- April 23, 2024
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Seabreeze defenders try to take the ball away from FPC receiver Breaza Robinson. Photo by Ray Boone
Sandcrabs defenders try to pull the flag of an FPC player. Photo by Ray Boone
Seabreeze quarterback Bailey McQuarrie hurls a ball down field. Photo by Ray Boone
Seabreeze quarterback Bailey McQuarrie hurls a ball down field. Photo by Ray Boone
Seabreeze's Taylor Nirschl prepares to catch a deep throw by quarterback Bailey McQuarrie. Nirschl scored on the play. Photo by Ray Boone
Seabreeze's Grace Remey covers her face after giving up the game-winning touchdown to FPC. Photo by Ray Boone
With a five point lead and the Bulldogs driving toward the goal line, the Sandcrabs absolutely needed a stop. For three downs, the Sandcrabs’ gritty defense accomplished that feat. But with 38.7 seconds left in the game, the Bulldogs’ quarterback drifted a pass near the left corner of the end zone.
Grace Remey was there to make a play. The Sandcrabs’ sure-handed senior jumped in front of the ball, ready to come up with the game-winning interception.
Instead, the ball skimmed off her hands into the arms of Bulldogs receiver Breaza Robinson.
The touchdown gave the Bulldogs their first lead of the game, 15-14.
Seabreeze’s star quarterback, Bailey McQuarrie, threw an interception — her second of the night — on the very next play.
“They just weren’t thinking,” Sandcrabs coach Michael Fries said after his team’s heart-wrenching loss to Flagler Palm Coast on the night of Tuesday, April 17, at the Ormond Beach Sports Complex. “That was tough.”
Inspired by Senior Night and a chance to climb into the Top 25 of the state flag football rankings, Seabreeze jumped to a 14-0 lead by the second quarter, highlighted by a 40-yard interception return by Taylor Nirschl for the game’s first score in the opening quarter.
But in the second half, everything changed.
“They were lazy,” Fries said. “They stopped pushing.”
After an interception by Kara Haas gave the Sandcrabs the ball back with seven minutes to spare in the fourth quarter, McQuarrie did the unthinkable: She missed a snap, fumbling the ball in the Sandcrabs’ own end zone for a safety.
Fries despised the team’s low energy following the game-changing mistake.
“They were just walking around out there,” he said. “They were getting down on themselves. They weren’t playing to their full potential.”
Regardless, the second-year coach said he was happy that the mistakes happened in the team’s regular season finale instead of in the playoffs. Seabreeze has a first-round district matchup with Matanzas on Tuesday, April 24.
“It’s going to be either kill or be-killed,” Fries said. “Once you lose in districts, it’s over.”
