The year was 2014. LeBron James went home to Cleveland. Tom Brady and Peyton Manning still dominated the NFL. The Warriors dynasty was just beginning. The College Football Playoff was in its first year. The Ice Bucket Challenge dominated social media.

• That was the world the last time Choctaw made the Final Four and won a regional title in football.

On Friday night, the Indians did it again for the first time in 11 years. And like last week, it was another gritty win where they had to play from behind in the second half.

Choctaw got the ball to start and had a long drive that took up much of the first quarter. The Indians got all the way to the St. Augustine 5-yard line before getting hit with two straight false starts. It didn’t slow them down. They still found the end zone when Tamen Zabetakis hit Zion Legree for a 15-yard touchdown pass that put the Indians up 7-0.

On the Yellow Jackets’ first possession, Alante Reese sacking St. Augustine quarterback Brenton James appeared to put the home team in a hole. However, a gutsy fake punt call from St. Augustine special teams coordinator McKay Taylor gave the Yellow Jackets new life. Despite some good runs from Durrell Preston and Trendell Anderson, St. Augustine would soon be forced to punt.

• On the Indians’ next drive, Zabetakis was picked off by St. Augustine safety Dayron Jenkins, which set up the Yellow Jackets in Choctaw territory. On the very next play, Anderson ran in untouched from 44 yards to tie the game.

On the kickoff, Carter Marracco had a good return but fumbled, and St. Augustine recovered. The Yellow Jackets drove all the way to the red zone, where on fourth down, another gutsy call resulted in a 13-yard touchdown strike from James to Caden Smith, giving St. Augustine a 14-7 lead.

On Choctaw’s following drive, a Zabetakis pass to DJ Spence set up a 51-yard touchdown run from Zabetakis to tie the game at 14. There would be no major highlights in the first half after this, and the score at halftime remained 14-all.

In the second half, the Yellow Jackets quickly captured the momentum. On the first play, James hit Julio Santiago for a field-flipping play that got St. Augustine to the Choctaw 12. On the next play, Anderson ran it in for his second touchdown of the night to make the score 21-14.

The Indians responded with a drive highlighted by runs from Zabetakis and Von’Tavious Keller, getting extra yardage thanks to a defensive holding and personal foul called on the Yellow Jackets. The drive stalled out and Kyler Galkowski was called on to attempt a field goal, which he made, cutting the deficit to 21-17.

• On St. Augustine’s next drive, James was picked off by Jordan Figueroa, giving Choctaw its first takeaway of the night. However, the Indians were forced to punt.

On the ensuing drive for the Yellow Jackets, it took only one play as Anderson ran in untouched for a 75-yard touchdown, completing the hat trick as St. Augustine built a 28-17 lead with 17 minutes left in the game.

However, the Indians offense did what they’ve done all year: step up and respond when needed. Zabetakis had a screen pass to Legree that he took into St. Augustine territory. After a good run by Keller, Zabetakis hit Spence for a 29-yard touchdown pass. Despite failing on the two-point try, the Indians narrowed the lead to 28-23.

The Indians defense responded by forcing St. Augustine to punt. Choctaw put together a balanced drive that featured a first-down run from Zabetakis, a first-down catch by Legree and some good Keller runs before Zabetakis hit Marracco for a 48-yard go-ahead touchdown strike. Legree got the two-point conversion, and Choctaw took a 31-28 lead with nine minutes left.

On the Yellow Jackets’ next drive, Ellis Alloway forced a James fumble on third and long, which Isaiah Mathews recovered, setting the Indians up in St. Augustine territory.

The play of the game

After this, the Indians finally broke the Yellow Jackets as they ran for first down after first down, highlighted by what was arguably the play of the game. With a minute and a half left, on fourth and inches, and with the risk of coming up empty-handed and allowing the Yellow Jackets offense another chance, offensive coordinator Matt Pacheco schemed up quite the play. 

• Zabetakis and Keller looked to the sideline, appearing to look for an audible, which distracted the Yellow Jackets defense and allowed Marracco to discreetly move under center and take a direct snap sneak for a first down, sealing the game.

The 31-28 win made Choctaw the 2025 Class 4A Region 1 champions and sent them to the Final Four for the first time since 2014.

“It’s big for our kids, our program. We’ve obviously been battling and gotten to this point for the past four years, so it finally kicked the door in and got it done,” coach Frank Beasley said. “We’re extremely excited to have two more games and keep climbing the mountain with our guys and get better and better. Our guys had a lot of guts tonight and character on the road. It’s tough to win a playoff game on the road and we just got it done.”

As Choctaw advances to the Final Four, they will host defending state champion and Region 4 champion American Heritage (Plantation), which defeated Archbishop McCarthy (Southwest Ranches) 25-20 last Friday.

• “That’ll be really exciting for our community and our players,” Beasley said.

The Choctaw-American Heritage game will be held at Joe Etheredge Stadium in Fort Walton Beach on Dec. 5. The winner will face the winner of the Jones (Orlando)-Port Charlotte game in the 2025 FHSAA Class 4A State Championship, which will be held Dec. 10-13 at South Dade Kia Field at Pitbull Stadium on the campus of Florida International University in Miami.