Fort Meade surges to 8-0 after holding off Frostproof in cross-county Florida football rivalry

Carson Montsdeoca fires 2 touchdown passes to lead the Miners

FORT MEADE, FLORIDA – It's been quite a few years since Fort Meade ran the table, but the Miners are just one win away from a perfect run through the regular season.

Fort Meade scored two fourth quarter touchdowns to turn back arch-rival Frostproof 20-13 Friday in a Florida high school football clash at Frank S. Battle Field.

“Fortunately, we made plays when we needed it,” Fort Meade head coach Jemalle Cornelius said. “The defense played great. The offense turned the ball over way more than we usually do, and we had some crazy penalties.”

Fort Meade quarterback Carson Montsdeoca prepares to fire a pass against rival Frostproof on Friday at Frank S. Battle Field in Fort Meade / By Bill Kemp

The win clinched the Class 2S, District 13 title for Fort Meade (8-0, 3-0), leaving next week’s Avon Park matchup as the last obstacle in its path.

“We felt good about what we had (coming into the season),” Cornelius said. “But I am pretty proud of this group. They’ve been focused all year.”

The game was knotted 7-7 early in the fourth quarter when Fort Meade senior quarterback Carson Montsdeoca lofted a spiral toward the corner of the end zone which was collected by Joshua Porter to put Fort Meade up 14-7.

It was Montsdeoca’s second touchdown pass of the night. He hit Ryan Screen with a 62-yard scoring strike in the second quarter which tied the game 7-7.

“We ain’t been 8-0 in a long time,” Montsdeoca said. “It’s crazy. Some of us come from some bad experiences. We are going to win it, I promise. We are going to win it all.

“The one (touchdown) to Porter was real important,” We checked out of a run play we had, and we had to make a play. … I had a rough start, but we came back and made it work.

Frosproof, which broke out a classical option attack, narrowed the lead to 14-13 when Donavan Solomon took the pitch and scored on a 12-yard run. However, the point-after attempt was blocked. 

Frostproof running back Daiveon Pittman runs through a Fort Meade tackle on Friday in Fort Meade / By Bill Kemp

Fort Meade wasted no time icing the game after that. Keveun Mason returned the ensuing kickoff 92 yards to push the lead to 20-13 with 7:04 remaining.

“That was bigtime,” Cornelius said. “He’s been good for us all year and he’s made plays all the time. We are glad he is on our team.”

Frostproof had taken a 7-0 second quarter lead after Charlie Plain recovered a Fort Meade fumble and returned it 47 yards for the touchdown.

“I think we did everything we needed to do to win, but I could have made some better decisions,” Frostproof head coach Richard Marsh said. “But it's that famous statement: It is what it is. And we have to continue fighting.”