NICEVILLE — Niceville head football coach Adron Robinson wasn’t punting. And Noah Renes wasn’t going to be tackled short of the first-down marker.
Twice, clinging to a 34-33 lead after Tate’s missed PAT in the waning minutes at Eagle Stadium, Niceville ran out the offense on fourth down at midfield. Renes drew the defense offside on fourth-and-3 from the Eagles’ 43, and then later bursts through the line for an 8-yard run on fourth-and-2 to save Niceville’s season and move the Eagles (3-3) to 2-0 in District 1-5A play.
“If Niceville can’t get two yards in the heavy, then we are not Niceville, simple as that,” said Robinson, who only starting. “This was a must-win game for us, a must-win game for Tate. This was two high school teams playing like it was a must-win game, and you love to see that.”
He’s right. At 2-0, Niceville controls its own playoff destiny with a win over Pace on Oct. 9 at Eagle Stadium and a win at Crestview’s Jack Foster Stadium the following week giving the Eagles their first district title in four years. A loss would’ve dropped the Eagles to 2-4 and 1-1 in district play with its playoff hopes dependent on others’ struggles.
That’s why Niceville was playing to win instead of playing not to lose, an identity that plagued them in last year’s 6-5 season that ended in a first-round playoff exit.
“I mean, I am 6-3, 230 — a Division I linebacker,” reasoned the Georgia Tech-bound Renes. “So it’s hard to tackle me. I feel like 5 yards out, I’m never not going to get that first down. No one’s gonna stop me.”
Renes rushed a season-high five times for 25 yards and scored, supplementing a night where four-star Jakobe Gilyard turned 23 touches into three touchdowns and 155 yards and Deagan McCoy threw for 194 yards and two touchdowns and rushed for 70 yards.
Gilyard’s first touchdown was a 59-yarder up the right sideline on a feed from McCoy where blocks from Jaxon Dark, Caleb Leonard and Austin Stanley freed him up. Renes later got four carries inside the red zone, capped by a 1-yard touchdown run, and Gilyard later scored on a 1-yard run and McCoy ended the half with a 10-yard touchdown to Leonard to put the Eagles up 26-14 headed into the locker rooms.
Niceville, though, would give up 13 unanswered before Gilyard tacked on his third and final touchdown early in the fourth quarter on a 6-yarder, the sophomore spinning off three tacklers at the 3 yard line and diving into the end zone. In what’d ultimately be the decider, McCoy found Jason Leach — clutch on the final drive with first-down catches of 26 and 6 yards — for the two-point conversion to put the Eagles up 34-27.
Tate later answered on a 5-yard touchdown run by Tanner Clark, but the point after clanged off the left post and allowed Niceville to run out the clock with two fourth-down conversions.
“This is really big,” Renes said. “We knew we needed to get this win to make the playoffs, so we just need to build on this.”
The Eagles host non-district foe Godby (4-2) Friday, Oct. 2.
This article originally appeared on Northwest Florida Daily News: Noah Renes, heavy package lead Niceville to dramatic win vs Tate
