The ending to the Florida Class 7A state championship game Saturday night was something out of a cheesy Hollywood script. Lake Mary trailed Vero Beach with just a few seconds left on the clock when it connected on a Hail Mary — in a monsoon no less — to win the title.
With eight seconds left in the fourth quarter, Lake Mary trailed 27-12 when quarterback Noah Grubbs dropped back for one final heave. Grubbs, a three-star Notre Dame signee and the No. 31 quarterback in the 2026 recruiting cycle, connected with receiver Barrett Schulz downfield.
The only problem was that Schulz, a three-star FIU signee playing in his future home stadium, was several yards short of the end zone. As he fought off several Vero Beach tacklers, Schulz turned and handed the ball off to teammate Tavarius Brundidge Jr., who found paydirt for the game-winning touchdown.
The exchange between Schulz and Brundidge looked close to being an illegal forward pass. Asked about that after the game, Vero Beach coach Lenny Jankowski said his team was the victim of a freak play.
“Yeah, there’s a lot of things. I mean, the kid had gone out of bounds and came back in. Hats off. It was an incredible play to keep it alive. It’s a freakish thing, and unfortunately we came up on the short end of it.”
That play wasn’t the only miraculous aspect of this win for Lake Mary, which captured its first state championship in school history. The Rams trailed 21-3 at halftime, and they were in position to win the game at the end because Vero Beach took an intentional safety with 12 seconds left.
