PORT ST. LUCIE – The Treasure Coast Titans have proven to be the single best team in both the Treasure Coast and Palm Beach County areas this season.
Their Class 8A playoff run has been quite inspiring, to say the least. Regardless of how the journey ends, this will go down as the best season that Treasure Coast has ever had.(Image1)
The Titans (10-1) have advanced to the FHSAA high school football state semifinal round for the first time, with two of their three 8A playoff wins being blowouts over Palm Beach County teams in the process.
Here are the final scores for all three of Treasure Coast’s playoff victories in Class 8A – Region 2:
•8A Regional Quarterfinal Round – Defeated Palm Beach Gardens, 47-22
•8A Regional Semifinal Round – Defeated Boone (Orlando), 51-19
•8A Regional Final Round – Defeated Palm Beach Central, 34-0
Led by senior running Eden James, the son of NFL Hall of Famer and Miami Hurricanes legend Edgerrin James, Treasure Coast wasted no time in going on to extinguish Palm Beach Central’s dream of reaching its first-ever state semifinal game.
Eden James torched Palm Beach Central’s defense for a 63-yard touchdown run in a first-quarter offensive drive that took only three plays. His scored helped to give his team a 7-0 lead that only grew from there.
The Treasure Coast defense has proven to be much better than expected, especially against Palm Beach Central.
As a team, they play together and for one another – especially on the defensive side of the ball.
“We’re just trying to win,” Treasure Coast head coach Irvin Jones told a pool of reporters after his team’s blowout road win last Friday night (Nov. 26). “The defense played spectacular from start to finish, even the backups…We’re happy, but not satisfied.”
The Treasure Coast offensive line has been quite productive as well. They opened holes for James, who scored at least two rushing touchdowns last week against Palm Beach Central.(Image2)
“We just dominate and do our jobs,” Treasure Coast offensive lineman Tremaine Johnson Jr. said. “We do what we gotta do, finish our blocks. It was very important to go out there and score.”
Treasure Coast will now be in the 8A state semifinal round at home tonight (Dec. 3; 7:30 p.m. kickoff) against Apopka (11-2). It is the biggest and most important game in school history for the proud team, which has a chance to punch its ticket to the 8A state title game.
But for Treasure Coast to get there, it must overcome a program that has quite a bit of experience in big-stake games like these. After all, Apopka has won three state titles of its own, the most recent one coming in 2014.
The Treasure Coast-Apopka winner will face off against the Venice-Columbus (Miami) winner in two weeks for 8A supremacy at DRV PNK Stadium in Fort Lauderdale.
“We just gotta finish,” Johnson said. “We can go all the way.”
PHOTO CREDITS: Xavon Christopher
