High School

Florida High School Football Team Survives Egregious TD Call

Pace knocks off Evans to advance in Florida high school playoffs

Dana Becker

Pace High School advanced in the Florida high school football Class 6A Friday night.
Pace High School advanced in the Florida high school football Class 6A Friday night. / Pace Football/X

A Florida high school football team survived to advance in the playoffs Friday night despite a touchdown being called for the opposition that should not have counted.

Pace High School held off Evans High School for a 20-6 win, improving to 10-1 on the year. The No. 3 seed in the Class 6A Florida High School Athletic Association playoffs will now head to No. 2 Mandarin next Friday night in the regional semifinal.

The lone touchdown scored by Evans came on a play that should have been ruled an incomplete pass in the end zone thanks to the quick eye of Kevin Perkins.

Officials Call a non-Touchdown a Touchdown

Shared by Rivals national high school sports writer Andy Villamarzo, it is quite obvious that Evans’ Artavius Riley Jr. dropped a pass thrown to him in the end zone between several defenders for Pace.

However, Riley, a senior, quickly found the ball back into his arms off the ground and the play was ruled a touchdown. The score made it a 13-6 lead for Pace with just under a minute to play in the third quarter.

The Patriots have now won 10 in a row since a season opening loss to Mary G. Montgomery, 34-21. They went 10-2 a year ago and have won 35 games overall since 2022.

End of The Road For Evans

For the Trojans, they end the season 8-3 overall, having dropped two of the last three. The eight wins for head coach Karlos Odum were the most for the program since 2012 when they finished 9-3 under the direction of Max Purcell.

Two of the top seeds in the 6A regional quarterfinals had close calls, as No. 1 seed Buchholz bested Oviedo, 49-41, and Palmetto survived vs. Wiregrass Ranch, 42-41. The other two top seeds rolled, as Armwood downed Melbourne, 43-0, and Southridge handled Nova, 49-0.

Below are the rest of the 6A Florida high school football regional quarterfinal results from Friday night:

Florida High School Football Class 6A Regional Quarterfinal Results

  • Buchholz 49, Oviedo, 41
  • Nease 45, Oakleaf 7
  • Mandarin 42, Crestview 14
  • Pace 20, Evans 6
  • Armwood 43, Melbourne 0
  • Viera 54, Riverview 14
  • South Lake 37, Plant 36
  • Osceola 22, Durant 15
  • Palmetto 42, Wiregrass Ranch 41
  • Mitchell 40, Lennard 9
  • West Boca Raton 35, Largo 7
  • East Lake 35, Parrish Community 7
  • Southridge 49, Nova 0
  • Piper 24, Flanagan 12
  • West Broward 56, South Plantation 13
  • Monarch 39, Doral Academy 0

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Dana Becker
DANA BECKER

Dana Becker has been a sports writer in Iowa since 2000, writing for The Fort Dodge Messenger, Mason City Globe-Gazette, Cedar Rapids Gazette and others. Dana resides in northcentral Iowa and started as a writer with SB Live Sports in 2022 focused on the state of Iowa. Along with providing coverage of football and wrestling, Dana also spotlights cross country, swimming, basketball, track and field, soccer, tennis, golf, baseball and softball. He began writing for High School on SI in 2023.

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