MIAMI – It was a battle of what came down to being the two best overall teams in Class 2A and one that lasted nearly three-and-half hours as the Cocoa Tigers defeated the Gadsden County Jaguars, 38-27 to win the 2024 FHSAA Class 2A State Championship.
Cocoa (11-3) pulled away late in the fourth quarter to end any hopes of Gadsden County (Havana) (13-2) to earn the Tigers’ third straight state championship on Thursday afternoon at FIU’s South Dade Kia Field at Pitbull Stadium.
Here are eight takeaways from the Class 2A State Championship game:
LANE LIGHTS UP THE SCOREBOARD
Lane, who is only a junior and not receiving the attention that some of his other teammates have had this season, will likely get more attention heading into the offseason after having the game he had where he scored three rushing touchdowns, including a game-sealing 42-yard touchdown, with 1:04 left to go in the game. Lane, who netted 64 yards rushing on 15 carries, also had touchdowns of six and three yards, respectively. While the rushing yards were not impressive, it is the versatility that Lane had in the game for the Tigers’ balanced offensive approach that should warrant the attention of college programs into his senior year.
HART GOES OUT A WINNER
Hart, who had himself a game with 259 yards passing on 22-of-31 passing completions with one touchdown, ended his career with the Cocoa Tigers with 4,359 yards passing for his junior-turned-senior year campaign, along with 40 passing touchdowns. To add to his stat total for the game. Hart had 64 yards rushing, showing the versatility he provided the Tigers, along with a two-yard rushing touchdown with 5:17 left in the game that put the Tigers by 10 points for a moment. Now Hart is off to Texas next month as he signed with the Texas A&M Aggies in the early signing period last week.
BOGGS COMES UP SHORT ON SINGLE-SEASON STATE RECEIVING RECORD
Needing 140 yards coming into the game, Jayvan Boggs could have had the state’s single-season receiving record. Coming into the game with 2,002 yards receiving along with 20 touchdowns, Boggs ended up with six catches on eight targets for 112 yards receiving along with one touchdown, as Gadsden County did everything to keep Boggs from doing damage in the game and forcing Hart to go to other Tiger receivers. Even with the record coming close, Boggs closed out his senior year with 2,114 yards receiving and 21 touchdowns.
GADSDEN COUNTY FIGHTS HARD
The Jaguars fought hard and kept it close with Cocoa for the majority of the game, even through a portion of the fourth quarter before the Tigers pulled away and sealed the deal. Kemarrion Battle rushed for 96 yards on 22 carries and two touchdowns while Landon Dougherty threw for 185 yards on 13-of-22 passing completions and two touchdowns but also had one interception in the game that Cocoa was able to convert into points. Overall, the Jaguars did not give up despite some of the miscues they had in the game.
THE ELUSIVE SAFETY SHOWS UP
It was early on in the second quarter when Gadsden County forced Cocoa into a punting situation. Instead of getting the punt off, Cocoa found themselves giving up two points to the Jaguars when the snap went high and into the end zone, which would result in the safety and give the Jaguars a chance to potentially have a lead in the game. That would not happen until the third quarter when Battles would rush in for a two-yard score that would give the Jaguars their first-and-only lead of the game, although a one-point lead, 15-14 lead with 6:07 left in the quarter. That lead would disappear near the end of the fourth quarter when Marcus Trout kicked a 21-yard field goal to give the Tigers the lead back for good.
STATS COMPARISON
When looking at the number of first downs both teams had, Gadsden County had 21 first downs compared to 18 first downs for Cocoa. Even the offensive stats were very comparable, with Cocoa having 359 total yards of offense and Gadsden County having 353 yards of offense. Instead, it was the turnover ratio of one to nothing between the Tigers and the Jaguars that proved to be the difference in the game from the get-go, along with the elusive safety.
GAME GETS CHIPPY AT THE END
What could have been over in a matter of a couple of minutes took much longer to complete after Lane’s third touchdown in the fourth quarter for Cocoa. Instead, a couple of Gadsden County athletes got injured on the following possession, and a scrum broke out that resulted in a dead ball personal foul on the Jaguars. Gadsden County found themselves battling to the end, but the chippiness might have cost a potential chance to leave fans in the stands and those watching from home on the edge of their seats.
LEGACY CONTINUES TO GROW AT COCOA
The victory in the Class 2A state championship game marks the Tigers’ seventh overall state championship victory, with the first four coming under legendary head coach John Wilkerson and now the latest three state championships coming under current head coach Ryan Schneider. Cocoa’s victory now joins them among the rankings of Glades Day (Belle Glade) and Miami Northwestern which have won seven state championships, according to the FHSAA football record book…