BAKER — A pair of Class 1A powers, Baker and South Walton, squared off at Doug Griffith Memorial Stadium with bragging rights on the line Friday night.
It was Homecoming 2015 at Baker and members of the 1985 state championship team were honored in pregame ceremonies. And then the 2015 Gators went out and showed the stuff that they hope will allow them to leave their own Baker legacy.
Last year it was South Walton snapping Baker’s 20-game regular season winning streak. If the Gators were looking for revenge, they got it.
Jon Beck hit Kalee Ciurleo with a 66-yard touchdown pass with 35 seconds left in the fourth quarter, and Josh Springle added the extra point to give Baker the 35-28 win.
“These guys are working hard and I still believe they are getting better, better and better,” Baker coach Matt Brunson said. “The proof will be in the next few weeks as they come together and we go over to Northview to play for the district championship.
“We knew it was going to come to the fourth quarter and we had to hit a big play or two and we did. It was awesome.”
The two offensive powers were locked in a defensive battle most of the game.
South Walton (3-3) scored the game’s first touchdown in the with six seconds left in the first quarter on a 10-yard pass from Dillon Bates to Lee Cox.
With 8:30 left in the second quarter Bates hit Austin Garofalo with a 58-yard scoring strike. The extra point was blocked and the Gators had hope.
Jalen Ciurleo scored Baker’s first touchdown from five yards out with 7:10 left in the half. The touchdown capped a short 3-play.
Nick Adams set up the drive when he alertly scooped up a dying onside kick by the Seahawks and took it inside the South Walton 20-yard line.
It looked as if the Seahawks would take a 20-7 lead into the intermission after 9-yard touchdown run by Joe Ledo-Massey with 5:03 left in the half. But with less than two minutes left in the second quarter South Walton coach Phil Tisa decided to throw the ball from the shadow of the Seahawk end zone.
Baker’s Austin Davis intercepted a Bates pass and returned it the Seahawk 21. The next play Beck hit Kalee Ciurleo for a touchdown as the Gators took the momentum into the fourth second half.
A scoreless third quarter gave way to a wild finish as the teams combined for 29 points in the final 8:44 of play.
Beck started the scoring with a 9-yard run. A 1-yard run by Montae Barto with 4:04 left in the game put Baker up by eight.
But the lead wasn’t safe as South Walton needed just two passes from Bates to Garofalo to cover 80 yards. Bates and Garofalo teamed up again on the 2-point conversion to tie the game with 3:27 showing on the clock.
The Bates to Garofalo connection was good on 10 completions for 246 yards and two touchdowns, but it wasn’t enough.
The teams traded possessions and Baker (5-2) got the ball with 46.8 seconds. Beck hit Kalee Ciurleo for what looked to be the game winning touchdown but there was a flag on the play. The illegal formation penalty against the Gators was waved off and the final touchdown stood as Baker won the shootout.
The Ciurleo brothers, who are twins, teamed up for 175 of Baker’s 331 yards in offense and three of the five Gator touchdowns.
Kalee Ciurleo had two catches for 87 yards and both went for touchdowns. Jalen Ciurleo had 68 yards rushing and one touchdown on 68 carries.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Baker outlasts South Walton in homecoming thriller (PHOTOS)