Seminole Ridge football: Ty Jackson provides 'heart and soul' of Hawks defense

STUART — This season may see a different Seminole Ridge than Hawks fans are used to taking the field — but not without the same winning tradition.

Friday night’s 32-10 loss to host Martin County in the Kickoff Classic might have quieted some of those outside expectations, but that would perhaps be without merit.

Playing a number of rotational players throughout the contest, Seminole Ridge went in wanting to test the waters without giving away too much.

And if getting feet wet was the goal, consider it a mission accomplished, according to head coach Chad Chieffalo.

“We’re OK with the outcome tonight,” Chieffalo said. “I’m very pleased with how we handled ourselves. We’re a young team. We’ve got a bunch of juniors and sophomores . . .  but it’s just a ton of improvement. Everything we’ve been working on showed here tonight.”

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Here are three takeaways from Seminole Ridge’s offseason, culminating with the Hawks’ preseason action on Friday night.

Ty Jackson continues to provide spark

For the most part, the Hawks' offense was quiet on Friday night.

Not so for the special teams, especially when you have three-star recruit Ty Jackson involved as a returner.

Jackson, who already has offers from Florida and Florida State, got one opportunity as a returner — and he made the most of it, taking the ball up the heart of the field, finding the gap, and demonstrating his elite speed on his way to the end zone.

“He’s deceivingly fast,” Chieffalo said.

Understandably, Martin County declined to give the junior a chance for an encore.

“It was evident because they stopped kicking it to him, right?” Chieffalo said. “After that, it was all pooch kicks for the rest of the night. We were begging them to just kick it deep one more time so we could see, but obviously, they’re smarter than that.”

While Jackson makes life miserable for opposing offenses as he stares them down from the linebacker position, Seminole Ridge knows a playmaker when they have one – and they intend on getting him involved as much as they can, while keeping him fresh.

“He’s our heart and soul on defense,” Chieffalo said. “But he will definitely be in there in situations.”

His position? Receiver, of course.

“He’s too fast not to be,” Chieffalo said.

Seminole Ridge utilizing talent, adjusting offensive scheme 

For the past several seasons, Seminole Ridge has been known for its ground-and-pound run game, often lining up in traditional Wing-T formations to wear down defenses.

So it might have surprised a few people when the Hawks regularly lined up with receivers out wide on Friday night.

“We’re getting a little bit more into a pro-style offense,” Chieffalo said. “We’ve got some different personnel this year than what we had last year. We were a little bit handcuffed with what we could do the last couple of years. We leaned heavily on that tight goal-line formation.”

Now, with Dylan Reid under center, that approach to the offense is changing. With it, the playbook is starting to open up, allowing for more creativity and diversity.

“We’ve got some guys that can throw it around a little bit and some guys that can catch,” Chieffalo said. “We’re trying to utilize those guys for their talents. Plus, it keeps the other teams on their toes.”

It doesn’t appear that this is just a preseason ploy, as the Hawks' coaching staff wants to explore their offensive weapons early and often.

“You’re going to see a lot more, too,” Chieffalo said. “This is just the tip of the iceberg, just trying some things we’ve been working out during the summer.”

Hawks’ pipeline paying dividends in quest for playoff return

Seminole Ridge doesn’t just have a junior varsity team — it has two full levels of development underneath its varsity squad, a rare sight.

While it helps that the squad lost only six contributing seniors, the roster is full of younger, developing players that are ready to step in.

That includes 40 freshmen entering the program this year.

“We’re going to have all three levels back,” Chieffalo said. “That’s another exciting thing for me, getting the freshmen, JV, varsity, building a pipeline. I think there’s only a handful of teams in Palm Beach County that have all three levels.”

“The future is bright,” he said.

The Hawks deployed rotational players for a number of second-half snaps that got valuable reps against Martin County’s starters on Friday night, part of the reason for the second-half pull-away from the Tigers.

But despite the adjustments to the offensive scheme, success for the Hawks still goes back to the O-line and a hard-hitting defense.

“We’ll go as far as the offensive line is going to carry us,” Chieffalo said. “But I think our defense is going to keep us in a lot of games and give us a lot of opportunities. I’m excited.”

Are Hawks fans going to see this team back in the playoffs this year?

“Absolutely,” Chieffalo said with a laugh. “Did you expect me to say no?”

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Seminole Ridge football: Ty Jackson provides 'heart and soul' of Hawks defense