JUPITER — Can a high school football team be 8-0 and still feel like an underdog?
In the case of the Jupiter Warriors, the answer is yes.
Senior running back Jayden Roberts rushed for 205 yards on 20 carries, including a 61-yard touchdown on Jupiter’s second possession, to lead the Warriors to a 27-7 homecoming victory over Martin County on Oct. 17.
Jupiter’s offense gained more than 400 yards against a defense that had been allowing only eight points per game. The defense forced turnovers on downs twice inside the 10-yard line and nearly pitched a shutout.
But even after a quality win that kept them undefeated and snapped a six-game winning streak for the Tigers (6-2), the Warriors talked about being disrespected.
“They underestimate us every week, but every week we go out and show them we’re better than what they think we are,” said Roberts, a Treasure Coast High transfer who passed the 800-yard mark for the season. “We’re not the biggest team but we get the job done. We’re well-coached, we’re a family, we’re together.
“We do this for each other, not for the internet, not for the social media.”
Jupiter coach Jason Kradman has built one of Palm Beach County’s most successful programs, losing only two regular-season games in the past three years. But the Warriors are relative newcomers to the upper echelon and lack the star power of teams like Atlantic, West Boca Raton and Cardinal Newman, who feature multiple Division I prospects.
“We do not get as much credit as we should, but we could care less about the media, all the hype that we don’t get,” said senior defensive back Israel Morgan, who batted away a fourth-down pass in the end zone late in the third quarter. “We always like to be the underdog. We always have that mindset that people are going to overlook us and then we just hit ’em in the mouth. We take that with a chip on our shoulder.”
Jupiter hit Martin County in the mouth early, building a 20-0 halftime lead on Roberts’ long run, Nick Bothe’s 23-yard touchdown run and Andrew Embick’s 32-yard scoring pass to Ayden Pressley.
The Tigers had only one first down in the first half. Their best weapon was Max Kennedy, who had three punts of more than 50 yards, including a 74-yarder that bounded into the end zone.
The Warriors got a break on a bizarre play early in the third quarter. Martin County’s Jeromie King intercepted a pass in the end zone and decided to run it out, but he was hit at the 10-yard line and fumbled the ball back to Jupiter. After a penalty, versatile KJ Larsen took a direct snap from center and ran 15 yards for a touchdown to make it 27-0.
At that point, Jupiter’s offense went stagnant while Martin County’s briefly came to life. Quarterback Manny Louis ran 34 yards on a busted play to get the Tigers on the board with 8:50 remaining. They recovered the ensuing onside kick and reached the Warriors’ 9-yard line before turning the ball over on downs.
Much of the game was marred by uncharacteristic mistakes by both teams. They combined for more than 200 yards in penalties, and that didn’t include several offsetting personal-foul penalties on which no yardage was assessed. Shoving matches were common in the fourth quarter.
Tempers boiled over in the final minutes, when Jupiter called several pass plays in an attempt to score, reaching the Martin County 8-yard line before time ran out.
Tigers coach Rod Harris was so incensed that he refused to shake Kradman’s hand at midfield, shaking a finger in Kradman’s face and shouting expletives. Coaches and players from both teams joined in the argument. Harris and Kradman had to be separated and police officers ordered the teams to leave the field.
Even when the teams were separated, however, Jupiter players gathered to taunt Martin County players from afar.
“Sometimes I feel a team’s trying to embarrass you and run up the score,” Harris said later. “I’ve got to protect my kids and look out for their best interests. It’s Jupiter’s job to score and we’ve got to stop them. It was just a little heated and we were upset and we’ll just move on.”
Kradman defended his attempt to tack on another TD after a series of three-and-outs.
“We were frustrated with how the game flow went in the third quarter, into the fourth quarter, so we were just trying to finish the game strong,” he said.
Kradman was clearly upset by the Warriors’ penalties, some of which wiped out big gains.
“Usually we’re a really clean team, we have clean execution,” he said. “It’s out of character for us to have that many penalties. It’s certainly frustrating and something we’ll definitely have to clean up before next week.”
The Warriors can clinch the District 12-7A championship with a victory over Palm Beach Lakes on Oct. 23. That would be their third consecutive district title — but still wouldn’t make them feel appreciated.
“I feel like a lot of times people overlook Jupiter for whatever reason. Maybe it’s the history of the program, but we certainly feel disrespected at times,” Kradman said. “We’re motivated by the noise and the chatter. We try to keep our guys away from it as much as possible, but sometimes you can’t avoid it.”
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Why Jupiter football is happy to be the undefeated underdog of Palm Beach County
Reporting by Eric J. Wallace, Palm Beach Post / Palm Beach Post
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
