Boynton Beach football: Tigers plan to continue to win behind Wing-T offense, running game
BOYNTON BEACH — Last year was a season of firsts for Boynton Beach.
First home playoff win. First second-round playoff appearance. And having finished the year at 9-3, it was the Tigers’ best season since they were quarterbacked by some fellow named Lamar Jackson back in 2014.
Now, despite having graduated a number of talented seniors, the Tigers are looking for an encore performance under head coach Clifford Fruge.
“We had some seniors that helped us get to that position of success, of winning a district championship,” Fruge said. “But we had some young guys that were helping us also in a lot of different ways, and people may not have seen that.”
Fruge has his eyes on a big, talented sophomore class this season as the Tigers’ roster undergoes a changing of the guard. Linebacker Bernard Blank and cornerback Bentley Ware help lead that class.
“We’ve got a good group of sophomores all across the O-line,” Fruge said. “Once you get out here you see they’re big kids.”
Luckily for Boynton, the learning curve may be shorter than most — and that’s because Fruge has made certain that the younger players on the junior varsity squad already have picked up the tools for success with the system the Tigers run.
“One thing I’ve learned being a head football coach is that you have to make sure your JV team is running the same system, so you can plug in,” he said. “We just kind of plug and go.”
And just like last year, the Tigers hope to make their mark on the division through a Wing-T offense — hence the ground-and-pound nature of their practices.
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“The way we play the game, it’s not played that way anymore,” Fruge said. “We’re a lot more physical than a lot of the other teams that come to play us. Regardless of how the school has been established and what they’re running, our physicality is different than a lot of other schools.”
One would expect nothing less when the football coach is also the school’s weightlifting coach.
“Weight room equals football equals success,” Fruge said.
In a world where “everyone is pass-happy,” Boynton strives to be different under Fruge. That run-first approach to the game doesn’t appear to be changing anytime soon.
Don't think they were afraid to pass, with quarterback Tyrone Smith throwing for 900 yards and accounting for 26 total touchdowns en route to a scholarship to St. Thomas.
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While freshman Maxwell Griner will step into those shoes, much of the Tigers’ success will run through such players as Bobby Smith Jr., who plays running back and linebacker.
And when it comes to the run, it’s not just about pass-blocking.
“It’s a lot harder to teach them how to counter block and trap block,” Fruge said. “It’s a little tough teaching it in the beginning, but once they get going, you watch it, and it’s kind of phenomenal to see old-school football the way it is.”
So about that encore — can Boynton find the success from last season?
Boynton’s star seems to think so.
“We’ve been working all summer,” Smith said. “We’ve been working since the season ended, really. [Griner] is catching up and he’s really smooth. I feel like we can get back into the playoffs and win a few.”
Boynton Beach
Classification: Class 2M Region 3 District 10
Record (2022): 9-3, region semifinalsAll games scheduled for 6:30 p.m. unless otherwise noted.
8/25 vs. Forest Hill
9/1 vs. Santaluces
9/8 at Boca Raton
9/14 Bye
9/21 at West Boca Raton
9/29 at Somerset Canyons, 7 p.m.
10/6 vs. Seminole Ridge
10/12 vs. St. Andrew's10/19 vs. Hollywood Hills
10/27 at American Heritage-Delray, 7 p.m.
11/3 at Lake Worth
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Boynton Beach Tigers football plans to win with Wing-T offense in 2023
