Pace HS Dominates Pensacola HS in Homecoming Game 44-7 Behind Nick Simmons’ Five Total Touchdowns

PACE, FLA- As a result of a career performance from Sophomore Quarterback Nick Simmons and a balanced offense, Pace High School (4-2, 0-1 4S District One) enjoyed a commanding 44-7 win over Pensacola High School (0-6, 0-1 2S District One) at Pace Patriot Stadium. With the win, the Patriots remain in third place in the 4S District One Conference, trailing Navarre High School (5-1, 1-0 4S District One) and Gulf Breeze High School (4-3, 2-0 4S District One). Meanwhile, Pensacola is tied with Walton High School (5-1, 0-1 2S District One) for last place in the 2S District One Conference.

As previously mentioned, Simmons’ stellar performance propelled the Patriots to their largest win of the season. Against Pensacola, Simmons completed 7-of-12 pass attempts for 100 yards, two touchdowns, and zero interceptions, while also notching 14 rush attempts for 62 yards and three touchdowns. Through six games, Simmons has recorded 111 rush attempts (Second in 4SD1) for 514 yards (Third in 4SD1) and ten touchdowns (First in 4SD1).

When Simmons was looking to throw against the Tiger defense, he relied heavily on Junior Receiver Xakery Wiedner, who caught four passes for 87 yards and two touchdowns, all team highs. Simmons also completed passes to Sophomore Receiver Nash Pires (1/5/0), Senior Receiver Junior Mills (1/0/0), and Sophomore Running back Ben Tyner (1/7/0). As expected, Tyner remained efficient as the workhorse running back, notching 15 carries for 68 yards and an impressive 5.7 (YPC). For the season, Tyner has taken 81 carries for 436 rushing yards, three touchdowns, and 5.4 YPC.

Although Pace’s offense simply overpowered Pensacola’s defense, the Patriot defense did a great job of minimizing the Tigers’ Senior Quarterback De’Vonsha O’Neal. Before his week six tilt against Pace, O’Neal completed just 10-of-28 pass attempts for 141 passing yards, three touchdowns, and two interceptions, while adding 105 rushing yards and two touchdowns on 32 carries. Against Pace, O’Neal wasn’t much better, leading just one scoring drive, where he was able to find Senior Receiver Bobby Green on a 54-yard touchdown pass.

Part of the reason why O’Neal played poorly was due to the increased amount of pressure he faced throughout the game. Between Junior Linebacker Jackson Ward’s five quarterback hurries and Sophomore Linebacker Karmello Smith’s two quarterback hurries, O’Neal had little time to go through his reads. In reference to this, O’Neal threw many rattled passes, resulting in eight passes defended by the Patriot secondary, and also lost a fumble, which was recovered by Sophomore Linebacker Logan Hancharik.

After Pace built a commanding 30-0 halftime lead over Pensacola, Patriots’ Head Coach Kent Smith decided to give Junior Backup Quarterback Ethan Diamond some playing time while alternating between Diamond and Simmons. In his two drives, Diamond failed to complete either of his two pass attempts, but did run for a ten-yard touchdown on his second drive. Likewise, Smith gave Sophomore Evan Beckham (6/46/0) and Junior Brayden Gates (3/20/0) multiple reps as running backs, as the two defensive backs ran for 66 yards on nine total carries.

To no surprise, Pace Senior Kicker Riece Griffith continued his excellent play for the Patriots, converting on 5-of-6 extra point attempts and converting on his lone 30-yard field goal try. It’s worth noting that Griffith’s lone extra-point miss was actually blocked by Pensacola Defensive Back Dominique Hughley, ending Griffith’s perfect kicking streak at 21 on extra points and field goals. Pensacola’s Freshman Kicker John-James Solet made his lone extra-point attempt after Green’s 54-yard touchdown catch.

Finally, a major congratulations to Senior Running back Jayson Alford and Senior Defensive Lineman Brandon Beckham. In addition to Alford and Beckham both being nominated to Pace’s 2022 Homecoming Court, it was announced before the game that Alford was the Homecoming King, while Beckham finished as the second-runner-up behind Drama Star Scott Burke. Meanwhile, avid Weightlifter and Cheerleader Kendall Wise was named as the Homecoming Queen, and was followed by Cheer Teammate Ava Bautista and ROTC Leader Annabelle Brandt.

4S District 1 Football Standings