Dexter Brown's 367 yards, four touchdowns lift St. Augustine to a 52-21 regional semifinal win over Navarre

Dexter Brown heard all week how fast Navarre receiver Dante Wright is.

Frankly, the St. Augustine running back got tired of it.

Wright might have been the fastest player on the field Friday night, but he certainly didn’t make the biggest impact, as Brown ran for a career-high 367 yards and four touchdowns to lift the Yellow Jackets to a resounding 52-21 victory over the Raiders in a Region 1-6A semifinal at Foots Brumley Stadium.

The Yellow Jackets (11-0) advanced to the regional final for the second year in a row, where they will host Crestview next Friday.

“What Dexter did tonight was mind-boggling,” St. Augustine coach Brian Braddock said.

Brown ran for an 80-yard touchdown up the middle to put the Yellow Jackets up 14-0 late in the first quarter. After Wright answered with a 41-yard touchdown catch from Sage Chambers on Navarre’s ensuing drive, Brown did it again with another 80-yard score on the final play of the quarter.

He added a 93-yard scoring run in the second quarter and a 55-yard touchdown run late in the third quarter to put the Jackets up 52-21. Three of Brown’s TD runs came on the first play of the drives.

“At times I just knew he was going to be gone,” said Cedrin Daniel, who caught a 12-yard third-quarter TD pass from Austin Reed.

Brown’s game for the ages came on the heels of his 225-yard, two-touchdown performance last week in a regional quarterfinal win over Cantonment Tate.

“My O-line was doing a great job blocking. They were pulling and kicking and sealing off the blocks, and I just followed them,” said Brown, who ran between the tackles all night and seemed to get into the open before the Raiders (9-2) knew what hit them.

“Our offensive line was absolutely tremendous tonight,” Braddock said. “We were extremely concerned about how we would handle their (defensive) front.

“They crowd the line of scrimmage, so if Dexter pops it, he can go all the way, as we know.”

Brown’s first two scores gave the Jackets’ offense some life after the passing game had begun to bog down. But St. Augustine was able to move the ball through the air again after halftime.

Karim Brown caught a 53-yard touchdown pass from Reed to put the Jackets up 35-14 with 8:24 left in the third quarter. The Raiders did not handle the ensuing kickoff that looked like was heading out of bounds, and St. Augustine recovered, leading to a 38-yard field goal by Eli Ryan.

Reed hit Daniel with a 12-yard fade pass in the end zone later in the quarter. Reed passed for 239 yards and three touchdowns with an interception. He threw a 6-yarder to Karim Brown on the first drive of the game.

Wright, meanwhile, added an 82-yard touchdown reception midway through the third quarter to pull Navarre to within 38-21.

“If 15 (Dexter Brown) and 5 (Wright) had a footrace, it would be fun to watch,” Braddock said. “They both can fly.”

Chambers passed for 203 yards and three touchdowns. Quinn Caballero caught eight passes for 91 yards and a 10-yard score. Daniel caught four passes for 69 yards for the Yellow Jackets. St. Augustine safety Tyrek Russ had two fourth-quarter interceptions. The Raiders turned the ball over four times.

Reed and the Jackets put on an air show on the game-opening drive. After Jarien Ramos gave St. Augustine good field position with a 37-yard kickoff return, Reed completed four straight passes to four different receivers, ending with a touchdown strike to Karim Brown.