STUART – Three teams wrapped up their 20 days of spring football practice Tuesday, May 19 at South Fork High School.
John Carroll Catholic played the first two halves and won them both. The Rams opened with a 21-7 victory over South Fork at Joebud Scaggs Stadium.
John Carroll then knocked off Fort Pierce Central, 14-7.
“This gives us a ton of momentum going into the offseason,” Rams coach Mickey Groody said. “I was really proud of how we played as a whole.”
Central came back in the final half to defeat the host Bulldogs, 21-7.
John Carroll takeaways
1. The Rams scored on all three possessions against South Fork, getting a 20-yard touchdown pass from Carter Cullen to KJ Davis, a 9-yard run by Jaydien Pittman and a 7-yard pass from Chance Sullivan to Anthony Celestino. John Carroll made it five touchdowns in seven possessions with a pair of scores against Central. Felix Jackson rambled in from 11 yards out, and Donevon Richardson hauled in a 14-yard pass from Cullen. Groody was especially happy since he didn’t have many of the skill players during the spring as they were participating in state track and the linemen were involved in weightlifting and state track and field. The quarterback competition heated up with Cullen going 8-for-11 against South Fork and 3-for-3 against Central. Sullivan was 4-for-8 overall and showed the ability to run.
“I was impressed with both quarterbacks,” Groody said. “I’ve got a great QB battle going on, a really good problem to have. Both those guys did great tonight. I loved we finished the game running the ball. We’ve got a good offensive line.”
2. Behind the offensive line of TJ Ingram, Cason Parnell, Charlie Pisani, Tommy Smith and University of Miami signee Sean Tatum, the strength of the team, John Carroll was able to run the ball mainly with Jackson at the end of the game. Jackson had 40 yards in the first half and 78 in the second half to finish with 118 yards on 18 carries in the two halves.
3. The Rams defense recovered fumbles on two of the first three plays against Central with Gavin Mathe and Parnell pouncing on loose balls. “That definitely helped,” Groody said. “I wish we could have punched in a couple more when we had a short field. But I was pretty happy all around with our defense. I feel defenses early on always struggle.”
4. After missing last season with a torn anterior cruciate ligament, Jaydien Pittman returned to run track, finishing eighth in the 100-meter dash and a leg on the Rams’ 4×100 relay team at the state meet. As a sophomore, he rushed for 125 yards and four touchdowns and caught 21 passes for 444 yards and five scores. Tuesday, Pittman carried seven times for 52 yards and caught four passes for 55 yards in the two quarters. “It was great to get Pittman back after a year with the ACL,” Groody said.
5. Groody will give his players off next week to take exams before heading to a 7-on-7 event May 31 in Miami. “And then we’ll start our offseason workouts,” Groody said.
Fort Pierce Central takeaways
1. The Cobras did not get off to a good start offensively, losing fumbles on two of their first three offensive plays of the night. Central got going against John Carroll, tying the game at 7-all on a 3-yard run by Kevin Dixon. “We really moved the ball well, but we can’t start the game off with two fumbles on the first three plays,” Cobras coach Michael Watkins said.
2. Against South Fork, Central got on the board first with a 21-yard scoring pass from Drew LaPlante to Antonio “A.J.” Hill Jr. After the Bulldogs tied it, LaPlante connected with Dixon for a 5-yard score to break a 7-all tie and then hooked up with Jaheim Lewis for an 8-yard score. “We’ve got a lot of good film,” Watkins said. “We made a ton of mistakes. That’s what the spring is for.”
2. Linebacker Jarimyah Ownes had two stops for no gain and a sack/fumble (recovered by Jonny Quinteros) in the first quarter against John Carroll and had a stuff for no gain against South Fork. Chad DeVries and Floyd Reynolds also had stops for no gain against the Rams. Reynolds also had a sack nullified by a penalty. Tyler Victorin had a stop for a 6-yard loss versus the Bulldogs. “We’ve got a lot of kids who got a ton of reps,” Watkins said. “We got 19 good days in. We got as many kids in tonight as we could.”
3. LaPlante, who went 149-for-219 for 2,396 yards and 31 touchdowns a year ago, completed 21-of-35 for 252 yards. Hill, who caught 38 passes for 850 yards and 10 touchdowns in the fall, had five catches for 65 yards. Trey Flowers made four catches for 66 yards. Vonderrick Adams caught three balls for 62 yards. Running back Kevin Dixon had some good hard runs.
4. After finishing 10-2 last year and a field goal away from reaching the regional finals, Central goes into the summer with some uncertainty. “We’ve got some questions we’ve got to answer on both sides of the ball,” Watkins said. “I’m proud of the kids. They played hard. Hopefully we keep building going into the fall.”
5. Next for the Cobras is offseason workouts, 7-on-7 games and all the team camps. “We’re just starting, baby,” Watkins said.
South Fork takeaways
1. Despite the two setbacks on their home field, Bulldogs new coach Eric Kresser wasn’t discouraged. “I liked the effort from our guys,” he said. “We came out. We tried hard. We did a lot of good things, just not enough to win. But I was pleased with the effort.”
2. Anquan Kerr scored the touchdown against John Carroll from 3 yards out. Quarterback Champ Smith connected with Dre’shawn Delancy, who made a nice spinning move to complete a 14-yard touchdown pass against Central. “Everything,” Kresser said on what his team has to work on during the summer. “We made mistakes in just about every area. So we just have to watch the film and work on everything.”
3. Defensively, Gavin Schering had a sack, and Trey Ivory notched a tackle for loss against John Carroll. Beau Scammell recorded a sack, and Ivory had a stop on fourth down versus Central.
4. A rising senior, Smith completed 9-of-23 for 106 yards. OJ Patrice caught three passes for 75 yards. Kerr, who had 205 rushing yards and 69 receiving yards a year ago, ran hard throughout.
5. Since he is behind in his team’s preparation for the upcoming season, Kresser will start offseason workouts while the Bulldogs still are in school. South Fork finished 3-7 last season, losing its final six when the Bulldogs were outscored 163-52. “Even though we are still in school, we’ll start our summer plan,” Kresser said. “We’ll get after it. I have not had a summer with these guys, so I look forward to it and getting better. I’ve only had a few weeks with them in practice, so summer is going to be big here.”
This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: John Carroll football ends spring with momentum, beating South Fork and Central
Reporting by Dennis Maffezzoli, Special to Treasure Coast Newspapers / Treasure Coast Newspapers
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
