SPORTS - St. Johns River State College · 2020. 2. 17. · Jeff Curtis and Mike Curtis live in Palatka and own Artic Air, 1501 St. Johns Ave. Rick Curtis lives in Port St. Lucie,

By GreG WalkerDaily News correspondent

FLW Pro Angler Jason Blair of West Palm Beach took over the lead Friday in the FLW Toyota Series’ Southern Division at Palatka Riverfront Park with a five-fish limit weighing a hefty 22.3 pounds. It was hump day to make the top 10 cut

and Blair made it happen with a two-day total of 39.19 pounds.

Blair moved up from seventh and he was one of eight anglers to come to the scales with 20-plus pound sacks of fish, as compared to only two in the first round.

The “bass gods” smiled on the waters and shook up the scoreboard, rewarding some while punish-ing others. Six pro anglers dropped out of Friday’s top 10. Blair placed Day One leader Trevor

Fitzgerald of Belleview in the runnerup spot by slightly over five pounds (38.4).

SIDELINES

ANDY HALL Sports Editor 312-5239

[email protected]

SPORTSwww.palatkadailynews.com SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2020 PAGE 6A

MARK BLUMENTHAL

FLW Toyota Truck Series

Panther prideshows; long rideto play RaidersA

s expected of young men who gave everything they had in defeat, Palatka High School boys basketball players sat dejectedly

and quietly in their seats after being spo-ken to in the locker room by coach Bryant Oxendine after losing to host Jacksonville Bishop Kenny in the District 4-4A tourna-ment final, 46-42.

But even with long faces, there’s a fact that was kind of hidden when it came to these Panthers. Oxendine had to point it out after the loss.

“Those guys who are seniors and have been with this program for four years have played in a district final every year,” he said. “Every year under me, we’ve played for a district title.”

But believe it or not, it goes even further than that. In the prior four years under coach Donald Lockhart, the Panthers played in district title games, so Friday night’s finale against Bishop Kenny made it eight consecu-tive championship games for the Panthers and, even more impressively, 10 title games in the last 11 years if you count the two years Lamar Purifoy coached the Panthers.

It is a testament to the work that the coaches have done in getting players to play at a higher level. And it’s no coincidence the last eight years the Panthers have played in championship games, Oxendine has had a part in that success. He was Lockhart’s right-hand man from 2012-16 and was on the staff when the Panthers went to the FHSAA 5A Final Four in 2013. Until Friday night, Oxendine’s teams as head coach were 3-for-3 in district championships.

But that was 3-for-3 against pub-lic-school teams (Palm Coast Matanzas, coached by Lockhart, in 2017, and Ponte Vedra the final two seasons).

Now Palatka must be road warriors for the first time as a district runnerup since Lockhart’s last year in charge in 2016.

“No problem,” Oxendine said of the underdog status his 19-7 Panthers will take on the road. “We’ve been on the road all year, so I have no problem with that.”n Tonight’s Region 1-3A tourna-

ment boys soccer semifinal will have a different dimension.

No, not from the soccer aspect. This was from the aspect of the team who has to travel to play at Wisnoski Field at Wiltcher Stadium tonight.

It is Pensacola Catholic who is trav-eling to face the Raiders. The Crusaders are making a 397-mile trip, believed to be the longest ever for any opponent within the Florida borders to come to a Putnam County school for an athletic event. But in an email response Friday morning, Crusaders coach Kent Williamson said it isn’t as if his team is traveling the entire route to play the game.

In other words, there’s a plan in place.

“We are staying in Palatka both Friday and Saturday,” Williamson said. “This is not a normal trip and it is two nights in a hotel room.”

Sounding more like a business trip, the Crusaders should be fresh to go tonight for the game with the Raiders. If they win the battle tonight, they most likely will have to make another long run on I-10 to Jacksonville to play top-seeded Bolles.

“As far as Jacksonville (is con-cerned), it will be relative to our mode of transport,” said Williamson, whose team would play that game on a school night this coming Wednesday. “We will sort that out when we come to that decision.”n Crescent City athletic director

Tim Ross made a point that over the years, three baseball teams from out-side of Florida, one from Kentucky and two from New York. have come to play at Crescent City, but as far as the state of Florida, Pensacola Catholic has made the longest trek.

Ross mentioned football games

Daytona infield feels like home to Palatka family

WAYNE SMITH / Palatka Daily NewsJeff Curtis of Palatka with his brother Rick Curtis atop their RV on the infield at Daytona International Speedway.

Curtis family has made the trip to the 500 annually since 1961

By Wayne SmithPalatka Daily News

[email protected]

DAYTONA BEACH – Rick Curtis hasn’t missed a Daytona 500 since John F. Kennedy was the president of the United States.

That streak stretches back to 1961 – 59 years. And the tradition stretch-ing over four generations continues Sunday for the Curtis family with the running of the 62nd annual Daytona 500. Brothers Jeff, Mike and Rick Curtis are carrying on the family tra-dition started by their dad, Joe.

“Dad starting bringing us to the infield in 1961 in a big Oldsmobile on Saturday night at midnight before the Sunday race,” said Rick Curtis. “They

didn’t have all this other stuff then. “I was 11, (brother) Mike would have

been 9. We don’t remember if Jeff came to that one or not because he may have

still been in diapers.”Jeff Curtis and Mike Curtis live in

Palatka and own Artic Air, 1501 St. Johns Ave. Rick Curtis lives in Port St.

Lucie, retiring after 46 years with Florida Power & Light.

Many things have changed in NASCAR since 1961 as the sport has evolved into a billion-dollar industry with races televised in more than 150 countries.

One thing has remained constant though – the presence of the Curtis fam-ily on the infield for “The Great American Race.”

Each February turns into a Curtis family affair when Speedweeks rolls around at Daytona. Four generations of the Curtis family have attended NASCAR’s premier event, starting when Joe Curtis first brought his family to that 1961 race, which was won by Marvin Panch.

Jeff Curtis said as many as 20 family members have had a race reunion sur-rounded by the speedway’s 2.5-mile track.

Photos by GREG WALKER / Special to the Daily NewsAbove, Keith Carson holds up big bass of the tournament. Below, leader Jason Blair holds up some of his catch from Friday’s round.

Eventful Hump DayWest Palm angler in first place; locals miss cut, but some earn paychecks

Minus Lopez, Raiders face Pensacola Catholic in region soccer semiBy mark Blumenthal

Palatka Daily [email protected]

The start of the Region 1-3A boys soccer tournament was not quite what Crescent City High School boys soccer coach Jeff Lease had in mind Wednesday night.

But the Raiders survived a lackluster

first half in a scoreless tie, then put three goals up – two within the first eight min-utes – in the second half to saunter to a 3-1 victory over seventh-seeded Jacksonville Episcopal.

It will get harder for Lease and his Raiders starting tonight as the sec-ond-seeded Raiders host third-seeded and 2019 Final Four participant Pensacola Catholic (11-5-2), at 7 o’clock.

This is the fourth time the Raiders (13-7-2) will play in the regional semifi-nals in their history. Their only win may be the biggest win in Putnam County boys soccer history – 2-1 over host Alachua Santa Fe in 2018 when Elias Segura converted on a penalty kick with 6.5 seconds left in regulation. The other two matches were at home ... and both ended with Pierson Taylor taking down

the Raiders in 2012 and again in 2013.“But we were playing a team that was

15 miles down the road from us and had played us that season,” said Lease, an assistant coach to the program’s first mentor, John Thomas, in those two games. “It’s a big difference between playing a rival down the road and a team

Kennycouldn’tmissCrusaders perfect from field, line in fourth to hold off Panthers for District 4-4A championship

By mark BlumenthalPalatka Daily News

[email protected]

JACKSONVILLE – At the end of the District 4-4A boys basketball final Friday night, tournament host and top seed Bishop Kenny was the team hoisting the championship trophy because it didn’t miss a single shot in the fourth quarter.

They had to or else the Crusaders would most likely have lost to Palatka.

Bishop Kenny avenged a last-second loss earlier this season at Palatka High by beating the Panthers, 46-42, to take the district crown.

“It was gut check time,” said Crusaders coach Jerry Buckley, in his 15th year as Kenny’s coach and a veteran of numerous battles with Palatka. “Palatka’s an excellent team that’s going to bring pressure. The good thing was we continued to play on the defensive end. We got stops, so we were able to keep that lead. And we hit free throws that kept us at a comfortable distance and we were able to finish it out.”

The Crusaders (22-4) did so with a fourth quarter that every coach dreams of – Kenny hit both field-goal attempts, layups by Garrett Beatgle (five points, seven rebounds, four blocks, one steal) and Dan Buckley (nine points, five rebounds and three steals), and went an astounding 14-for-14 from the free-throw line.

Ross Candelino, who led all scorers with 15 points and had seven rebounds and two steals, was 6-for-6 from the char-ity stripe, while Buckley was 4-for-4 in a six-point final quarter.

“The thing was we haven’t shot really well in a lot of different ways,” said Buckley, smiling and giving a short laugh when asked how intense free-throw shooting was during practices. “But we had the right shooters at the (free-throw) line. So there’s no question, this was good as it got.”

“In spite of them going 14-for-14 at the

See CURTIS, Page 8A

See FLW, Page 8A

See SOCCER, Page 7A

See PANTHERS, Page 8A

See BLUMENTHAL, Page 7A

8A PALATKA DAILY NEWS • SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 15 , 2020

PALATKA DAILY NEWSWriting the history of Putnam County since 1888, one issue at a time.

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Recognize a group you know, one you belong to, or maybe one that has helped you, a family member or friend?

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The Palatka Daily News has been keeping Putnam County informed about local news and events for 131 years.

By Trisha MurphyPalatka Daily [email protected] inifred Glisson doesn’t have any problems looking back and recalling fond memories of

spending time at her grandparents’ house in Palatka.“Well, mostly Easter and Christmas,” said the 91-year-old, who now lives in

St. Augustine and is a descendant of the Kummer family, who owned and

managed the bottling and sale of Coca-Cola in Palatka for three generations

beginning in 1908.“We always had Easter right down the road where Grandpa and

Grandma lived,” said Glisson, who believes she is the only surviv-

ing grandchild of Edward and Lena Kummer, who lived on

Lundy Road from the late 1880s until the couple died in

1937. “There was a clearing where they could hide the eggs

for us kids,” she said. “At Christmas, Grandma would

have little bags fixed up with oranges, candy and nuts

for us.”Glisson, who is affectionately called Winnie by fami-

ly and friends, was born March 9, 1928, and is the only child of Reginald and Gertrude Kummer. The family lived on Carr Street in Palatka from when the

parents were married in 1924 until Gertrude Kummer died in 1999. Reginald Kummer died in 1978.

“My dad and his two brothers ran the Coca-Cola plant,” she said. “Daddy took care of the business part. He was the accountant and Uncle Hugo worked with the bottling and Uncle Edward worked on boxing the prod-uct.”

The brothers also had a sister, Tilley, who worked at a grocery store on Washington Street to the best of Winnie

Glisson’s recollection.Glisson recalls her mother being a country girl, who was born and raised in San Mateo.“She was a homemaker,” she said, smiling. “She did her clean-ing and cooking and whatever had to be done. She didn’t know a stranger. She knew every-body and loved everybody and everybody loved her.”Glisson graduated from Palatka Mellon High School in May 1948. She retired with 35 years of service from Georgia-Pacific, where she worked as a clerk in the maintenance office on the tissue side. She also worked a short time at the fam-

Winnie Glisson reflects on growing up in Palatka and the historic Coca-Cola bottling company her family ran for three generations

GLISSON HAS FOND MEMORIES OF GROWING UP IN PALATKA

CURRENTS

FAMILYLegacy

Photos by FRAN RUCHALSKI / Palatka Daily NewsThe historic Coca-Cola bottling plant building is located at 120 SE 7th St. in Palatka and is now

home to the Azalea City Brewing Company, LLC.

SATURDAY, AUGUST 10, 2019 PAGE 1B

[email protected] Glisson doesn’t have any problems looking back and recalling fond memories of





CURRENTS CURRENTS CURRENTS CURRENTS CURRENTS CURRENTS CURRENTS CURRENTS CURRENTS CURRENTS CURRENTS



inifred Glisson doesn’t have any problems looking back and recalling fond memories of







PALATKA DAILY NEWS*** TUESDAY, AUGUST 13, 2019 PUTNAM COUNTY’S COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER $1

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INDEX

Welcome Back, StudentsExcitement swells as students make their return to schools

By John Shipley Jr.Palatka Daily News

[email protected]

INTERLACHEN — From the sounds of laughter to the

hugs shared between parents and their children, it was an

emotional first day of school in Putnam County on Monday.

Parents and students lined up in droves at Interlachen

Elementary and C.H. Price Middle schools, with many show-

ing up on campus early. The hallways were once again filled

with a sea of students after a summer break without them.

“It is like adrenaline in your bloodstream,” Interlachen

Elementary Principal Ted Haengel said. “A school isn’t alive

without kids in it. So it has been a long summer, but we are

really excited to see the kids back. It just adds so much energy

to the place.” A buzz of excitement washed over the school as teachers

greeted students and parents, and Haengel made sure the first

day went smoothly. Teachers worked hard all summer, and

Photos by FRAN RUCHALSKI/Palatka Daily News

LEFT: C.H. Price Middle School Principal Mechele Higginbotham gets a big hug from one of her students on Monday, the first day of school.

RIGHT: Students walk into Interlachen Elementary School on Monday morning on their first day of school.

See STUDENTS, Page 12A

Group, educators thrilled about teacher scholarshipsLara Shettel arranges goodie bags for her fourth-grade class at Browning-Pearce Elementary School last week as she gets ready for the beginning of the new school year.

FRAN RUCHALSKI/Palatka Daily News

By John Shipley Jr.Palatka Daily News

[email protected]

Fresh off the heels of a Blue Crab Festival that netted nearly $20,000 in profits, festival organizers have announced a new scholarship program for teachers.

Palatka Young Professionals will use festival funds to facilitate two $500 scholarships for teachers during the first half of the 2019-2020 school year. The group will do the same for the sec-ond half of the year.

“We feel that our teachers don’t get as much help as they really need. They are an integral part of our community that sometimes gets overlooked,” group Secretary Seth Miles said. “The school board is the largest employer in Putnam County, so it is important that we sup-port them with every opportunity we have.”

News of the scholarship was met with joy at Putnam County School District offices. Laura France, assistant

See TEACHER, Page 5A

Palatka man dies after jeep trails off road

Palatka Daily News

A Palatka man died over the weekend in a single-vehicle crash after drifting off the road, state Highway Patrol said.

Renaldo J. Slater, 38, died about 2 a.m. Sunday after crashing near State Road 100 and Roberts Lane in Palatka, law enforce-ment said.

Slater, who was driving a Jeep Grand Cherokee eastbound on S.R. 100, drifted to the left off the roadway for unknown reasons, FHP said. He was not wearing a seatbelt, authorities said.

After leaving the road, the jeep hit a cul-vert and a tree and overturned onto its roof. The jeep came to a final rest in a ditch west of State Road 100, authorities said.

Officials point to virus amid

mass turtle death, illness

By F.W. BroSchart

Palatka Daily [email protected]

Turtles in the St. Johns River watershed have been dying, and state authorities are asking for the public’s help to find out why.

The state Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission posted signs at some local boat ramps on the St. Johns River to advise the public that turtles have died recently and are asking the public for information about sick turtles.

The state began monitoring the situation in early 2018 after receiving reports of dead turtles, according to an agency statement. The primary species affected is the Florida softshell turtle, though there is evidence cooters have also been affected, the depart-ment said.

Since April 2018, there have been about 300 reports of sick or dead turtles, the agency said.

Between January and June this year, the number of reports to the agency was 23, Fish and Wildlife spokeswoman Michelle Kerr said.

See TURTLE, Page 5A

Students across Putnam roam the halls once again

Since 1888, we’ve been the one business local non-profi t agencies and others needing some help or publicity can count on to spread the word in Putnam County.

LEFT: C.H. Price Middle School Principal Mechele Higginbotham gets a big hug from one of her students on Monday, the first day of school.

RIGHT: Students walk into Interlachen Elementary School on Monday morning on their first day of school.

Group, educators thrilled about teacher scholarships

Since 1888, we’ve been the one business local non-profi t Since 1888, we’ve been the one business local non-profi t


“We always had Easter right down the road where Grandpa and

Grandma lived,” said Glisson, who believes she is the only surviv


Lundy Road from the late 1880s until the couple died in “There was a clearing where they could hide the eggs


have little bags fixed up with oranges, candy and nuts Glisson, who is affectionately called Winnie by fami


parents were married in 1924 until Gertrude Kummer died in 1999. Reginald Kummer died in “My dad and his two brothers ran the Coca-

Cola plant,” she said. “Daddy took care of the



LegacyLegacy









parents were married in 1924 until Gertrude Kummer died in 1999. Reginald Kummer died in “My dad and his two brothers ran the Coca-

Cola plant,” she said. “Daddy took care of the business part. He was the accountant and Uncle Hugo worked with the bottling and Uncle Edward worked on boxing the prod-The brothers also had a sister, Tilley,

who worked at a grocery store on Washington Street to the best of Winnie Glisson recalls her mother being a country girl, who was born and raised






LegacyWashington Street to the best of Winnie

LegacyWashington Street to the best of Winnie Glisson recalls her mother being a Legacy

Glisson recalls her mother being a country girl, who was born and raised Legacycountry girl, who was born and raised LegacyLegacyLinda Myers

Tax Collector

C.H. Price Middle School Principal Mechele Higginbotham gets a big hug from one of her students on Monday, the first day of school.

Students walk into Interlachen Elementary School on Monday morning on their first day of school.

Group, educators thrilled about teacher scholarshipsTurtles in the St. Johns River watershed

have been dying, and state authorities are asking for the public’s help to find out why.

The state Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission posted signs at some local boat ramps on the St. Johns River to advise the public that turtles have died recently and are asking the public for information about sick

The state began monitoring the situation in early 2018 after receiving reports of dead turtles, according to an agency statement.







ly and friends, was born March 9, 1928, and is the only child of Reginald and Gertrude Kummer. The

The brothers also had a sister, Tilley, who worked at a grocery store on Washington Street to the best of Winnie Glisson recalls her mother being a

country girl, who was born and raised



LegacyLegacy

Since 1888, we’ve been the one business local non-profi t Since 1888, we’ve been the one business local non-profi t Since 1888, we’ve been the one business local non-profi t Since 1888, we’ve been the one business local non-profi t



Can We Talk.... This Thursday!



Group, educators thrilled about teacher scholarships“We feel that our teachers don’t get as

much help as they really need. They are an integral part of our community that sometimes gets overlooked,” group Secretary Seth Miles said. “The school board is the largest employer in Putnam County, so it is important that we support them with every opportunity we

News of the scholarship was met with joy at Putnam County School District offices. Laura France, assistant

See

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Miami Dade trips St. Johns on second day of Capital City ClassicBy andy hallPalatka Daily News

[email protected]

The St. Johns River State College baseball team spun out on the learning curve on a damp, chilly Friday night at Tindall Field.

Early-inning pitching struggles and middle-inning defensive woes sent the Vikings to their second straight loss in the Capital City Bank Classic, bowing 8-4 to streaking Miami Dade College.

T he Shark s have won s e ve n straight since dropping their opener and came to Palatka ranked third in the state coaches’ poll. The Vikings,

11-4, are second.The Classic continues today with

four games, the last two involving St. Johns – Florida SouthWestern at 3:30 p.m. and Gulf Coast at 6 p.m. They, too, are among the top 10 in the state poll and that’s a major reason SJR State puts on weekend’s like this one and the upcoming John Tindall Classic.

“We’re looking at a lot of things. We want to be the best team we can be M a r c h 2 ( w h e n M i d - F l o r i d a Conference play begins) – and hopeful-ly, healthy,” said Vikings coach Ross Jones, who sat two of his better hitters, Charlie Welch (hamstring) and Chase Sanguinetti (hip flexor), rather than

subject them to the elements.“We got better because of the team

that we saw. They play at a fast pace.”St. Johns led only at 1-0 as Andre

James and Ben Spittler began the sec-ond with back-to-back singles and Nick Tripp delivered a sacrifice fly. Miami Dade scored two runs in each of the next three innings as the Vikings com-mitted one error in the fourth inning and two in the fifth. After opening with a pair of 1-2-3 innings, Cameron Sereda (1-2) gave up six runs on five hits over the next three, including Eidel Freyetes’ two-run homer in the fourth inning.

“Cameron couldn’t get his changeup over, couldn’t get his breaking ball over.

Even the first two innings, he was hav-ing trouble,” Jones said. “The second time through the lineup, they’d seen it.

“We fell apart defensively – another f r e s h m a n c a t c h e r ( G e r a r d o Rodriguez) with Charlie Welch out. He did a good job behind the plate – just made stupid mistakes. Chase (Malloy, second baseman) made an error and he’s as good as they get. (Shortstop Ryan) Romano overthrows first. Take those out and it’s 4-4.”

The most encouraging development for St. Johns Friday was the relief work of Jason Gonzalez, who struck out five, walked two and allowed two unearned runs on three hits over four and two-

third innings.“He’s throwing three pitches for

strikes. That may be the last time you see him out of the bullpen. We’ve got to get more innings out of him,” Jones said.

The Vikings got their second run in the third inning, when Malloy and J.J. Sousa both singled to put runners on the corners and Malloy slid under the tag at home on Romano’s ground ball.

Michael Rosario homered and Andre James doubled to lead off the St. Johns sixth. James went to third on Spittler’s fly ball and scored on Tripp’s single.

James and Sousa were both 2-4 for the Vikings.

“He never missed but one race while he was alive,” Jeff Curtis said. “We had a ball bringing him.”

And they no longer come in an Oldsmobile, instead parking their RV on the infield overlook-ing Lake Lloyd along with thousands of other campers.

Jeff Curtis said he’s been coming to the race as long as he can remember.

“We came in a car and then we came in pick-up trucks with scaffolding,” he said. “Back then you could come in here and park anywhere you want-ed to on the infield. They didn’t have the reserved parking.

“You just pretty much had to get in here and fight for it.”

The Curtis’ don’t have to fight for their spot any longer. Jeff and Rick arrived at the speedway Feb. 6 preparing for last Sunday’s qualifying, the Busch Clash and Thursday’s qualifying races. Brother Mike and other family members were expected by race day.

Rick and Jeff Curtis smile when talking about memories of their Dad and Daytona.

“When they allowed U-Hauls, Dad bought an old, beat up Winnebago,” Rick Curtis said. “Him and Jeff tore the top off of it and put a good deck on it. We’d have 10 to 12 people at a time up there watching the race.”

A new decade or racing opens Sunday.By Thursday afternoon the infield was covered

with thousands of RVs, some costing $250,000 or more. This isn’t primitive camping anymore.

But no matter how the race has changed, the Curtis family looks forward to each February and the season-opening Cup race.

“We love the sport and it’s really kind of like a family tradition,” Jeff Curtis said. “Our children come and now we have grandchildren who come.”

Parked near the 29-acre Lake Lloyd, the grand-children have plenty of time to fish while adults cook up everything from big breakfast to wings and steaks.

“Dad loved to fish on Lake Lloyd,” Jeff Curtis said. “One year, some of the drivers were fishing. (Former driver) Donnie Allison came up to my Dad and talked to him like he’d known him forev-er. He never forgot that.”

And while the days leading up the race are enjoyable, the anticipation builds for the green flag to fall on Sunday. It’s what keeps the Curtis family coming back year after year.

Their favorite driver?“We always liked Dale Earnhardt,” Rick Curtis

said. “Then when he died, we started pulling for (Dale Earnhardt) Jr. Now we like Chase Elliott. There’s a half-dozen good cars that could win, but we like Chase.”

They’ll be pulling for Elliott as they watch the 200-lap race unfold Sunday.

“Being on the infield, inside the track, there’s nothing like that sound of those 40 cars rumbling around the speedway,” Jeff Curtis said.

line, we should have won it anyway,” said Panthers coach Bryant Oxendine after his team dropped to 19-7. “We’re battle-tested and we’re made of stuff. A lot of those guys have been here before. This is four fourth district champi-onship game in four years. We should know what to expect and I told them that. They knew what to expect. And we played and beat these guys before.

“I don’t think (Kenny) did anything different. I just think for whatever reason, we didn’t show up like we should have. And I’ll take the blame for that. They pulled away from us in the third quarter. We went over some things (at halftime) and made a couple of adjustments and it didn’t translate into what we wanted it to.”

The Crusaders, who lost the regular-season matchup, 58-57, in December when Wesley Roberts hit a twisting, spinning 40-footer at the buzzer, spent a good amount of the night being patient against the Panthers’ defense. The Panthers fell into an early 5-0 hole, but battled back to take what would be their only lead of the night at 11-10 with 6:53 left in the second quarter when Vanari Johnson (11 points, two steals) hit a layup.

Bishop Kenny grabbed the lead on the next possession as Candelino hit a short jumper 27 seconds later. That sent the Crusaders on a 9-5 run the rest of a low-scoring half, going into the break with a 21-16 lead.

Neither the Panthers or Crusaders had a great-shooting third quarter (each hit three field goals in a combined 24 shots), but Bishop Kenny took its biggest lead of the night at 28-19 with 2:58 left before a putback by Malik B eauford ( team-high 13 points and 11 rebounds) and a 3-pointer by William King (six points) cut the lead to 28-24 going into

the final quarter.The Panthers cut the deficit to 28-26 early in

the fourth, but two free throws by Patrick Tucker and a layup by Beagle got the lead back to 32-26. Twice, the Panthers got within three, but the Crusaders built the lead back to nine points at 40-31 with 3:48 left in the game.

Still, the Panthers had one more run in them down 44-36 with 51 seconds to go. Jimmy Williams hit an uncontested layup, then the Crusaders turned the ball over. From there, Johnson drove the lane for another uncontested basket to make it 44-40 with 22 seconds as Oxendine called a timeout. Three seconds after the timeout, Buckley was fouled and hit the last of the 14 free-throw attempts the Crusaders had in the quarter to build the lead back to 46-40.

The Panthers came right back on a layup by Beauford with 13 seconds to go and got the ball back again on yet another turnover due to Palatka pressure just two seconds later. But the Panthers had trouble getting an open shot and Beauford and Johnson missed consecutive 3-point shots as time ran out.

Kenny out-rebounded the Panthers, 30-23, as both teams committed 14 turnovers. Palatka went ice cold from behind the 3-point arc, going 3-of-14 (21.4 percent). Overall, the Panthers were 17-of-50 (34 percent) from the field, which was actually a bit better than the 13-of-39 (33.3 percent) shooting night for the Crusaders.

“We still should have come out a little bit bet-ter than we did,” Oxendine said. “Who you going to beat with 34 percent from the field? But we can’t take anything away from (Bishop Kenny). They’re a good team. They played a great game. They did what they had to do to win. We didn’t make enough plays to win.”

The Panthers will learn their playoff fate Sunday when regional point standings are announced and brackets are released on the Florida High School Athletic Association web-site.

Keith Carson of Debary moved up from eighth to third with a 20.05 pounds to give him a total of 37.0 pounds. Carson won the daylong battle for big bass topping numerous seven- and eight-pound largemouths with a nine-pound lunker.

No Putnam County pros or co-anglers made the top 10 finals, but a few pros did find a paying spot.

Mark Blevins of Palatka fin-ished 11th with 31.13 pounds to pocket $3,520. Terry Scroggins of San Mateo took 14th with 30.3 pounds to earn $2,816. Lee Stalvey was 29th with 25.9

pounds to take home $2,347.Other pro anglers making the

top 10 and their totals:n 4th - Frank Kitchens -

Oxford, Ga. - 36.12n 5th - Rodney Marks -

Apopka - 35.10n 6th - Jacopo Gallelli -

Florence, Italy - 35.10n 7th - Steven Hatala -

Harrison Township, Mich. - 35.1n 8th - Chris Hensely -

Marbury, Ala. - 33.11n 9th - Jason P. Meninger - St.

Augustine - 33.1n 10th - Johnathan K- Old

Forge, Pa. - 33.0Hensley made the largest

jump coming from 61st place to seventh with 9.7 backed up with a 22.5 limit for a total of 33.11 pounds.

Roger Hughes of Bartlesville, Okla.. made a huge jump to lead

the co-anglers division. Hughes had only 3.4 pounds going into Friday’s round and put a limit in the live well weighing 21.4 pounds for a total of 24.8.

The only Putnam County co-angler to make a payday was Ron Wiggins of Palatka, who took 12th with 16.1 pounds to collect $946.

The weather changed over-night after Day One. The tem-peratures had dropped, with overcast skies and slightly calm-er winds. Anglers reported fish-ing as far north as Shands Bridge to the south at Astor in Volusia County. Most every method of fishing was implemented.

The top 10 pros and co-an-glers launch this morning at safe light and will return for the weigh-in at 3 p.m. at Palatka City Docks.

WAYNE SMITH / Palatka Daily NewsThe front stretch at Daytona International Speedway.

No clear theme to raceBy Jenna Fryer

Associated Press

DAYTONA BEACH — The first four events leading into the Daytona 500 have produced four d i f ferent winners . R icky

Stenhouse Jr. put his new team o n t h e pole, while Erik Jones outlasted a crash-fest

to win a qualifying race. Joey Logano and William Byron won the qualifying races.

No clear favorite has emerged for “The Great American Race.” No single manufacturer has a demonstrated edge going into NASCAR’s version of the Super Bowl. It was a Toyota 1-2-3 sweep for Joe Gibbs Racing last year, in part because of mandat-ed manufacturer alliances for drivers to work together, but there’s so far been little indica-

tion the race will play out the same way Sunday.

Instead, this is a wide-open field of 40 drivers and all believe t h e y h av e a s h o t a t t h e life-changing victory and the record $23.6 million that will be divvied by among the drivers. And why not? The unpredict-ability of Daytona allowed Justin Haley to gamble on rain strategy last July and shock the field with a win in his third and final start of the season.

Now Haley is back at Daytona for his debut in the Daytona 500, just one of a handful of drivers in a watered-down field that includes six Cup Series rookies, a 10-year veteran who had failed to qualify for the race in his only other previous attempt and a slew of others chasing the payout that can extend the season for any fledg-ling team.

Timmy Hill raced his way into Sunday’s field in a qualify-ing race and said his Daytona

500 debut will keep tiny MBM Motorsports in business for the fores ee able f uture . More important? Hill thinks he’s got a chance to be competit ive Sunday.

“My car is very capable of running competitively in this race,” Hill said. “I feel like we’re not just here to participate, we’re here to race.”

But no one knows what that racing will look like when the flag drops on the 62nd running after President Donald Trump, named the grand marshal for the race, gives the command for drivers to start their engines. The exhibition Busch Clash was a demolition derby as drivers shook off the offseason rust and adjusted to NASCAR’s new rules package.

The superspeedway rules implemented last season put a taller spoiler on the cars and made for unpredictable closing rates — and they were not used in the Daytona 500.

CurtisCONTINUED FROM PAGE 6A

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SUNDAYDaytona 500

FOX, 2:30

Documents

SPORTS - St. Johns River State College · 2020. 2. 17. · Jeff Curtis and Mike Curtis live in Palatka and own Artic Air, 1501 St. Johns Ave. Rick Curtis lives in Port St. Lucie,