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The Jaguars earned the right to host the 4A South Region final against Henry A. Wise on Saturday. Flowers Athletic Director Carl Rose and coach Mike Mayo were not certain Monday evening whether the field at the Springdale school would be ready and could not rule out moving the game to a neutral site.
Monday evening against Suitland, the Jaguars committed three penalties while attempting to deliver the opening kickoff, all of which Suitland accepted. Flowers (10-1) eventually was forced to kick off from its own 25-yard line, but on its fourth attempt, Suitland (8-3) misplayed the bouncing ball and Flowers senior Denzel Butler recovered at the Rams' 31. The Jaguars promptly marched deep into Suitland territory, but missed a chance to take an early advantage. Flowers had a first-and-goal at the Suitland 2-yard line, but lost yardage on three straight plays before senior William Levicy II pushed a 22-yard field goal attempt wide right.
After a scoreless first quarter, Flowers got on the board when senior quarterback Dwayne Powell connected with tailback Jonathan Clark on a three-yard scoring toss. Levicy then entered to attempt the point after, but Powell dropped the snap, picked up the ball and raced around the left side and dove into the end zone for a two-point conversion to give the Jaguars an 8-0 lead.
Powell then made another play with his legs to set up a short scoring drive. He returned a punt 45 yards to the Suitland 17-yard line, and on the first play from there, Reggie Woods went left and then cut back up field and raced untouched into the end zone. Levicy converted on the extra point and the Jaguars owned a 15-0 lead with 6 minutes, 47 seconds remaining in the half.
"Our offensive line did a great job," said Woods, who carried 13 times for 102 yards and two touchdowns. "They opened some huge holes for me. We knew they had a great defense, but we saw some things on film from the last time we played them. We studied the film and we thought we could run on them. The blocking up front was great. This was my first playoff game, so it was great to get the ball a lot."
Suitland countered with a 16-play, 72-yard drive, converting three fourth downs along the way. The Rams capped the possession when quarterback Devonte Lindsey connected with Anthony Bush on an 11-yard scoring toss. The Rams' two-point conversion was thwarted as Keith Brown could not get outside on a sweep and was tackled behind the line of scrimmage.
When Flowers and Suitland met during the regular season, on Nov. 1, they needed overtime to decide matters. The Jaguars won, 20-14, as Woods ended the game with a 10-yard touchdown run. On Monday, Flowers made sure there would be no overtime, taking control in the second half starting with a scored on the opening drive of the third quarter.
The Jaguars marched 68 yards in nine plays and again Woods did the bulk of the damage. On third and 19, he found a seam to his left and ran for 18 yards. Flowers converted the fourth-down situation when when James Jenkins got seven yards. With a first down at the Rams' 12, Woods again found a hole on the left side and raced into the end zone. Levicy tacked on the extra point for a 22-6 lead.
On its second possession of the half, Suitland drove deep into Flowers' territory but turned the ball over on downs as Lindsey threw three straight incompletions near the Jaguars' 25-yard line. The Rams then turned the ball over on downs late in the fourth quarter and the Jaguars needed only four plays to go the final 20 yards, with Powell scoring on a bootleg. Levicy, who missed a 28-yard field goal on the previous drive, connected on his third extra point of the night.
Suitland coach Nick Lynch praised the efforts of his players, and they all walked to the team bus with more on their minds than Monday's setback. With 4:40 remaining in the game, Suitland running back Anthony Bush was injured on a hard tackle by Flowers linebacker Olakunle Akinsuyi and was taken from the field in an ambulance. Lynch said he was headed to Laurel Regional Hospital to check on Bush immediately after the game.
"When he first got hit, he was conscious and he could move his arms and legs," Lynch said. "But he might have blacked out before the ambulance arrived. I thought my kids fought hard the whole game. We didn't execute as well as we could have. Offensively, we missed out on some chances and defensively we didn't stop their running backs. Flowers has an excellent team. You have to execute and we didn't do that."
