Spring games don't count in any official records, but Poinciana and St. Cloud coaches Randy Beeken and Mike Short said Friday night's results were important steps in the evolution of their teams' 2023 seasons.
“When you have our history and are trying to change our culture, winning is extremely important, even in spring and kickoff classics," said Beeken, whose Poinciana Eagles defeated the host Gateway Panthers, 28-0. "We emphasize winning in every game we play.”
"I'm not upset at anything, we played pretty clean," Short said after the St. Cloud Bulldogs' 41-21 win at Freedom.
The Eagles have graduated standouts of last year's 8-2 team – Perry Garrett, De’Kwan Bradley, Dav’rell Cohn, Michael Centeno and Donald Cummings accounted for 39 of Poinciana’s 45 offensive touchdowns last year – Beeken says he is optimistic that his offense can be as productive, and that optimism was on display Friday night.
Poinciana overcame several turnovers and some sloppy play in scoring four touchdowns. Akeem Knox, a transfer from Osceola High , is one of the reasons for that optimism. A back-up for the Kowboys, Knox will be the featured back in the 2023 Poinciana offense.
Knox rushed for 102 yards on just 15 carries – scoring the Panthers second touchdown of the game on an 18-yard run. He sat out the last quarter and a half with a slight hamstring strain. “Akeem left, Akeem right, Akeem up the middle, he is going to get the ball a lot this season,” Beeken said.
The play of rising junior Ernest Nunn is the other reason for optimism in the Eagles’ camp.
A starter at both wide receiver and defensive back, Nunn had an explosive game against the Panthers. He scored the team’s first touchdown midway through the second quarter by taking a pitch on a reverse and racing 60 yards down the right sideline for a touchdown. He also scored two more times, catching touchdown passes of 26 and 40 yards. Still, Beeken said there is a lot of work to do.
“We only dressed about 30 players tonight. Some guys had other obligations and had to miss, we had some guys out with injury and our quarterback situation is far from settled. But it was a good effort tonight. Our defense played well and the intensity was there.”
Gateway coach Marlin Roberts said there were some bright spots on his team. The Panthers did move the ball during the game with some nice runs by Joshua Fuller and some long receptions by Yasim Mims. But practically every long play was followed by a negative play as Gateway gave up five sacks, turned the ball over three times, had eight negative running plays and several costly penalties.
“We did some good things tonight but it just seems like we would take one step forward and then two backwards. We simply cannot keep turning the ball over.”
Roberts did say he was pleased for the most part by the play of his defense. “They really did not drive the ball down the field on us and we did create a couple of turnovers,” Roberts added. “They scored on big plays where we had a breakdown or when we gave them a short field. Most of the time we were pretty solid on defense, especially in the first half.”
Meanwhile, at Freedom, St. Cloud showed a potent passing game early and a competent running game late and scored four of the game's last five touchdowns after the Patriots tied the game at 14-14 in the second quarter. The Bulldogs did not commit a turnover while rolling up 459 yards in the game, that was played fully live and varsity outside of the kicking game.
After the Bulldogs made a fourth-down stop, rising junior quarterback Logan King (11-of-21, 276 yards) lofted a pass to a wide-open Darryl Massey for a 24-yard scoring strike on St. Cloud's very first snap. It was 14-0 after the Bulldogs' sixth play; a 40-yard connection to Massey set up Jonathan Morales' one-yard TD run.
The Bulldogs then stalled for a bit, but marched back into the lead before halftime when Owen Connor got loose on a 53-yard touchdown catch, and T.J. Griffin, who carried 11 times for 147 yards behind an offensive line with a couple new faces, fought off tackles on a 30-yard scoring run.
St. Cloud clamped down on Freedom and offensive weapon Quavion Mincey, who scored three times in the first half on a 46-yard run and 13 and 22-yard touchdown catches, both in traffic. The Bulldogs added scores on a Conner (five catches, 136 yards) 40-yard pitch-and-catch and a Morales 10-yard run.
"T.J. looked phenomenal, and I knew he would," Short said. "I was hopeful it would go this way tonight, and this is the way to go into the summer and fall. We're just one guy away offensively to solidify it. We've practiced our tails off this spring and, frankly, the defense was kicking our offense's butt every day for two weeks, and I was excited to see how the defense played tonight, outside of one missed assignment."
