LIVE OAK — With Suwannee’s season — and her career — on the line, quarterback Maci Campbell did her best superhero impersonation.
Facing top-seeded Bradford in the District 2-1A semifinals, the Bulldogs had gotten off to a fast start. But when the Tornadoes rebounded to take the lead, Campbell wasn’t going to miss a chance to answer back for Suwannee.
So facing a goal line opportunity and her number called on a run play, Campbell wasn’t going to be denied, not even when a Bradford player filled the hole.
“I saw a gap and a girl and I remember I dove over the line and over the girl to get the touchdown,” Campbell said, although the effort ended up being for naught as Bradford downed SHS 28-12 to end the Bulldogs’ season.
Still, for a four-year starter, Campbell said it was a fitting end to a career that nearly never was.
“It was a good last moment to remember, the team was so excited,” she said.
It also summed up why Campbell was named the Lake City Reporter’s Flag Football Player of the Year after leading Suwannee to an 8-5 season after taking on more responsibility as a well-rounded quarterback during her final campaign.
Known as a mobile quarterback in her first three seasons and a dangerous running threat, Campbell was determined to continue to improve. With Suwannee having to fill Jayla Reid’s role as a passer, Campbell set her mind on doing that herself.
That meant summer workouts and even some pointers from Joseph Gaddy, now the offensive coordinator for the Suwannee tackle football team.
That meant additional drills and discussions about mindset.
It worked.
“I really worked at that to try and become an all-around flag football player,” Campbell said. “I think it helped tremendously.”
Suwannee head coach Ted Frazier and offensive coordinator Jacob Pitts agreed.
Shaping the offense to their players’ strengths, the deep ball was reduced in Suwannee’s playbook. Rather, quick and intermediate routes were highlighted in addition to the run game where Campbell had always excelled.
“We asked her to do a lot more this year,” Pitts said, noting that also meant in reading the defense and determining where to go with the ball.
The year before, Pitts’ scheme featured more of a primary read before taking off.
Either way, Pitts and Frazier also were counting on another strength of Campbell: her decision making and intelligence.
A valedictorian of the Suwannee Class of 2023, Campbell’s smarts extended to the football field as well.
Pitts recalled a play her junior season, which in his call, was bound to be an interception. However, Campbell noticed the defense was set up to stop the play, and audibled out of it in her own mind.
“She just kept it herself and got four yards,” he said. “All along I’ve told her that was the smartest thing she’s done. It just encompasses who she is. She’s just a really smart kid.”
To Frazier, Campbell is a “superstar” whether it’s in the classroom or the field.
“She used all of her abilities to make things happen,” he said. “She’s a superstar kid that just had a good attitude and great heart who was very coachable. I think if there’s any word I could say it would be coachable.”
That willingness to learn helped not just Campbell but the Suwannee program as a whole when it was launched in 2020.
Ricky Hufty, the architect of Florida Gateway College’s program that just won the NJCAA national championship in its first season, had come to Suwannee to start the school’s program. In addition to coaching flag, Hufty served as a tackle football assistant and the volleyball team as well.
That’s where he met Campbell and convinced her to give the new sport a try, which she finally did because of that relationship.
“I ended up loving it,” she said.
She loved more than just the sport. She also loved the position of quarterback, especially when she learned she worked well under pressure.
“Being able to have so many opportunities to make a play and use my creative mind as an athlete was so enticing,” she said. “I love being able to have my own freedom to make decisions.”
Those decisions were on full display in mid-March when the Bulldogs faced a long trip back home when host Crystal River scored with barely a minute left to take a 12-7 lead.
But never fear, for the Bulldogs, Campbell was there.
“Maci just drove the ball down, keeping the option, keeping it herself, making the right reads, making the right decisions,” Pitts said. “Then (she) threw a touchdown with like nine seconds to go from about 40 yards out to win the game.
“That was definitely the one, her big comeback heroics.”