It’s back! Well, for a limited time at least. The doors are open to BCP’s Barber Shop following last night’s action with seven jamborees in Hillsborough County and several other four-quarter games taking place with coverage teams involved. We now swing you around in the chair and ask you to get comfortable as we give you the talking points aka best cuts from last night with some numbers to digest at the end.
As always, we try to take the perspective–especially with the jamborees–that sample size is minute compared to what we’ll see this fall, so take those two quarters for what they are. The four quarters played by the others isn’t that much bigger of a sample size, but that’s why this is called the barber shop, gotta have something to talk about, right?
We start with the aforementioned jamborees with the quad out in Plant City. It was a case of “the-more-things-change-the-more-they-stay-the-same” with Armwood and Plant City in their respective games. The Hawks managed to thump the Titans even harder than they did last season when the two squared-off in the spring at ‘Crest, but once the lights came on in the month of October later in 2015, TBT was a drive away from upsetting the Hawks–so let’s not get carried away over two quarters. The Titans initial drive is closer to what we’ll see on a consistent basis rather than the following ones this fall, and let’s not forget that Armwood has even more explosiveness on offense and their defense–well, their defense is–is imply in midseason form already. Darrian McNeal was good for 200+ yards of offense and 4TD’s. Plant City looks to be back on track and storming down the tracks after a slight derailment to Braden River to end their season, while Strawberry Crest will go back to the lab and try to get right.
Over at Brandon, the host Eagles are going to have to keep plugging away after an excruciating end to their game with Bloomingdale that ended in a 7-0 defeat. Brandon’s QB accidentally kneeling instead of spiking the ball at the end of the half is something that can be fixed, however. It doesn’t matter if you’re Max Warner though, as the head coach picked up a win in his debut. Both schools will probably admit that there’s more-than-enough work to be had this summer in preparation for the fall, though. The other contest saw a pair of rivals take the stage with Durant beating Newsome 7-6, but with plenty of mistakes made to be placed in the same boat with the other two squads in terms of evaluation if you’re a member of the Cougars or Wolves’ staffs.
At Blake, it was the Yellow Jackets stinging Leto for a 20-0 win and were knocking on the door for more points had the half not needed. Blake has never had a lack for talent located on their roster, could this be the year they bring it all together? We also want to extend best wishes and prayers to Marquee Judge who was carted off the field according to reports and hope to see him back to full speed soon. In the other contest, it was Middleton and Chambo playing to a scoreless tie, but the Chiefs had opportunities to score and with a little more maturation on their offensive side, could have a very competitive squad since their defense is already pretty darn good.
Hillsborough’s Defense–better yet, Armand Chalk–sent a message that he and his defense–one that includes Zachary Carter–is not going to play nice with opposing offenses this season. Chalk was separating helmets from ball carriers and the Terriers scored on a pick-six courtesy of Marterrence Holloway. Running back Duran Bell Jr. was good for the other score. Freedom got their newly-minted Head Coach Floyd Graham his first victory–although Graham wasn’t there to see it due to his daughter’s graduation–the Patriots still spoiled King and their new Head Coach Rafael Tolentino’s debut.
The lone trio of teams featured Plant, Robinson and Jefferson aver at Dad’s Stadium. The Knights were shutout in both games and as we mentioned last week in the spring practice progress reports, Robinson was going to have to lean on some younger guys to step up and make plays. The defense was good enough to keep them close in their game with Plant, but the offense couldn’t breakthrough as the Panthers won that half 6-0. Plant moved the ball up-and-down the field on Jefferson with Dane Frantzen going nuts with well-over 200+ yards on the night and taking full control of the offense. Cade Weldon’s backup Matt Gaffney had himself a very nice night with 154 yards and two touchdowns while Weldon was held out for precautionary measures.
Quarterback Jaylan Rodriguez gave East Bay Head Coach Frank LaRosa plenty to smile about as the Indians defeated Spoto 7-0 in their half of play, but it was Spoto’s Anthron Dicks going 7-for-11 for 108 yards that caught our attention. Both squads still have questions, but the Indians and Spartans produced some answers as well, so look for both to have strong summers. Lennard was all over Riverview in the other half of play with Devin Black showcasing his talents. The Longhorns are no longer considered to be doormats by a longshot, and will once again factor into the equation in an insanely tough district this fall.
Alonso and their staff knew they had a good thing going upfront in the trenches and rushed for over 130 yards in their half of play with Steinbrenner that finished 18-10 in favor of the Ravens. They were also the beneficiary of a Chris Anderson pick-six and had several other playmakers step-up. Could big things be on the way out in Westchase? In the other game, it was Gaither getting the 7-0 win over Sickles. The Cowboys will have one of the best linebacking corps in the area this season along with Hillsborough and Plant, but can they score enough points? Sickles appears to be experiencing some growing pains with their new head coach Patrick Murphy, but something tells us with that talent they have, they’ll be just fine come the fall.
THE NON-JAMBOREES
Braden River absolutely trounced Lakewood on the scoreboard 37-6, but strangely enough after playing Booker T. Washington and Miami Columbus the past two spring seasons, Lakewood probably feels like they got a lot more out of this years’ game than those just mentioned. The Pirates can basically run the ball down anyone’s throats at this stage and appear to have the right pieces plugged-in to replace their graduating seniors. We mentioned RB’s Deshaun Fenwick and Raymond Thomas for the Pirates, but Knowledge McDaniel dropped 162 yards on 15 carries for us all to digest.
In what was supposed to be one of the better games around last night, Pinellas Park pretty much manhandled Largo posting a 28-14 victory. The Patriots were up 28-0 at one point and guys like Zamari Maxwell and Jordon Scott did not disappoint even with the Patriots showcasing a little air-attack to the their scheme which is predicated on a bruising ground game. One bright spot for the Packers was Isaiah Bellamy’s 100+ yards rushing from the QB position.
Mitchell went reverse number on Fivay from last season. The Mustangs defeated Fivay 62-0 in 2015 and then followed it up this season winning 26-0 up in Trinity. The usual suspects Larry DallaBetta and Michael Hamilton factored in and were pretty much done by midway through the third quarter. Another nice spot was RB Spencer Conard for Mitchell who brings an added dimension to their offense.
Springstead exacted revenge on Anclote after giving up 63 to the Sharks in the spring last year. The Eagles defeated Anclote 53-26 and the two teams have now combined for a total of 174 in two games. Zephyrhills Christian thumped the SSAC’s State Champions Santa FE Catholic 36-12 racking up over 400 yards of offense while Southeast picked up a nice win over North Port 30-14 as did Fort Meade with a 31-10 victory over DeSoto County. Lakeland Christian were victorious in their contest with Avon Park 30-14. Also of note was Clearwater Academy International picking up their first victory as an 11-man program over Shorecrest Prep 23-14. Another first-year program takes stage this evening when Bell Creek Academy heads down to Lake Placid.
BEFORE YOU GO: Defense is usually ahead of the offense this time of year, and the numbers proved that last night:
12 – The number of shutouts last night all games combined
11 – The number of shutouts in the jamborees from a possible 15 halves.