Niceville, FL — NICEVILLE — Early in the second quarter, Leon had seen enough to wave the proverbial white flag. Niceville quarterback Trey Wainwright was 8-for-10 for 250 yards and five touchdowns. Niceville receivers Roland Clay and Kendell Mosley had embarrassed tacklers en route to two touchdowns each. Niceville tailbacks Shawn Parker and Micah Turner had shined in their few touches with highlight-reel scores. Niceville routed Leon 42-0 in a home playoff football Yet this was no end-game box score. With 9:36 left to play in the second quarter of Friday’s Region 1-7A quarterfinal at Eagle Stadium, the visiting Lions trailed 42-0. The looming running clock wouldn’t start until the second half, so the Lions asked for it run earlier. The refs obliged. And so did Niceville, the Eagles (9-0) pulling its starters and finishing off its fourth shutout of the season in a 42-0 victory to advance to the Sweet 16. The Eagles’ defense was nothing short of transcendent, Leon (1-4) mustering just four first downs and 55 yards of offense. Not once did Leon get past midfield as the Lions converted 1-of-10 first downs. The Eagles’ offense was nothing short of electric, Niceville gaining 448 yards of offense and scoring on six of its first eight drives before pulling all of its starters in the second quarter. And now the Eagles are in unprecedented territory: Nine wins and nine running clocks in extending their margin of victory to 444-96. Two wins down, three to go. Wainwright’s eight completions went for an average of 31.25 yards. There were post routes, wheel routes and slants, the Eagles scoring every way possible. Mosley caught touchdown passes of 44 and 25 yards, Clay strolled into the end zone from 50 and 67 yards out, and Parker scored on a 27-yard wheel route. Wainwright’s season totals now look like the stuff of video games: 2,177 passing yards, 29 touchdowns and just two interceptions while completing 79% of his passes. Clay has easily emerged as Wainwright’s favorite target, the 6-foot-2 playmaker accounting for 20 receptions for a team-best 642 receiving yards (21.4 yards per catch) and team-high 10 touchdown receptions. He’s scored in six games, has four multi-score games and has really caught fire over the last five games, averaging 99 receiving yards during that span with seven touchdowns and three multi-score efforts. On Friday he needed just two touches to show his talents off. The first was a post route where he slowed down, hauled in the over-the-shoulder catch and shook off a tackler at his feet. The next was a short slant that Clay took 67 yards up the middle while easily outrunning the secondary. In a loaded receiving corps, what he’s done is simply remarkable. DEFENSIVE MVP: Michael Carruthers, Niceville senior The linebacker was everywhere Friday night, making tackles laterally in the open field and in the backfield. His biggest play came in being at the right place, at the right time, as he fell on a fumble recovery in the first quarter to set up Parker’s 27-yard touchdown reception. QUOTABLE From the mouth of Dramarian “Juice” McNulty, who only played two series all night: “This is too easy.” That it is Juice. That it is. UP NEXT Niceville (9-0) travels to Gainesville next Friday to face Buchholz (8-1) in the Region 1-7A semifinals. 🏈🏈