Coral Springs overwhelmed by Deerfield in districtopener
CORAL SPRINGS Even with starting quarterback senior Nick Holm sidelined with a concussion, visiting Deerfield Beach still had enough to defeat Coral Springs 30-0 in the District 11-8A opener for both schools on Friday night.
Backup QB Alec Brown threw three touchdown passes— two to Jerry Jeudy covering 4 and 57 yards and a 5-yarder to LeroyHenley.
Jakari Norwood, who finished the contest with 103 yards, added a 55-yard TD run and Ledin Rivera added a 34-yard field goal as the Bucks evened their overall record at 2-2 and handed Coral Springs its first loss in four games.
The Bucks were coming off a 39-14 defeat against nationally-ranked Grayson (Georgia) last week. Deerfield Beach coach Jevon Glenn said his team needed the win. Holm was cleared to play, however his coach held him out as a precaution.
“Winning the district championship last year means nothing this year,” Glenn said. “We want to keep the crown at Deerfield so thiswas the biggest game of the year. We are awork in progress and I think we are nowhere as good as we will be at the end of the year.”
“Alec managed the game prettywell,” Glennsaid.“He didn’t get a lot of help around him. People say it is better to win ugly, than lose pretty, but I am disappointed. It wasn’t a good showing.”
At 3-0, Coral Springswas off to its best start since the 2011 season when they started 7-0, finished 7-3 and failed to make the playoffs. The Colts went into the contest averaging 32 points a game.
“This is tough threegame Deerfield Beach running back Jakari Norwood looks for yardage in Friday’s District 11-8A game.
home stand with Deerfield, Douglas and Boyd Anderson,” said firstyear Colts coach Vinny Ziccardi, who took over Coral Springs after it went 1-9 last year. “We went up against the big dog in the district tonight and showed we can compete with a young team.”
Deerfield Beach won for the 10th time in the last 11 contests in the rivalry dating back to 2004. The only blemish came in 2014 when the Colts upset the Bucks, 24-21. Deerfield Beach avenged that defeat with a 56-2 victory last year.
IMG ACADEMY 38, BOYDANDERSON0: Friday night’s matchup between Boyd Anderson and the nation’s No. 2-ranked IMG Academy turned out to be a showcase for the Ascenders in a rout in Bradenton. But it didn’t start thatway.
IMG(5-0) used a17-point second quarter to seize the momentum while stifling Boyd’s offense. After not finding much success in the downfield passing game in the first quarter, the Ascenders and senior quarterback Kellen Mond started connecting on plays deep down the middle and
continued to attack the Cobras secondary throughout the game.
The Cobras (3-1) hung tough in the first quarter, though, battling Florida’s top-ranked team to a 0-0 tie through the first 12 minutes.
BA’s defensive, backed up against its own end zone, came up big early in the opening quarter by recovering a fumbled handoff— the first of four fumbles, two lost, forMond.
But the Cobras offense’s inability to stay on the field coupled with IMG’s return man, senior Grant Delpit, continually putting the Ascenders in favorable field position was too much for BA’s defense to overcome.
Mond was in full command of the Ascenders’ offense, after sitting out briefly in the first half with an injury, throwing it deep and allowing his big wide receivers to go up and snatch the ball at its highest point. He also terrorized the Cobras with his running ability, breaking defenders ankles and picking up an early rushing touchdown to go with his three scores through the air.