain we were staying at for both of us to pay $62 a night at a hotel 10 miles south of where Gillette Stadium was in North Attleboro). 

We arrived at Hartford, got the rental car that I would use for two nights and we were on our way through the hills of Connecticut instead of taking the Massachusetts Turnpike. It was cold and I didn't know how icy it was. We stopped at a pizza place along the way that wasn't bad with pizza, but not great either.

It wasn't until about 8 p.m. we got to the hotel along U.S.-1. We checked in and both of us paid for our hotel room nights. I was working on a musical project up until 11:30 p.m. when Saturday Night Live came on our TV (Jessica Chastain was the host). Went to bed just after 1 (John was long asleep) and woke up about 8 a.m. that morning.

John and I had a couple of stops to make. We stopped at Dunkin' Donuts (where its plentiful in New England) and got coffee and something to eat, then went to a CVS to pick up something else. We were back in our hotel room and just hanging out there until it was time to go. That was 12:50 p.m. for a 3 p.m. kickoff.

Ten miles away didn't take long and the traffic surrounding Gillette Stadium was manageable. In total, it was about 25 minutes total from the time we left our hotel to arrive in the parking lot. If Jacksonville could be this manageable.

It took some time for John to get his equipment, but I was taking in the sights and sounds of this stadium I had never been to before. It was 46 degrees, so it was winter comfortable for me in a warm jacket. John and I found our way to the main gate of the stadium.

Once there, we were told to put our equipment on the ground. A big brown dog was going to sniff our bags. I thought, "This is unusual." But once the dog did his duty, we were allowed to continue to where we needed to go. We parted ways and I was on my way up to the press box where I saw some Jacksonville-based scribes I had known over the years. And I saw Boston-based writers I had seen over the years, including longtime Boston writers that I had only heard of or seen on television. I sat at a table next to them having the pregame meal.

I had a really great seat in the press box in the corner of the stadium. It was so surreal: For the first time since Super Bowl XXXIX in Jacksonville 13 years earlier, I was here covering an important NFL playoff game. One Jaguars win and they were heading to Minneapolis for Super Bowl LII.

The first half was promising as the Jaguars could make it. Blake Bortles threw a touchdown to veteran tight end Marcedes Lewis and running back Leonard Fournette scored on a 4-yard run, and though James White scored in the late first half after a controversial pass interference penalty was called on A.J. Bouye, you felt good for the Jaguars and the fans who made the trek to Massachusetts for the game.

But could they hold on? I got me a bowl of authentic clam chowder and returned to my seat in the press box as the second half began. Josh Lambo provided the only scoring of the third quarter with a 54-yard field goal, making it 17-10.

Lambo would follow up that kick with a 43-yard field goal eight seconds into the fourth quarter to make it 20-10. The Patriots had the ball again and then came the play of the game.

The Patriots tried some razzle-dazzle with a double pass. The second of those passes went to running back Dion Lewis, who had blockers in front of him as he matriculated the ball down the field. But he never saw linebacker Myles Jack, who not only got a hold of him, but literally took the ball away from him. When they both fell to the ground, Jack had the ball, jumped up and started heading the other way for what should have been a Jaguars touchdown the other way.

I knew something did not look right when Lewis and Jack fell the ground from my view way up in the press box with the naked eye. But the way Jack reacted by slamming the ball to the turf after the whistle was blown, I knew the Jaguars were getting screwed.

And they did. Instead of possibly 27-10 with 13 minutes to go in the game, all the Jaguars got was the ball back on the fumble. And with the way the Jaguars' offense sputtered against an improving Patriots defense, I knew it was a matter of time before the game's momentum shifted.

Eventually, the Patriots got the ball back and scored on a Tom Brady TD pass to Danny Amendola of nine yards to cut the lead to 20-17,

Suddenly, I remembered all the bad moments the Jaguars had leading up to this season. When something went wrong or was going wrong, things would snowball out of control. And when Bortles and the Jaguars could not move the ball and were forced to punt the ball away, the reality was settling in.

It's Tom Brady. He has the ball and the game is on the line.

GOAT at work.

Thanks to that Amendola guy again -- returning the punt 20 yards to the Jaguars' 30 -- Brady needed five plays to go those 30 yards with the last play being Brady hitting Amendola in the back of the end zone with the receiver tip-toeing the back line.

The extra point gave the Patriots their first lead since 3-0 with 2:48 to go.

Bortles and the Jaguars had one more chance. And if not for Stephon Gilmore making a dynamic, one-handed defensive play, Bortles and Dede Westbrook would have been Jaguars heroes for life. Gilmore knocked a potential 42-yard down-and-out TD.

That was on fourth down. The Patriots took over and when Lewis ran for a first down on an 18-yard run, the fate was sealed in a 24-20 Patriots triumph and trip to Minneapolis for the Super Bowl.

Once I found my way with other writers I knew to the Jaguars smallish locker room, we talked with Marrone nd Bortles, who addressed the media. I remember talking with the great Calais Campbell, the leader and "mayor" of Sacksonville defensively. I talked with Marqise Lee, one of the Jaguars' top receivers, and I talked with Jack, who was impressed by the Patriots' resiliency down 14-3 and not panicking.

As for the TD that wasn't by Jack, none of the players, including Jack, were going to berate the officials afterward. They, as everyone mentioned, didn't make enough plays in the end. As for the future, Campbell cautioned how difficult it is to get back to this point again after working so hard to be there. Lee thought it was going to be a given to be back there after all that work Campbell described and the experience the team picked up along the way.

Turns out Campbell was a profit. The Jaguars have won just one potseason game since then and had to endure a 1-15 2020 season along the way in which Marrone was fired and Doug Pederson took over.

I had started writing my lead, but John said he would wait in the car. So after getting the interviews I needed, I packed my stuff up and took the elevator back to the ground floor. But before I headed back to the parking lot and the car where John was sitting warmly in since he had a key to our rental, I walked onto the turf at Gillette Stadium and took in the sights and sounds one last time in a now-empty stadium except for the workers. I decided on taking a selfie of me with the scoreboard behind me.

From there, I headed off back to the car as John and I headed back to our hotel room. There, I got my laptop out of my bag and started working on the rest of the story, while watching the Philadelphia Eagles (with Pederson as coach) destroy the Minnesota Vikings in the NFC Championship.

It wasn't until after midnight that I went to bed. I was up at around 4:45 in the morning since John and I had to check out and head back on a rainy, cold Monday Massachusetts morning. This time, I took the Massachusetts Turnpike heading west to Springfield and down I-84 back into Hartford to drop the rental off, then get driven to the airport to head back.

It was just a miserable morning with the rain and the clouds and the cold. But eventually, John and I boarded our Spirit Airlines flight back to Orlando. We arrived at 2 p.m., got taken back to my car and we drove to a nearby Wawa to get something to drink, then back onto I-4 and eventually to I-95 where I got John safely back to his wife at Denny's at Exit 305, then headed back up SR-206 back to SR-207 and eventually back to Palatka, where I made it back to my apartment by 5 p.m.

I got an hour-and-a-half sleep and eventually got to work after 7:30 p.m. where it was business as usual.

The weekend was officially over. And though the Jaguars lost, it was a fun time in Foxborough. One day, I'll make it back to an AFC Championship where the Jaguars actually win.

Until then, I'll continue to live the dream until the dream becomes reality.