Florida High School Football: Lake Mary beats Vero Beach on final play

MIAMI, Fla.- It’s been 44 year since Vero Beach last won a Florida high school football state championship. For 47 minutes and 50 seconds, they controlled their fate to win their second ever title.

The Lake Mary Rams capped one of the wildest endings to a high school football state championship game, beating Vero Beach on a last second heave by Notre Dame signee Noah Grubbs, coming away with the improbable 28-27 win Saturday night at Pitbull stadium for the Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA) Class 7A state championship.

Lake Mary won its first-ever state championship in program history.

The sequence that led to Grubbs’ game-tying touchdown was Vero Beach was facing a fourth down with just around 20 seconds remaining in the game. The Indians opted to run the ball out of the back of the endzone with Florida State signee Efrem White taking a safety, making it 27-21 Indians.

With only 10 seconds left in the game, the Indians decided to squib kick the ensuing kickoff to midfield with around six seconds remaining instead of driving the ball downfield.

Grubbs on the final play would throw a pass downfield, which was deflected into the waiting hands of Barrett Schulz (FIU signee), who handed it to Tavarius Brundidge Jr., who took it in from three yards out for the tie with time expiring. The following extra point make won the Rams the game, concluding the wildest ending to any of the FHSAA high school football finals.

The Fighting Indians opened things up with a bang as Monds connected on a 80-yard touchdown pass to White (189 all-purpose yards, three total touchdowns) to go up 7-3 after a Lake Mary field goal make.

Turnovers became an issue early on for Notre Dame signee Grubbs (333 yards, three touchdowns), as he threw two first-half interceptions that doomed multiple potential scoring drives for the Rams. Both of Grubbs’ picks were by Florida State signee Jordan Crutchfield. Crutchfield ended the game with three interceptions of Grubbs on the night.

White didn’t just play receiver for the Fighting Indians as the future Seminole threw a 79-yard touchdown to Marcus Melbourne to put Vero Beach ahead 14-3. Monds (200 passing yards) and crew weren’t done yet as the sophomore added a 50-yard scoring strike to Xavier Stintson to make it 21-3 going into halftime.

Grubbs would keep the Rams within striking distance throughout the fourth quarter as the quarterback was named the game’s Most Valuable Player.

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