BY CLIFF SMELLEY
Telegraph Staff Writer
Keystone Heights High School’s defense created two turnovers and kept both opponents out of the end zone in a pair of wins in a May 22 spring football jamboree at Santa Fe High School.
In a game that consisted of each team playing an opponent for two 10-minute quarters with a running clock, the Indians defeated Ridgeview 7-0 and Santa Fe 14-0. Running back Cartez Daniels scored two of his team’s three touchdowns and had a 100-plus-yard effort against Santa Fe.
“We’ve got a pretty solid group,” new Head Coach Steve Reynolds said. “Guys are running to the ball, tackling well, working really hard. I think we can see now how good our defense was from our little (intrasquad) scrimmage game that we had. I think we’ve got ourselves a pretty nice little defense that we’re working on. The offense had some great moments.
“I’m proud of them.”
Reynolds referenced how the play of his defense was a carryover from the May 12 Blue and White game. The jamboree got off to a shaky start for that unit, though, when Ridgeview gained 47 yards on its first play. However, the Panthers’ longest gain after that was only 7 yards.
Santa Fe’s longest play went for 12 yards, with Keystone making three tackles behind the line of scrimmage.
“In this half (against Santa Fe), I saw us do a better job of minimizing explosive plays,” Reynolds said.
Keystone’s offense received the ball first in the two quarters against Ridgeview, with Daniels carrying the ball for a 10-yard gain on the first play from the Indians’ 25-yard line. A 5-yard run by Daniels and a 6-yard pass from Baylor Ford to Garrison Teague resulted in another first
down. The Indians later faced third-and-10, but picked up the first down on a 19-yard reception by Andru Siemer that put Keystone at the Ridgeview 35. Ford scrambled out of the pocket on the following play for a 25-yard gain to the 10. Daniels then had a 9-yard run to set up his own 1-yard touchdown run with 4:57 to play in the first quarter. Tyler Sapp kicked the extra point for a 7-0 lead.
The 47-yard gain (which occurred on a short pass play) the Panthers got on their first drive set them up at the Keystone 28. A Jackson Herman sack two plays later forced Ridgeview into a third-and-11 play. The Panthers’ Travis Pinkard had a 7-yard run to set up fourth-and-4. Ridgeview went for it, with Keystone’s Teague, Darrion Grady, Talon Messina and Wyat Van Zant holding a Panthers receiver to just a 2-yard gain on a pass play, forcing a turnover on downs.
Ridgeview’s next offensive series began with the Indians’ Trey Jeffries making a tackle for a 3-yard loss. The entire series netted a total of 6 yards and a turnover on downs after four plays.
Keystone drove inside the Panthers’ 25 on its third series of the game, thanks to a pass-interference penalty and a 10-yard run by Daniels. The Panthers’ Sean Moore put an end to the drive when he intercepted a pass and returned it 20 yards to the Ridgeview 41 with less than four minutes remaining in the second quarter.
Two plays later, Colton Hollingsworth recovered a fumble for the Keystone defense.
The Panthers finished with 61 yards, with all but 14 coming on their first play. They rushed for only 8 yards on five carries.
Keystone rushed for 59 yards, with Daniels gaining 33 yards on 10 carries and Ford finishing with 25 yards on his one carry.
Ford, who shared time with Jackson Parmeter, completed 3 of 3 passes for 31 yards.
The two quarters of play against Santa Fe began with the Raiders getting the chance to go on offense first. That series was a three-and-out, thanks to a 12-yard sack by Messina on third down.
An 18-yard punt set the Keystone offense up at the Santa Fe 34. Daniels had three carries, good for gains of 3, 10 and 11 yards and giving the Indians first-and-goal at the 10. Daniels’ fourth straight carry went for 9 yards to the 1-yard line. The back was then held to no gain on second down. Parmeter fumbled the snap on the next play, but was able to pick up the loose ball and bull his way into the end zone for a touchdown at the 4:37 mark of the first quarter. Ryder Thomas kicked the extra point for a 7-0 lead.
Santa Fe drove 58 yards to the Keystone 21, with 37 of those yards coming on five pass plays. The Raiders’ sixth pass attempt was intercepted by Van Zant in the end zone. Van Zant returned the ball to almost midfield, but an illegal-block penalty had the ensuing Keystone offensive series beginning at the Indians’ 15-yard line.
After a pass-interference penalty gave the Indians a first down, Daniels took a handoff from Ford and broke free for a 68-yard touchdown run with 4:58 to play. Sapp added the PAT to complete the scoring.
Keystone finished with 104 yards of offense — all on the ground. Daniels gained 103 yards on seven carries, giving him 136 total yards on the night.
“The O line blocked really well tonight,” Reynolds said. “We had a couple of busts here and there — things we’ve got to get better at and improve on. Overall, offensively, we’re moving in a good direction. We’ve got some guys who can make some plays.”
Keystone’s defense continued to make plays on Santa Fe’s last possession of the game. Zane Leger made a tackle for a 2-yard loss, while Jayden Goodman stripped the ball from the quarterback, resulting in an 8-yard loss on a fourth-down play.
The Raiders finished had minus-4 yards rushing on eight carries and finished with 39 total yards.
It was a good debut for Reynolds as head coach. If there was a negative, it was the format in which the game was played. Because of the shorter quarters (quarters are normally 12 minutes in length) and a running clock, some players didn’t get to see any action. The Indians had only four offensive possessions against Ridgeview and three against Santa Fe.
“We didn’t really get a lot of time with some of those kids to see what they could do,” Reynolds said. “Fortunately, we did have the scrimmage.”
Still, Reynolds likes what he has seen this spring.
“I think we’ve got a pretty good group,” he said.
