ST. JOHNS, Fla. – Beachside coach Pete Duffy doesn’t like to talk to his players about the next game but rather focus more on the steps they must take to achieve victory.
It was a coach’s dream Friday night for Duffy.
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Tyler Richardson’s perfect play on an interception helped jump-start the host Barracudas in the second half of the Varsity 4 Game of the Week. Halftime adjustments helped unleash the running game as back Vinny Galella scored four touchdowns while rushing for 107 yards during a 45-14 beating of rival Tocoi Creek in the fourth edition of the Surf N’ Turf Bowl.
Players following Duffy’s path to success paved the way for a 28-point third quarter that changed the course of the contest.
“The way we practice prepares you,” said Duffy, whose team is ranked ninth in the Varsity 4 Super 10 and coaches’ polls. “We don’t really like to talk about the game. We talk about the steps you have to do to win the game. You have to win on first down, win second down, win your job. And then, hopefully, you look up and you’re ahead on the scoreboard.”
Beachside (5-1) was ahead on the scoreboard — though barely at 10-7 — as the second half started. But Tocoi Creek (3-3) had played great defense, holding Galella, their former teammate, to 23 yards on 12 carries during the opening 24 minutes.
At the same time, Toros sophomore back Andrew Dolan had rolled up 112 rushing yards — his third 100-yard game of the season — as Tocoi Creek drove to the Barracudas 35 to start the second half.
But Richardson, a defensive end, did exactly what he was supposed to do on a screen pass. He checked back as he saw the offensive linemen retreat. He saw the back duck out. He retraced his steps and planted himself in quarterback Karter Alvarez’s vision.
Richardson picked off a pass thrown right to his chest and raced 62 yards before being hauled down at the Toros 3. That was a game-changer.
“My job when they throw a screen is to retrace, so I back up, try to cause chaos in the quarterback’s eyes, and he threw it right to me,” Richardson said. “I caught it and took off. I thought I had it all the way, but I started slowing down at the end.
“That brought us a lot of momentum and really helped us flip the switch.”
It wasn’t just the interception that made Duffy proud; it was how Richardson handled the return.
“We call it retracing your steps,” Duffy said. “Look back, keep your head on a swivel and the ball’s coming. He made a great play. We’ve been working on, when we get a turnover, to not run around aimlessly because the fast guys come from behind and knock the ball out. You could see him cover it up with two hands when he got down there.
“It’s so great because you work on that stuff and then see it actually happen. He did two things the right way on the same play. We’ve got to get him some doughnuts or something.”
Everything went wrong for Tocoi Creek from that point. Coach Kevin Doelling believes Alvarez broke his hand trying to make the tackle and was getting X-rays after the game.
After that, Beachside rolled off four touchdowns during the next 8 minutes, 6 seconds, with Galella’s second score of the night coming two plays after Richardson’s pick.
“I told the boys football’s like life: Everything can look good and then one second something can happen and flip everything on its head,” Doelling said. “I think we had a great game plan but unfortunately, working with 15-,16-,17-year old boys, it so much mental.
“There was an unfortunate pop in the bubble of confidence when your starting quarterback goes down. It started with that.”
The downfall came rapidly. The Toros had not been held to a three-and-out possession all game but then had three in a row. Galella scored twice more. A defense that had checked him then allowed him 63 rushing yards in the third quarter alone.
“Our guys, we come out in the second half and keep pushing,” said Galella, who scored on runs of 27 and 11 yards to go with a pair of 3-yard scores. “That’s Beachside. This team wants to play for each other. We never quit on each other. That’s why we came out in the second half and grabbed the momentum like that.”
For their four third-quarter touchdowns, the Barracudas’ starting positions were the Tocoi Creek 3, their own 42, the Toros 11 following a blocked punt and Tocoi Creek’s 38 after Brennan Monaco’s weaving 31-yard punt return.
That set up the next play, a 38-yard strike from Eddie Jordan to Drew Watson, the first of Jordan’s two touchdown passes and the second one-play scoring possession of the quarter.
The game was over.
Beachside now is off to a 5-1 start for the third season in a row, and the Barracudas are unbeaten this season with Jordan, who passed for 244 yards, after he missed the season-opening loss.
For Galella, it was surreal. He had been on the other side of the rivalry, playing for the Toros when they won the first two games in St. Johns County’s newest rivalry. Now, he’s with Beachside, which evened up the Surf N’ Turf win total.
“I didn’t want to think about it too much,” Galella said. “I didn’t want to get into the nitty and gritty of things. To me, football is football.
“It felt good. I’m not going to lie.”
Beachside 45, Tocoi Creek 14
Tocoi Creek, 7, 0, 0, 7 —14
Beachside, 7, 3, 28, 7 — 45
B – Vinny Galella 3 run (Owen Carey kick)
TC – Andrew Dolan 11 run (Jackson Tsoukalis kick)
B – Carey 30 FG
B – Galella 3 run (Carey kick)
B – Galella 27 run (Carey kick)
B – Galella 11 run (Carey kick)
B – Drew Watson 38 pass from Eddie Jordan (Carey kick)
TC – Bryton Baker 25 pass from Brodie Adams (Tsoukalis kick)
B – Maddox Hunstad 25 pass from Jordan (Carey kick)
Category: TC — B
First downs: 15 — 17
Rushes-yards: 31-136 — 25-124
Passing: 142 — 244
Comp-Att-Int: 13-22-1 —17-23-0
Fumbles-lost: 1-0 — 0-0
Penalties-Yards: 3-25 — 8-70
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — TC: Dolan 23-147, Jayden Arnold 4-6, Karter Alvarez 2-(-3), Adams 2-(-14). B: Galella 20-107, Jordan 5-17.
PASSING — TC: Alvarez 8-14-1-86, Adams 5-8-0-56. B: Jordan 17-23-0-244.
RECEIVING — TC: Baker 4-45, Zack Lloyd 3-34, Giovani Castillo 2-27, Dolan 2-21, Christian Piotrowski 2-15. B: Watson 3-91, Hunstad 4-76, Brennan Monaco 6-41, Drew Aldrich 4-36.