By: Jeff Doke

TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services

During the offseason leading up to the 2024 football season, the speculation regarding the Frederica Academy Knights was that this would be a team in serious rebuilding mode.

When All-Time State Rushing Leader Jordan Triplett graduated last year, he took over 90% of the Knights’ offensive production with him. Many observers expected this year’s squad to suffer some serious growing pains.

While it’s difficult to replace a legend, the 2024 Knights made a valiant attempt. So much so that longing for the glory days of “The River” turned out to be an afterthought.

Opening week against the hapless Savannah High Blue Jackets set the expectations for the season higher than originally expected.

Sophomore QB Stanton Beverly proved effective thru the air and on the ground, rushing for three touchdowns and throwing for another two. Beverly’s running style drew comparisons to Stetson Bennett, and he continued to be the team’s rushing leader on and off throughout the season – and at one point, he was also the leading rusher in the region as well.

While the first game of the season was encouraging, the next four were anything but. Two lopsided losses to an oversized West Nassau team and the defending state champion Valwood Valiants were followed by two frustratingly close defeats at Tiftarea and Stratford, and Coach Brandon Derrick’s squad found themselves at 1-4.

The second half of the season went much better as the Knights flipped the script and went 4-1 for the back half of the year.

While the lone loss that came at the hands of hated rivals Bulloch Academy cost them another region title, the four victories were quite satisfying.

The Knights were able to notch payback victories against Brookwood and Pinewood, as well as recording their first shut-out since the 2020 season – a 42-0 shellacking of Robert Toombs Christian Academy.

Although Frederica was clicking at the right time, a deep run into the playoffs was not meant to be. For the second year in a row, the Knights’ season ended on the campus of Valwood Academy, this time in the opening round instead of the semi-finals.

One would think that considering the up-and-down nature of this first post-Triplett season that Frederica would be thankful to have gotten that far. Surprisingly enough, that’s not the case.

This didn’t feel like a season that was destined to end this quickly. The offense was finally starting to click with Jayden Gibson finding running lanes on the inside that simply weren’t there and Jaylin Baldwin adding a jet sweep in the Apache/Cherokee formations that were faster than what we’ve seen since another notable Jaylin roamed the Frederica sideline.

JC Wessel was finally starting to knock off the rust of almost a decade of not playing football and Braxton Sykes was proving valuable as a receiver as well as the backup quarterback.

The twin kickers of Mary Ford Fitzjurls and Noah Restrepo were as reliable as they come.

But alas, a deep run was not meant to be. True, the fact that there are 18 starters from this year’s squad set to come back next year should offer a fair amount of hope to the Frederica Faithful, but you just can’t help but wish that there could have been more for this year’s senior class.

Hayes Carter, Esai Hernandez, Tucker McLain, and Will Johnson had been through so much since their freshman campaign.

The final survivors of the infamous “Mean Nineteen” year, their contributions on both sides of the ball were instrumental in the record setting seasons of the previous three years.

You just can’t help but wish we could have seen them together for another two weeks.

2025 promises to be another step up the ladder for the Knights, perhaps even another trophy to hoist could be in the cards.