Five TD for Cole; Vikings hold Ribault to negative yardage
Raines vs. Ribault: Jacksonville Northwest Classic football scenes
Jacksonville rivals Raines and Ribault faced off in the Northwest Classic for high school football. See action from the game.
- Raines High School defeated rival Ribault 53-0 in the Northwest Classic football game.
- The Raines defense held Ribault to negative 14 total yards for the entire game.
- Senior quarterback T.J. Cole accounted for five touchdowns, four passing and one rushing.
- This victory marks Raines’ ninth consecutive win in the Northwest Classic series.
High school football math class is in session, and the subject is negative numbers.
For today’s lesson, let’s call it Raines’ Law: A team that holds its opponent to negative total yardage in the Northwest Classic is bound to end up as Ichiban — number one — on Jacksonville’s Northside.
Raines’ defense means business in 2025, and they showed it again at the expense of longtime rival Ribault with a 53-0 rout in the Northwest Classic on Oct. 4 at the Trojans’ Alvin White Stadium.
Holding the hosts to minus-14 total yards for the afternoon, and getting five more touchdowns from senior quarterback T.J. Cole, Raines spoiled the Trojans’ hopes for their first Northwest Classic since the near-complete two-year reconstruction of Ribault’s school buildings.
Watch Florida high school football live on NFHS Network
“We’re going to keep playing with all our heart and all our determination,” Cole said. “So just going out here in the Northwest Classic, giving our all for the community and the Viking Nation, it’s always good to come out with a win.”
The 21st regular-season win in succession for the Vikings. Only four points off the all-time heaviest rout in the teams’ history, a 57-0 Raines romp from 2003. Nine consecutive wins in the Northwest Classic series, the longest run in Raines-Ribault history.
“You don’t want to be the [Raines] team that ends the streak,” Vikings coach Donovan Masline said. “We had to make sure we just prepared, man. I’m excited for what they’ve been doing.”
VIKING DEFENSE SETS TONE
Two Ribault snaps into the game, senior Cameron Washington set the tone for a parade of sacks. The Vikings ultimately dished out eight sacks to Ribault quarterbacks Simari Limehouse-Gillis and Aiden Jones and caused four fumbles, two of them forced by junior defensive end Troy Butler.
“We’ve gotten stronger, faster, playing with more aggressiveness,” Butler said.
Raines has also stepped up in pass coverage, learning the lessons from last year’s state final loss at the hands of Miami Northwestern. They now own three shutouts, yielding only 17 points all year (14 to Trinity Christian, three to Lake Mary).
“That’s one of the areas that we focused on, getting better in the secondary,” said Masline, a former defensive back himself. “The guys are coming together and doing that.”
Ribault only mustered three first downs, one on a pass interference penalty and two on ensuing Limehouse-Gillis completions to Breon Bethea and Ezekiel Cooper. Raines pinned their rivals down all day long, and just four Trojan snaps all day gained yardage. Final yardage count for Ribault: minus-14.
While the difficulty will ratchet up later at some point in postseason, as well as next week when Madison County invades the Graveyard, Raines’ defense shows every sign of repeating its run to Miami.
“Everybody’s on the same page, everybody’s communicating and everybody’s fast to the ball,” defensive tackle Ge’Terius Brown said.
COLE SOARS PAST TROJANS
That fast-to-the-ball Raines defense is also getting ample support from the offense.
Cole, the All-First Coast offensive player of the year in 2024, was near his best again with four touchdowns passing and one rushing. He connected on 10 of 13 passes, including each of his first eight, for 242 yards.
Ethan Sherman (two touchdowns) and Ziyon Butler each surpassed 100 yards receiving.
“The biggest adjustment we’ve had [compared to 2024] is our speed,” Cole said. “Everybody on the offense can do anything.”
Cole, who threw for 43 touchdowns last season for a figure exceeded only by First Coast’s De’Andre Johnson (47 in 2014) and Nease’s Tim Tebow (44 in 2004) in the area’s Florida High School Athletic Association history, is up to 16 scoring passes through five games in 2025. He’s now up to 81 for his high school career, chasing the likes of Johnson (131), John Wolford (126) and Ivory Durham IV (103).
After honing his skills week in and week out in practice against that Raines defense, Cole isn’t surprised to see what feats his defensive teammates can achieve next.
“We see it every day. Seeing it translate on the field is nothing new,” Cole said. “Those guys are big-time.”