JEFFERSON 21, BLAKE 9: A key interception by Robert Baham leads to victory in penalty-filled game.
By MIKE READLING
Published September 9, 2003
TAMPA - In a game that needed a big gain on the final drive to ensure more total yards gained than penalty yards accrued it seemed only fitting that a player who supposedly wasn't even going to be able to play until October made the defining play.
Robert Baham - reportedly out four to six weeks with a dislocated shoulder - picked off Blake quarterback Micah Brown with fewer than 15 seconds remaining in the first half and returned it 70 yards for a touchdown. The play only gave Jefferson a five-point lead, but it was all the momentum the Dragons needed in a 21-9 victory.
"They ran the same play twice," Jefferson coach Mike Simmonds said. "The same motion, same everything. It's easy pickin's from there. All he had to do was stay in front of it. His shoulder's still hurt, and he still goes to training everyday. This isn't the NFL. We don't have to announce who's injured every night."
Added Blake coach Ricky Reynolds: "He just threw it to the wrong guy. A big play like going into halftime gave them the momentum and that's big in high school football."
The other thing that's big in any kind of football is keeping the penalties to a minimum, something neither team could seem to accomplish Monday night.
Jefferson finished with nine penalties for 95 yards and the Yellow Jackets were penalized 17 times for 147 yards. Blake finished with 105 total yards.
Never were the penalties more evident than on a Jefferson third quarter drive from its own 24 that ended with a 22-yard touchdown pass from David Turner to Dohnovan Simpson. During that 12-play drive Blake was penalized four times for 40 yards.
"It's just being undisciplined," Reynolds said. "We shot ourselves in the foot. We were in the game for a long time and then the penalties started happening and we put them in the position to score."
Blake broke in new Jefferson quarterback David Turner with a rude welcome, holding him to 6 of 19 passing with two touchdowns, two interceptions and 43 yards but Simmonds said all he cared about was the final result.
"The two touchdowns are what I'm looking at," Simmonds said. "I'm not looking at yardage, I'm looking at the two touchdowns he audibled to."
