ORLANDO – The Trenton Tigers threw haymakers after getting punched in the mouth early by Port St. Joe, and as a result it was the Tigers knocking out the Tiger Sharks 56-21 in the Class 1A State Championship at the Citrus Bowl on a blustery Friday night. It was a match-up of the last two title winners in the classification and a rematch of a week three regular season game that ended 48-13 in favor of Trenton.

Port St. Joe lead after the first quarter 14-7 and it looked like the Sharks were circling for more. But then a funny thing happened along the way–49 unanswered points by Trenton happened that is. Trenton’s Hamp Cheevers simply was unconscious rushing for 200 yards on 12 carries and three touchdowns. Port St. Joe went ahead 14-7 at the end of the quarter and that’s when the “fun” happened. The Tigers tied it up at 14-14 with 9:21 remaining in the half–and then by the time there was 1:05 remaining before the break–it was 42-14.

Trenton’s dominance on the stat sheet was glaring. The Tigers rushed for 360 yards and managed to give up just 37 to Port St. Joe. The total yardage finished 443-181 in favor of the Tigers. Trenton even smashed Port St. Joe in the penalties category with 13-102 to PSJ’s 4-26. Cheevers wasn’t the only rusher that did work on the evening though, Bronson-transfer Montrez Jackson rushed for 103 yards on 16 carries and a touchdown. The Tigers were also as disruptive on defense as they were a juggernaut on offense as they recorded 13 tackles for loss.