WEST PALM BEACH, FLA. – A little less than 48 hours ago the state of Florida was devastated by the wrath of Hurricane Milton, some places experienced mass flooding, Palm Beach County experienced an onslaught of tornadoes, leaving damage in its wake, for some people they’ve lost their homes and businesses. Leaving schools across the county to wonder what could be done, the board officially committed to canceling school for Friday, and many schools canceled extracurriculars including football games, all except for one.
The King’s Academy opted to have their game against Somerset Academy Canyons tonight as it would be the only game in the entire county to play, giving some people a place of relief amidst the adversity and chaos caused by the events from this past week.
To kick things off, Somerset got on the board early with a strike from Jayden Harrington to Jay Phipps to give Somerset a quick 6-0 lead after the missed PAT.
It wouldn’t take Kings to respond with a touchdown of their own. After a quick drive down the field, the Lions found themselves on the doorstep of Somerset’s endzone as Joe Dailey punched it in for a touchdown after flipping himself over a pair of Somerset defenders to give Kings the lead.
The game went scoreless for the entire rest of the first half with Kings keeping their 7-6 lead going into the half.
Coming out of the half there was still no scoring, well, that is until Kings got the ball with two minutes left in the 3rd quarter.
With 42 seconds left in the 3rd quarter, Tristian Stewart found an open gap and punched it in for another TKA touchdown to open the lead gap 14-6.
The Lions wouldn’t stop there, in the opening minute of the 4th quarter, Somerset got the ball to start off, until a pick-six from Javian Jones abruptly ended that drive to put the Lions out front 21-6.
However, Somerset did not go out quietly into the night, Somerset had fought and clawed their way back into the game by sending a big drive down the field, capping off with a touchdown rush from Waden Charles.
With this game being within one score and getting incredibly interesting, not a single play was missed by anyone at Kahlert Stadium.
With just a little over two minutes left in the game, Somerset had the ball back and was looking to drive it down the field for a tie.
Javian Jones had other ideas.
Jones would secure his second pick-six of the night to officially put the game away and seal King’s third consecutive district title.
After the game, Coach Burack extended his gratitude towards Somerset for coming out to play and giving everyone that came to the game something to be excited about amidst all the troubles that the hurricane has caused our community.
In our interview with Burack and his postgame speech to the TKA players, Burack emphasized the need to not only be there for the community during these trying times but to also help and take care of their homes during these relief efforts.
