Bartow's defense dominates; Lakeland gives Frazier his 1st official victory as head coach

BARTOW — Bartow had three touchdowns on interception returns called back because of penalties, but the Yellow Jackets' defense still pitched a shutout and scored on two safeties in a 25-0 victory on Saturday morning at Bartow Memorial Stadium.

It was a somewhat sloppy game as both sides were plagued with poor execution and penalties, but Bartow's defense dominated and its offense did enough to win.

"When you have a good team, and I think we do, everybody wants you to win by 50 every game," Bartow coach Tyler Eden said. "At the end of the day, I think what I was proud of was just to see the heart and the grit. They could have fallen apart at halftime, and instead they came together and started playing Jacket football and jumped up and stepped up to the challenge."

Kathleen had little success against Bartow and managed just 83 yards of total offense. The best play by the Red Devils was Kelin Hendrix's 49-yard scamper. Hendrix, however, was sacked twice in the end zone and three three interceptions. Bartow defensive back Joshod Hampton had two of the interceptions.

Quarterback KJ Valentine led Bartow with 81 yards rushing. He threw was just 3 of 10 for 71 yards with an interception the end zone, but his first completion was a 43-yard touchdown pass to Ka'marion Thomas in the first quarter.

Traveon Hymes had a 3-yard touchdown run in the third quarter, and Jay'rel Glover had a 1-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter.

LARGO — Lakeland won the spring football game in May as well as the Kickoff Classic in mid-August. Coach Marvin Frazier finally got his first official victory, however, on Friday.

After giving up more than 40 points in last week's season opener, Lakeland’s defense made sure that a repeat performance was not in store this week.  The Dreadnaughts plugged any defensive leaks and Markel Johnson ran for two touchdowns in a 28-0 victory over Largo on Friday night.

Johnson’s two scores came in the first half and gave the Dreadnaughts a 14-0 halftime lead.

Brayshon Williams then hauled in a 76-yard leaping catch-and-run touchdown from Xander Smith to make it 21-0 with 6:42 left in the fourth quarter.

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Fullback Michael Walker then bullied his way into the end zone for the game’s final score to punctuate Lakeland’s victory.

Lakeland returns to Bryant Stadium next week to play host to out-of-state St. Joseph’s Prep from Pennsylvania.

Auburndale 7, Haines City 0

AUBURNDALE — Defense was on display at a soggy Bruce Canova Stadium on Friday night, but Auburndale picked up the late win.

JaySean Pritchard’s extra-effort 10-yard touchdown run with seven seconds left gave the Bloodhounds the win over the Hornets.

Pritchard appeared to be stopped a few yards short of the end zone but kept his legs churning and plowed his way past the Hornets’ defense and into the end zone for the winning score.

“What do coaches always say?” Auburndale head coach Kyle Sasser said. “We say play through the whistle. We tell our linemen and our wide receivers that all the time in practice. We tell them to push the pile. It paid off in that respect tonight.”

Sasser was especially proud of his defense, praising the play of defensive back Cornell Carter, safety Deon Cox and converted linebacker Robert Stevenson for keeping Haines City’s potent running attack off the scoreboard.

“They want to run the ball down your throat,” Sasser said of Haines City. “A game like this was built for them. We try to be more balanced, but when you become one-dimensional you have to turn to your defense.”

Auburndale (1-0) will be at home again next week against Kathleen (0-1).

Lake Gibson 29, North Miami 26

Lake Gibson's Dom Rivera kicked a 24-yard field goal to left the Braves over North Miami. Fentrell Graham had another big game. His touchdown in the third quarter gave lake Gibson a 20-17 lead.

"North Miami came ready to play, and the missed practices from the hurricane definitely made us sloppy," Lake Gibson coach Rich Pringle said. "We have to get better but we didn’t stop fighting and came away with the win."

Lake Gibson improved to 2-0 on the season.

Victory Christian 49, Ambassadors Christian 6

WINTER HAVEN — The Storm picked up their first win of the year with a rout of the Stallions.

Jackson Benton threw for two touchdowns, hitting Levi Applewhite and Jarrel Paul and the defense and special teams combined for three scores and a safety.

Cooper Jones returned a kickoff 50 yards for a touchdown after Cru Slocum netted a safety for the Storm (1-1).

Martell Thomas and Jordan Jenkins both had touchdowns off fumble recoveries.

Blake Johnson also had a 3-yard touchdown run to open the scoring for Victory Christian, which will be at home next week against West Oaks Academy.

“The guys played hard and responded well, but we still have stuff to work on,” Victory Christian head coach Kendrick Stewart said. “The guys played hard and we’re going to build off that.”

All Saints 35, Seven Rivers 32

LECANTO — All Saints quarterback Magnus Darrington scored with 1:07 left to complete a comeback victory for the Saints.

All Saints (1-1) trailed 26-14 heading into the fourth quarter, but Darrington’s 2-yard touchdown run with a little more than a minute remaining gave the Saints the lead.

Seven Rivers drove to the All Saints 30 before Andrew Foppe came away with a game-clinching interception in the end zone to preserve the win.

“We don’t have large numbers, but our kids have large hearts,” said All Saints coach Stuart Weiss, who said he had about 20 kids make the trip. “I can’t say enough about this team. They’re a gritty, hard-nosed team that’s playing with all their heart and it’s just so great to see. “

Lakeland Christian 43, West Oaks 6

LAKELAND — Josh Bellamy and Ian Goines both scored two touchdowns as the Vikings improved to 2-0 on the year.

Killian O’Neal and Trey Berry also scored for Lakeland Christian which will be on the road next week at Fort Meade.

Bellamy finished with 143 rushing yards on 14 carries and Goines caught six balls for 78 yards.

Quarterback Brody Brenneman went 9-for-14 for 120 yards with three touchdown passes.

Postponed due to inclement weather

Frostproof at Hardee

George Jenkins at Mulberry

Fort Meade at Tohopekaliga

Kathleen at Bartow (will be played 10 a.m. on Saturday)

This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Bartow's defense dominates; Lakeland gives Frazier 1st win as head coach