Sudden death: After third down becomes fourth down, Flagler Palm Coast falls to Spruce Creek 36-35 in regional quarterfinals

'I don't understand it,' FPC coach Daniel Fish said after the officials changed the downs from third to fourth in the final seconds.

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With 28 seconds left in the Region 1-7A quarterfinal, Flagler Palm Coast quarterback Hayden Hayes was sacked on second down. As the Bulldogs were at the line of scrimmage about to run their third-down play, the officials suddenly had the down marker switched to fourth down.

FPC had no timeouts remaining. Hayes completed a 3-yard pass to Robbie Dailey to the Spruce Creek 25-yard line, 4 yards short of a first down.

Spruce Creek then went into victory formation to complete a 36-35 victory on Friday, Nov. 15, at FPC's Sal Campanella Memorial Stadium.

The Bulldogs' season ended with a 9-2 record. Creek (8-3) advances in the playoffs with a regional semifinal game at Lake Mary next week. Lake Mary, the top seed in the region, defeated DeLand 49-14 on Friday.

WNZF Radio’s video stream of the game seemed to show FPC’s final play should have been third down, not fourth. FPC coach Daniel Fish said he was not given an explanation for the switch.

“He told me to shut the (heck) up and get back on the sideline. He would not speak to me about it,” Fish said.

The officials were from the Lakeland Officials Association, appointed to the game by the Florida High School Athletic Association.

On second down, Hayes tried throwing the ball away, but he was ruled down for a 6-yard loss. There was no penalty on the play. The officials marked the ball at the 28 where Hayes was tackled.

“They cheated us out of that one,” FPC running back Marcus Mitchell said. “They really did cheat us. It was second down and they said Hayden got sacked. So we called a timeout. So they moved it to third down, and all of a sudden all the refs have fourth down written down on their little notepads, ‘quotation marks,’ and it was history.”

With 37 seconds left, Mitchell caught a 12-yard pass to the 31-yard line to give the Bulldogs a first down. Hayes connected with Mitchell again for a 9-yard pass to the 22 with 30.6 seconds left setting up second-and-1, where Hayes was sacked.

“I don’t understand it,” Fish said. “They changed it (to fourth down) after they started rolling the play clock. So we had to roll. We had no timeouts left. We wouldn't have had enough time to get the (field goal) team out there.”

If the officials had not changed third down to fourth, the Bulldogs, after Dailey’s catch, would have had a fourth-and-4 at the 25 where they could have tried a long field goal, throw for the end zone or go for a quick first down with 11.8 seconds remaining.

"When they turned it to fourth (down), I was like, ‘what is going on?’ said FPC defensive end Colby Cronk, who was watching sequence unfold from the sidelines. "I thought they were going to change it back, because I was 100% sure it was third down. I mean, that changes the whole game. Eight more yards and our our kicker can make the field goal and we win the game. It's just just crazy.”

Three weeks ago on the same field, the Hawks fell to the Bulldogs, 50-39. This time, Spruce Creek trailed 28-6 at the half, but the Hawks outscored the Bulldogs 30-7 in the second half. Creek tied the score at 28-28 late in the third quarter on PJ Miller’s 15-yard touchdown pass to Denali Campbell and Miller’s 2-point conversion run.

FPC went ahead 35-28 with 9:24 left in the game with Mitchell scoring on a 1-yard run. Cronk lined up at fullback on the play, clearing the way for Mitchell to score his third touchdown of the game.

Creek, however, took the lead for the first time with 1:33 left as Anthony Hayden caught a screen pass and broke two tackles on the way to a 30-yard touchdown. Campbell completed the 2-point conversion pass to Kam Chamble to put the Hawks ahead 36-35.

“They made good adjustments, and I think we got a little bit complacent,” Fish said. “But both sides performed well.”

After the game, a teary-eyed Fish told his players they had so much to be proud of this season, going 9-2 and making the playoffs a year after they went 3-7 in Fish’s first season.

“I'm so proud of this group,” he said. “I mean, it was an amazing turnaround. They established the culture and they made history this year. And I just hate that they had to go out that way.

When you go 3-7, no matter what the reasons are, it's hard to build a culture and get the kids to listen to you. ... And for them (to do) ... everything they're asked to do, ... and for some reason, it just doesn't go your way — that's the disappointing part. But they will always have a special place in my heart.
— DANIEL FISH, FPC football coach

“When you go 3-7, no matter what the reasons are, it's hard to build a culture and get the kids to listen to you," Fish said. "They had so many coaching changes and I come in and we have one of the worst years in a long time. And I lay out this plan and tell them, ‘If we do this, we're going to shock everybody next year. We're going to have a great year. We'll make history.’ And for them to buy into that and lead and to do everything they're asked to do, and then come down and play an amazing team again, and for some reason, it just doesn't go your way — that's the disappointing part. But they will always have a special place in my heart.”

Mitchell ended his high school career as FPC's all-time rushing leader, while Cronk broke the Bulldogs' career sacks record, and Hayes broke the single-season passing records for yards and touchdowns.

"It was real real good turnaround this year. It was awesome, but it shouldn't have ended right there,” Cronk said.

Cronk revealed that he played the entire season with a torn labrum. He plans to have surgery before beginning his college career next year at North Carolina State.

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