WEST PALM BEACH – No. 1 seed King’s Academy (10-1) was able to squeeze out an 16-7 victory over No. 5 seed Holy Trinity Episcopal in its 3A Region 2 semifinal matchup.
After not having to play a game since October 26, due to being a No. 1 seed and earning a bye to the second round of the playoffs, it safe to say the Lions were a little rusty to start.
King’s Academy made some very uncharacteristic plays to start out on offense, as Justin Wake threw two early interceptions on back-to-back drives. Holy Trinity’s defensive backs seemed determined to not let Wake beat them through the air.
The Lions defense would come up for the offense with a fumble recovery of their own to tip the balance. But the Kings offense couldn’t get anything going against Trinity.
Wake and the Lions offense were in scoring position twice in the first half, but wasn’t able to punch it in early on. Three and outs and turnovers on downs were common themes for both teams.
With 1:56 left in the first quarter, King’s would get on the board first on a safety by its defense to make it 2-0.
At the start of second quarter King’s fumbled the ball near the goal line, and Trinity would recover. It negated the chance for King’s to extend its lead.
With a little over three minutes left in the first half, Wake would scramble and break through the line and score on a 29-yard run to give the Lions a 9-0 lead.
Trinity was pressing hard to cut into the King’s Academy lead, but defensive back Isaac Scroggins secured his team’s 9-0 lead going into halftime by picking off a deep pass from the Holy Trinity quarterback with 40 seconds to go in the first half.
Trinity came out of halftime swinging, as its defense was able to keep King’s offense in check. Trinity would capitalize and score on a 30-yard pass from quarterback Dru Nickson to wideout JaLon Hudgins with 9:26 left in the third quarter to cut King’s lead down to 9-7.
King’s turned to its ground game for points once again in the fourth quarter. The home team extended their lead to 16-7 on a 17-yard run by Presley Almond with 8:50 left in the game.
Jeremiah Scroggins was a complete game changer late in the game with his momentum changing interception on Trinity’s ensuing drive with 7:17 left in the fourth quarter. After his interception, Scroggins ran and screamed towards the home crowd to get everyone pumped as he knew he made an impact play.
Trinity’s offense couldn’t produce anything against the Lions stingy defense late in the game. Trinity’s final drive would end on a sack by King’s linebacker Stiles Higgins that led to a turnover on downs. King’s would take a knee to run the clock out to make it a final score of 16-7.
The dynamic duo of Isaac and Jeremiah Scroggins proved to be the difference for the Lions defense last night. The brothers would comment on the game in post game interviews.
Jeremiah: “We always played in the backyard when we were little kids, and it’s fun to finally be on a high school team together. It’s my senior year and I don’t want this to be my last game. I love my teammates and I want to put on a great performance for them, and that’s what really got me fired up.”
Isaac: “I love all my brothers on the defense, and this guy (Jeremiah) plays really hard and gets me fired up to play.”
Kings Academy will be at home again next week as they face First Academy (9-1) in the 3A region 2 regional finals. The kickoff date and time is set for Friday, Nov. 23 at 7:30 p.m.
