It wasn’t a pretty one, but Wakulla Football left Gene Cox Stadium with the 37-20 victory over Leon to start the 20025 season off on Thursday night. The War Eagles will start the year 1-0, while the Lions fall to 0-1.
“It wasn’t our best game, but give Leon all the credit, they made us not play our best game, and we got to get better to reach our goals,” Wakulla’s coach Scott Klees said. “We got to get better in next week’s of practice.”
Despite the loss, Leon gave Wakulla the run for its money. The Lions didn’t look like a team that went 1-9 last season. They looked like a Ricky Bell team when they were at their heyday.
Wakulla struggled to get the offense going and was held scoreless in the first quarter.
The War Eagles would then drop three passing touchdowns, including a short pass to Jordan Barnes that turned into an 80-yard run with one defender to beat.
Leon kept the game close for the majority of the game, led by their quarterback Brooks Warmack, who threw two TDs to Randon Manausa and Markeith Buggs. While the Lions did keep a one-score game, it couldn’t stay out of their way.
A blocked punt that turned into a touchdown by Andrew Nelson, a fumble and a safety late in the fourth quarter were game-sealing for the War Eagles.
Wakulla’s quarterback Owen Klees wasn’t at his best after allowing two turnovers, but he still finished by completing 15 of his 22 passes for 270 yards and four TDs. He credited his receivers and the defense for keeping Wakulla in the game.
“I for sure didn’t have my best game, but I really got to give credit to all my receivers out there making plays, especially the defense. The defense played lights out, in my opinion,” Owen Klees said.
“It was blown coverages and things like that, we will fix. It’s Week 1 stuff. Without them, we might not be in that game.”
Here are the three takeaways from Thursday’s game.
Mental errors lead to costly turnovers for both teams
Both teams struggled early. For Leon, it was a mixture of costly penalties and missed scoring opportunities in the endzone, making the game even more interesting. For Wakulla, it was ball security on the offensive side and busted coverages on the defensive side.
The game came down to which team made the most mistakes, and that went to the Lions. Both teams had their fair share of turnovers, but the War Eagles capitalized on their turnovers in the end.
Andrew Nelson’s punt block score changes game for Wakulla
The best play of the night was on special teams.
With a minute left in the third quarter, Nelson blocked a punt, recovered the ball, and took it to the house. That touchdown on special teams gave Wakulla 28-13 heading into the fourth quarter.
“I looked at the sideline, and coach told me what I needed to do,” Nelson said. “Pick a side to go, I went, blocked it, took it, and I ran. That was history.”
Wakulla runs the ball effectively in second half
The War Eagles never gave up on the running game. They kept pounding the rock, and it eventually opened up the offense. Running back Jeremiah Washington was Wakulla’s leading rusher as he finished with 160 carries for 160 yards.
His big runs would set up play action passes for Klees to find his open targets such as Barnes, Jayden Jean, Brandon Hayes and Jarrell Randolph.
“I thought we ran the football much better in the second half, a whole lot better,” Scott Klees said. “So it set up our play-action passes.”
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Wakulla football’s 2025 schedule
Leon football’s 2025 schedule
Peter Holland Jr. covers Florida State athletics for the Tallahassee Democrat. Contact him via email at PHolland@Gannett.com or on X @_Da_pistol.
This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Wakulla’s defense, punt block score lead to win over Leon in season opener | Takeaways
Reporting by Peter Holland Jr., Tallahassee Democrat / Tallahassee Democrat
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