Glod quarterbacks Ponte Vedra to stunning win over Nease

As politely as possible, R.J. Glod was told the best way he could help the Ponte Vedra football team win games was to move to wide receiver.

The senior dutifully did that — for one series. That’s all it took for starting quarterback Cobi Myers to sustain what may be a season-altering injury.

Myers was out. Glod was in.

More importantly to both, the Sharks maintained their decade-long superiority over archrival Nease with Friday night’s 21-14 win.

With Myers reduced to crutches and cheerleading from the sidelines, Glod led the Sharks on the game-winning touchdown drive. Glod handed the ball off to running back Campbell Parker, and the junior sprinted through the hole on the left side of the line with 49.7 seconds remaining.

“It felt great to get that team win,” Glod said. “It was a huge team effort. My heart goes out to Cobi. You hate to see that from a great guy. He’s a great leader and he helped me finish out that game.”

Glod caught a pass for five yards on the Sharks’ opening drive. But, after Myers went down as he ran toward contact with 5:40 remaining in the first quarter, the quarterback position belonged to No. 12.

The one-time understudy threw for 221 yards and a touchdown. Glod’s touchdown pass came on the first play of the second quarter when he found senior receiver Noah Washington for a 25-yard connection.

He was 16 of 28 with an interception, but the senior avoided negative plays and used his feet to find time to throw, or punish the Panthers on the zone read.

The latter is what set up Parker’s game-winning touchdown. Ponte Vedra had the football at the Nease 15 with less than two minutes remaining when Glod, to the surprise of the Panthers, the standing-room only crowd and undoubtedly others, kept the ball.

He picked up 10 yards and set up first-and-goal. Two plays, later Parker was running through a hole wider than Nocatee Parkway.

“This one was more important than all the (touchdowns) last year, honestly” said Parker, who finished with 13 carries for 29 yards. “We overcame adversity through the entire game, came back toward the end and won the game. That’s all that matters.”

Parker nearly lost control of the football on second-and-goal from the Nease 2. But, he recovered, refocused and reenergized the crowd at the Shark Tank.

Parker’s effectiveness came out of the backfield, where he caught four passes for 91 yards.

One of the few passes that was intended for Parker but didn’t find his fingers would have ended the game.

Nease had an outside linebacker sniff out the play and get between Glod and Parker. However, the pass went right through his hands with 2:35 remaining. The play resurrected Ponte Vedra’s chances of a 10th straight win in the Battle of the Bridge from life support.

“This was everything I thought it would be,” said Nease’s first-year coach Collin Drafts. “This was awesome. Don’t get me wrong, we had the game. I thought that was it. We all thought that was it. We let the ball slip through our fingers. I’m sure people will be talking about that for a while. Hats off to them, they found a way to win without one of their best players. Their backup quarterback played great. We didn’t take advantage of the opportunities that were given to us. We needed one more stop. We needed one more play on offense. We needed that one, game-winning play. We couldn’t get it done.”

Drafts noted the Sharks made the Panthers offense one-dimensional at times. Nease sophomore Grant Stevens caught a 15-yard touchdown pass from senior quarterback Joe Nieves, but that was the longest passing play of the night for the Panthers.

Nease completed nine of its 18 passing attempts for 74 yards. But, the Panthers could not find Stevens (three catches, 25 yards) and fellow sophomore Donovan Wilson (one catch, 13 yards over the top of the Ponte Vedra defense.

One person in white who did get his hands on the football frequently was senior cornerback Eric Marshall. In the first half alone, he had two pass break ups, including one that denied a touchdown, as well as an interception.

While Nease’s defense held the Sharks at bay for most of the game, the offense could not move the football once it entered Ponte Vedra territory. Nease turned the ball over on downs three times in Ponte Vedra territory. The last instance occurred with eight minutes remaining. A 13-play 57-yard drive stalled at the Ponte Vedra 23 when the Sharks, trailing 14-13 at the time, gang-tackled Nieves.

Ponte Vedra’s seniors, including iron men Andrew Lewis and John Mazella — the duo who opened the hole for Parker’s touchdown — desperately didn’t want the streak to end on their watch.

Though Nease led in the fourth quarter, for the first time during its extended drought against the Sharks, the visitors were unable to wrestle control of the game, and the direction of the trash-talking in Nocatee from Ponte Vedra.

When the clock hit zeroes, Glod’s parents had tears in their eyes as they hugged Ponte Vedra’s quarterback. Glod’s parents weren’t the only ones who were ecstatic to witness a Ponte Vedra win.

Dave and Raye DiSandro flew in from Chicago to watch their son’s first game as a head football coach. Ponte Vedra pulled it off and its first-year head coach Jeff DiSandro was able to celebrate his 37th birthday on Saturday with his family.

“It was a fantastic atmosphere,” Ponte Vedra's coach said.. “I probably can’t put it into words.”

PONTE VEDRA 21, NEASE 14

Nease 0 7 7 0 — 14

Ponte Vedra 0 10 3 8 —21

Second quarter

PV: R.J. Glod 25 yard pass to Noah Washington (Davis Ashcroft kick), 11:12

PV: Ashcroft 25 yard field goal, 7:20

N: Joe Nieves 15 yard pass to Grant Stevens (Canaan Kimball kick), 3:09

Third quarter

PV: Ashcroft 40 yard field goal, 8:12

N: Nieves 4 yard run (Kimball kick), 3:27

Fourth Quarter

PV: Campbell Parker 2 yard run (Glod conversion to Keaton Thomas), 0:49