Bartram Trail is this week's Florida Team of the Week, presented by the Florida National Guard.
Photo by Gary McCullough
Start the year 0-5 and it's time to start thinking about next season.
That, fortunately, was not the attitude of
Bartram Trail (St. Johns) football coach Darrell Sutherland, who guided his ship straight and led the Bears to eight straight wins, including a 17-14 win over Choctawhatchee Friday in the Florida 6A quarterfinal playoffs.
For their resilience and the deepest playoff run in school history, the
Bears have been selected the MaxPreps Florida Team of the Week,
presented by the Florida National Guard.
"This sounds like coachspeak, but it is the truth, we haven't done anything differently," said Sutherland. "We just kept working hard and did not get discouraged. We came back out each week ready to work. And our improvement has shown in the last couple weeks.
"Some of our best practices were on Mondays after a weekend loss. The kids bought into it and kept working hard and now we are able to see the results of that dedication."
Tyler Gallitz kicked a 31-yard field goal in the drizzle with 4:59 to play that proved to be the game-winner.
P.J. Blazejowski, Bartram Trail
Photo by David Rosenblum
Much like the Bears themselves, Gallitz had failed earlier in the game, missing field goals of 35 and 37 yards according to
Jacksonville.com.
Bartram Trail plays perennial national power Armwood in the regional final Friday night.
"I never doubted (Gallitz). Tyler practices hard, and we've got so much faith in him," Sutherland told Jacksonville.com.
The Bears' faith was tested after such a slow start this season. They didn't play that poorly early, but just didn't know how to close out games after losing contests 47-43, 28-27, 49-36 and 24-21.
Bartram Trail finally got its first win on Oct. 11 with a 28-17 win over Ponte Verde thanks to 146 yards rushing from
David Coleman and two TD runs by
Ryan Magden, and the Bears haven't lost since.
They pulled out a 29-24 playoff win at Columbia behind 152 rushing yards from Coleman and 158 yards passing and two scores from
P.J. Blazejowski.
On Friday, Blazejowski passed for 230 yards and rushed for both touchdowns. The Bears also got nine tackles and two sacks from junior linebacker
Hayden Good.
"(Blazejowski) is truly a team player. He makes the whole team better," said Sutherland. "He is able to spread the ball around a lot and get everyone involved. He has a great football IQ and is very smart, watches a lot of game film and does a great job of being a team leader."
On the season, the Bears have shown great balance offensively, led by Coleman (1,342 yards rushing, 11 TDs) and passing, thanks to Blazejowski (2,277 yards passing, 16 touchdowns, 834 yards rushing, 13 touchdowns).
Romello Bentley is the team's top receiver with 60 catches for 754 yards and eight touchdowns.
Senior
Will Tillo is by far the leading tackler with 114, but
Travis Boller (86 tackles), Good (91) and
Malik Rivera (62) also have had superb defensive seasons.
Sutherland has led the Bears to a record of 74-44 since 2004, including a 13-1 year in 2011. That team was eliminated 46-38 by Armwood, the same program it faces on Friday.
Nathan Peterman, who is now the quarterback at Tennessee, called signals for that 2011 Bartram Trail team. Peterman threw for 2,950 yards and 35 touchdowns in 2011.
"Every week we try to focus on our team and how we can improve and get better instead of focusing on our opponents," said Sutherland. "The last 13 weeks we have just tried to get better as a team. Once playoffs start, everyone is a great team. We have been focusing on us and our execution and trying to play the best that we can."
MaxPreps editorial assistant Kirstin Beal contributed to this report.
