In front of every great running performance, you’ll find great blockers.
So, since Xander Edwards rumbled for 522 yards and eight touchdowns in Bolles’ 73-49 win over Baldwin on Sept. 26, achieving Northeast Florida high school football single-game records in both categories, the record-smashing runner and his Bulldog colleagues have assigned plenty of credit to the maulers in the trenches.
“I would say their work ethic [sets them apart],” Edwards said. “They put in so much hard work. They put in so much film study on the team that we’re going to play. They play with relentless effort and they do not back down from a challenge, and I just love that about them.”
That means the offensive line of left tackle Andrew Smith, left guard Caleb Barnes, center Ryan Ingram, right guard Reid Koelbel and right tackle Will Zebroski — four seniors along with 285-pound sophomore Zebroski, who excelled in place of Super 11 Miami commit JJ Sparks. And it means tight ends Corbyn Fordham and William Barakat, who also helped shoulder the load in a formidable blocking performance.
Those blockers cleared the way for Edwards to gash Baldwin for 13 double-digit gains: 44, 11, 15, 22, 27, 11, 32, 41, 77, 59, 35, 10 and 13 yards. Of his 39 carries, 37 gained yardage, with the only loss at the tail end of the first quarter.
Bolles coach Matt Toblin said a 39-carry workload wasn’t in the original plan for Edwards. But with multiple Bulldogs backup running backs injured, and Baldwin scoring steadily to keep their own hopes alive, the sophomore and his blockers ended up carrying the load to the finish.
“They are very methodical in what they do, and they do a great job in adjusting to what they see in front of them,” Toblin said. “I think that’s the biggest thing. O-lines that are big and physical are special. O-lines that are big and physical and smart, and can see adjustments and pick things up, that group is unbelievable.”
The linemen, several of whom have lined up together since middle school or earlier, have also shown they can adjust. Most recently, Koelbel has shifted inside from right tackle to guard with Sparks out of action, and Zebroski already looks like the Bulldogs’ next O-line prospect.
“Ever since that St. Augustine loss, our whole team is becoming hungry,” Edwards said. “We’re not losing another game this year.”
Although some records are incomplete, never before has the National Federation of State High School Associations recorded an eight-touchdown rushing game in Florida. The 522 yards broke the Northeast Florida mark of 502 achieved by Yulee’s Derrick Henry on Sept. 21, 2012, ranking second in state history to Kayleb Wagner’s 535 yards for Baker on Sept. 17, 2021.
Edwards, meanwhile, is rocketing up the list of football prospects for the 2028 class, a class that already includes Bolles prospects like defensive end Asher Ghioto, athlete T.J. Williamson and quarterback Luke Toland.
A 220-pound bruising back with NFL bloodlines — his father, Marc Edwards, earned a Super Bowl ring in a nine-year pro career and starred at fullback at Notre Dame — he entered the week ninth in the national MaxPreps standings with 1,385 yards on the ground.
While Henry’s single-season record of 55 rushing touchdowns won’t be easy to catch, Edwards is already on pace to threaten the Duval County touchdown record of 42, set by University Christian’s Willie McClendon in 1987.
“With Xander and our O-line,” said Barakat, a two-sport athlete committed to Sewanee for lacrosse, “I can really imagine anything.”
Records, records, records
For a running back who nearly matched his freshman-year total of 558 yards in a single night, life in the spotlight has changed things fast for Edwards.
“Ever since that game, my Twitter and all that have been blowing up,” he said. “I’m just blessed to be in this position.”
The next thing blowing up will be the record books, where the Baldwin-Bolles game may require a full-scale rewrite of a few pages.
Gateway fall sports ready for liftoff
Knock-knock. Who’s there?
October, and along with October, the first set for Gateway Conference tournaments for fall sports.
Volleyball gets the proverbial ball rolling with its three-day competition from Oct. 7-9. Mandarin owns the last three trophies but faces a stiff challenge from Fletcher and Wolfson, both unbeaten in September.
After that, the championships come fast. Gateway diving is set for Oct. 8, followed by Gateway swimming on Oct. 13, both at Cecil Field. Fletcher won both boys and girls swimming titles last fall.
Still to come later will be the Gateway tournaments for bowling (defending champion is Stanton) on Oct. 15 at Batt Family Fun Center; for cross country (Mandarin boys, Stanton girls), on Oct. 16; for girls golf (Stanton), on Oct. 20 at Jacksonville Beach; and boys golf (Fletcher), on Oct. 21, also at Jacksonville Beach.
Knights fastest at Bale-N-Trail
There were bales. There were trails.
And running through all of them were the runners of Creekside’s boys cross country team, who got strong times from their top three to win the Bale-N-Trail Original on Sept. 27 at Bartram Trail.
Jackson Lafser (third place, 16:10), Eli Scharf (fourth, 16:13) and Ishir Jha (sixth, 16:15) led the Knights to 53 points, edging out Fleming Island at 57. The Golden Eagles did earn the individual title, with senior Andrew Boyer crossing in 16:05 to edge Jack Kline of Cornerstone Classical.
Gainesville Oak Hall took top spot in the girls team standings ahead of Creekside and Bartram Trail. The individual standings ended in a freshman 1-2-3 with Seven Rivers Christian’s Mary Summers (17:44) leading Bartram Trail’s Avery Hartley (17:56) and Creekside’s Eva Delaney (18:38).
Also during the week, Stanton swept the Leslie Baker Saints Open with 27 points in the boys race and a perfect 15 in the girls event. Aiden Onwujiobi (19:36) and Ben Serra crossed only a tenth of a second apart at the boys finish, and Jordyn Reeves ran 24:07 to win the girls race.
John William Martin (17:59) and Jillian Loucks (20:44) led Fernandina Beach to both team and individual wins on home turf at the Coach Hope Invitational.
This week’s cross country schedule includes the Oct. 1 Run with the Devils at William F. Sheffield Regional Park on Jacksonville’s Northside, the Oct. 3 Craig Speziale Shark Bite at Night at Ponte Vedra, the Oct. 3-4 Alligator Lake Invitational at Lake City and the Oct. 3-4 FLRunners.com Invitational in Lakeland.
Harvest tops Wolfson, last volleyball unbeaten
Jacksonville’s last unbeaten team in volleyball is undefeated no more.
Harvest Community halted the perfect start of Wolfson (11-1) in Sept. 29 volleyball, rallying past the Wolfpack 14-25, 25-17, 25-23, 25-19 at the Warriors’ Fort Caroline Road gym.
Superb serves from Pria Adhikari and the pure down-the-middle power of Taylor Marts turned the tide for Harvest (15-6).
Both Harvest Community (first in Region 1-2A) and Wolfson (fourth in Region 1-3A) are firmly in the playoff picture for the latest FHSAA rankings with only a week remaining in the regular season.
Beachside (17-1), which won its 14th consecutive match on Sept. 30 against Middleburg with 20 kills from Adriana Jeanpierre and double-doubles from Erica Duffy, Jayden Roberts and Mollie VanDeusen, leads Northeast Florida teams at No. 6 in the FHSAA numbers.
Around the area
Bolles point guard Evie Freeman committed to Tennessee Tech women’s basketball. … Bolles goaltender Will Martell committed to Embry-Riddle men’s lacrosse. … Episcopal midfielder Georgia Tuttle committed to Furman women’s lacrosse. … Harvest Community libero Pria Adhikari committed to Mobile volleyball. … Episcopal swimmer Blakely Hammel committed to Florida women’s swimming and received her FHSAA championship ring during the Eagles’ football game. … Episcopal infielder Riley Valent committed to Bates softball. … Episcopal outside hitter Alexis Galani reached 500 career digs. … Fletcher setter Keely Pou topped 2,000 career assists. … Ponte Vedra setter Haydin Froehlich passed 1,000 career assists. … Covenant’s Philip Muzichuk set a school boys cross country record of 19:41.6. … Bishop Snyder’s Emme Bordinca set the Cardinals’ single-season record with 262 kills. … Bishop Snyder volleyball coach Brian Smith earned his 100th win Sept. 29. … Former Fletcher midfielder Brian Schaefer scored his first USL Championship goal for Indy Eleven on Sept. 27. … Former Bishop Kenny libero Kristina Nika won ASUN defensive player of the week honors at Jacksonville University. … Former University Christian and Union County coach Robby Pruitt won his 200th Florida game with Williston against Ocala Trinity Catholic, making him the first coach ever to win 200 games in two states counting his victories in Georgia. … The Florida Swimming Pool Association meet is scheduled for Oct. 4 in Ocala. … Oct. 6 marks the start of FHSAA practice for girls weightlifting.
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: How Bolles football offensive line paved way for Xander Edwards’ 522-yard record game
Reporting by Clayton Freeman, Jacksonville Florida Times-Union / Florida Times-Union
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
