By John Glover

The Daily News

Pine High School defeated Pope John Paul II High School on Friday in the last game of the regular season at home, by the score of 20-6.

The Raiders went into the game with a 5-4 record, coming off a loss the previous week against St. Augustine. Pope John Paul II had a 2-7 season record going into Fridays game.

A hard fought game defensively, neither team was able to get in significant movement with the ball during much of the first quarter. The Jaguars were able to take over on downs with a few minutes left and carry that through into the second quarter. Pushing into field goal range, quarterback Joshua Phillips set up for kicker Kade Dixon from the 11 yard-line. The kick was good and the Jaguars got on the board first with 11 minutes left in the half, 3-0.

Pine’s Markel Cotton returned the kick off to the Raiders’ 35. Quarterback Joey Seal lead the Raiders in a 12-play drive down the field with Cotton, Jordan Anderson, and Ricardo Handy, as ball carriers. From the 3-yard-line, Seal handed off to Damarea Odom, who swooped in through a hole in the Jaguars’ defense and scored the first touchdown of the game with seven and a half minutes left in the half. Seal stuck with Odom in his successful two-point attempt and the Raiders led, 8-3.

Four minutes later, the Raiders took back control of the ball at their own 47 yard-line and began another push back downfield. An 11-play drive put the Raiders back into scoring position. With one second left on the clock in the half at the 2-yard-line, Seal handed off to sophomore Ja’Kyran Handy, who forced his way through for the Raiders’ second touchdown. Seal attempted another two-point conversion but the Jaguar defense held strong and the score at half time was 14-3.

The Jaguar and Raider defenses held strong throughout the third quarter. Pope John Paul II had possession going into the fourth quarter, continuing a drive downfield. With the line of scrimmage at the Pine 20, Dixon kicked for another field goal. It was good and the scored moved to 14-6.

Demillion Williams recovered Dixon’s onside kick attempt at midfield. From the 50, Seal carried with a quarterback keeper down to the Jaguars’ 7-yard-line. The Raiders fought through three more plays until Seal carried, again, from the 1-yard-line, broke through the Jaguar defense and scored the third and last touchdown of the game. The two-point attempt was no good and the final score was 20-6 in favor of the Raiders.

Pine coach Bradley Seal was happy with the win.

“We played a good game, especially defensively,” he said. “It’s a good way to end the season.”