(This story has been updated to add new information and to add a photo or video.)
Something sets Beachside’s passing game apart from the norm, and Maddox Hunstad has a name for it.
“I call them the four-headed monster,” the Beachside senior said.
What’s more, Hunstad is part of that monster himself, scoring the game-winning touchdown to help push the Barracudas past Bishop Kenny 35-31 in a Week 5 Thursday night high school football classic on Sept. 18.
Stretched to the limit by the gritty Crusaders and mauling running back Caleb Mattison on a night of revolving-door lead changes, Beachside lifted its storied passing game to new heights.
Four Barracuda wideouts — Hunstad, Drew Aldrich, Brennan Monaco and Drew Watson — cleared the 100-yard mark receiving, complementing the video game-caliber numbers from the monstrous arm of quarterback Eddie Jordan: 33 of 45 for five touchdowns and 535 yards.
Even Jordan himself, committed since June to Division I Lafayette, couldn’t quite grasp those numbers.
“I didn’t even know that’s how much I had,” Jordan said.
Believe it. At 4-1 near the Florida High School Athletic Association halfway point, Beachside is ready to chase down more history in its fourth year on the gridiron.
“It was something really special tonight,” Barracuda coach Pete Duffy said. “Everything was working. It was really good to watch.”
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MAKING OF A MONSTER
After 2,573 yards passing as a Barracuda sophomore and 2,866 as a junior, Jordan has already established a Northeast Florida reputation for aerial feats. He started with near-perfection, nailing his first nine attempts, including the first of his three touchdowns to Hunstad.
He delivered the passes, and the four-headed monster did the rest. Hunstad, a towering 6-5 target committed to Bowling Green, reeled in six catches for 104 yards to follow his 180-yard outing against Ponte Vedra on Sept. 12. Aldrich caught 10 footballs for 113 yards, Monaco grabbed nine for 144 yards and a score and Watson secured seven catches for 168 yards and a 77-yard touchdown.
“Everyone can do something different, everyone is going to add something else,” Hunstad said.
Jordan is now firmly in the mix to join the 7,500-yard club, or beyond, by the time his senior campaign wraps up.
“They were trying to cover the pass, but we were going to get it done anyway,” Jordan said.
MATTISON KEEPS CRUSADERS MOVING
How could Bishop Kenny (2-2) stay in the contest against a 535-yard quarterback? Mattison, once again, kept Crusader hopes afloat.
A starter since his freshman year at Bishop Kenny, the junior running back has racked up a handful of major college offers already, and that list should keep on growing.
Bishop Kenny had mustered next to no offense — three first downs, fewer than 60 yards — when Mattison invigorated the team with a 75-yard game-tying dash to the house at the 3:08 mark in the second quarter.
Running with more power than his listed 5-10, 195-pound frame might suggest, Mattison kept escaping from a Beachside defense down several starters from the trenches to the secondary. He rumbled for 223 yards on 24 carries and gained 65 yards through the air, including a 45-yard catch-and-run from Gavin Hawkins that nudged the Crusaders into a 28-21 lead with 9:45 remaining.
That could have buried Beachside. It didn’t.
“They kept battling, battling, and they made that play when we had to have it,” Duffy said.
BARRACUDAS SURVIVE WILD FINISH
Walking into the huddle with 3:36 on the clock, 80 yards to go and a 31-28 deficit after Christian Lopez booted a go-ahead Bishop Kenny field goal, Jordan had a message for his Barracuda teammates.
“We just had to count on each other and play for the brother next to you, and bring it every play,” Jordan said.
The quarterback kept Bishop Kenny off balance with short tosses to Aldrich, crossing midfield. Then, Hunstad cut inside from the right, shook off a couple of tacklers and motored for a 48-yard score with 1:39 to go.
Even touchdown number five wasn’t enough on its own for Beachside, not without the moment that Duffy called “that play.”
A fourth-down conversion to James Davis III and a leaping grab by Mattison had advanced Bishop Kenny inside the 20. But when Hawkins scrambled toward the end zone, Beachside’s Andrew Crews and Dominic Parr combined to jar the ball loose at the 5, and Barracuda safety Gustavo Gonzalez recovered with 14 seconds left.
Beachside now owns a four-game winning streak, and stands three wins away — Oct. 10 against Fleming Island, Oct. 17 at Middleburg and Oct. 24 at Orange Park — from a District 3-5A trophy. It would be Beachside’s first. Here, a four-headed monster is hungry for more prey.
“I feel like we’re a really good team,” Hunstad said, “and we’re going to shock a lot of people.”
PONTE VEDRA 48, MENENDEZ 6
Cole Rosendahl rushed for a score and threw TDs to Tucker Henderson and Davitt Doherty, and the Shark defense enjoyed a feeding frenzy at Menendez (2-3). … JP Dolan scored a blocked punt return for the Sharks, Rutgers commit Reece Beck pounced on a fumble and Fionn Day, Nathan Firth and Davis Latina all picked off passes for the Sharks (3-2). … Alex Winkles ran for a pair of Ponte Vedra touchdowns and Nico Cipriani added another.
STANTON 28, HARVEST COMMUNITY 12
David Honore ran for two first-half scores for the Blue Devils (3-3), downing the Warriors (0-5) in a game played at Providence. … Center Landon Figueroa (five pancake blocks) anchored a Stanton line that cleared the path for both Honore and Rohomy Francis to hit 100 yards. … Defensive end Anthony Ang added a sack.
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: THURSDAY FOOTBALL | ‘Four-headed monster’: Beachside air game soars to new heights vs. BK
Reporting by Clayton Freeman, Jacksonville Florida Times-Union / Florida Times-Union
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