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Dragons, Panthers shake off rust

TAMPA -- The quarterbacks were sloppy. The special teams were not so special. And the defenses were a little rusty.

What more do you want from a football game in May after only two weeks of practice?

Jefferson defeated Blake 21-7 in the first half of a spring jamboree at Plant on Thursday night while Plant turned around and handed Robinson a 9-0 loss.

The games were a taste -- sort of -- of what the coaches will have at their disposal this fall. Not that the coaches were putting much stock in what they saw.

"We looked like a team that's got a quarterback who's never played quarterback before," Robinson coach Bud Hodgens said.

Added new Blake coach Ricky Reynolds: "We're still putting in a new system and everything we ran was very vanilla. It's hard with only 15 days of practice. It's going to take a while."

While the teams were understandably rusty, there were some highlights.

Blake recovered a fumble by Andre Caldwell, expected to be the county's leading rusher. And Dante Moore returned a punt 75 yards to the Dragons' 12-yard line.

Jefferson put up some fireworks of its own as new quarterback Tim Goodrich, a transfer who scored one of Alonso's two touchdowns last season, connected with tight end Jamesley Jean for a 23-yard touchdown after beginning a drive at his own 1-yard line.

Plant's Rashad Anderson made his case as heir to the Devin Kennedy throne, scoring the Panthers' only touchdown and handling a lion's share of the carries.

Perhaps more impressive for Plant coach Darlee Nelson was the cohesiveness of his defense, highlighted by the strong play of Barrett Scruggs, Kyle Puppello and Wayne Lawton.

"They've started believing in the team concept, having trust in their fellow man," Nelson said. "It wasn't just one guy who stood out. This shows that we've been successful in the work we've done during the offseason."

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