BY CLIFF SMELLEY
Telegraph Staff Writer
Two big plays turned a defensive slugfest between longtime rivals in Bradford High School’s favor as the Tornadoes opened the football season with a 12-0 win over visiting Baker County on Aug. 25.
Willie Pollard returned the opening kickoff 84 yards for a score, while quarterback Dae’Jon Shanks hooked up with Chalil Cummings for a 49-yard touchdown in the second quarter. Outside of Cummings’ reception, the offense of both teams combined for approximately 150 yards. The Wildcats finished with only 43.
“The defense was relentless,” Bradford Head Coach Jamie Rodgers said. “We had a good package. They didn’t see us blitz very much at all last week (in the preseason classic against Chiefland). We blitzed almost every down tonight. We caught them off guard, I think, early. Then we had the momentum.”
Bradford, which travels to play Baldwin on Friday, Sept. 1, at 6:30 p.m., sacked Wildcats quarterback Davion Dean five times and made eight total tackles behind the line of scrimmage. Baker drove past midfield only twice.
It was the second shutout in the last three games Bradford and Baker have played each other. The Wildcats put 17 first-half points on the board against Bradford in last year’s Region 2-2S championship game, but the Tornadoes have now not allowed a point to Baker in six
straight quarters.
“It’s always fun to leave them with a zero on the scoreboard,” Rodgers said. “It’s hard for them to win if they don’t score.”
Bradford is coming off a season in which its defense recorded a school-record nine shutouts.
“As a defensive unit, we’re special,” defensive lineman Torin Brazell said, adding, “We intend to break that record (again). I want to hold the record two times.”
Shutouts have become common at BHS. So, too, have kickoff returns for touchdowns. Pollard’s return marked the third straight game (not counting the spring and preseason games) and fourth game in five in which the Tornadoes have taken a kick back the distance.
Pollard said the team has been practicing the middle return, so he knew it would eventually prove to be something special. He didn’t have to wait long.
“When I caught it, I ran down the middle,” Pollard said. “I saw that crease open up to the left. I just had to hit it and get going and show what speed really is.”
Jeremiah McKenzie’s pass on the two-point conversion was incomplete, but the Tornadoes led 6-0 before either offense had the chance to take the field.
“Huge way to get it started,” Rodgers said.
The Bradford defense then showed immediately what the Wildcats were going to have to deal with. Brazell and Trente Jenkins made tackles behind the line of scrimmage on Baker’s first two plays, while on the third play, Brazell pressured Dean into throwing an incompletion.
“The way I thought our defense had a chance to play tonight, I knew it was going to be tough sledding (for Baker),” Rodgers said.
A sack by Duke Lewis and a tackle for no gain by Chason Clark helped force Baker to punt from its own 12 on its second possession. Shanks’ return set the Bradford offense up at the Wildcats’28.
Shanks ripped off runs of 12 and 11 yards on the first two plays, but was then dropped for a 6-yard loss on first-and-goal from the 5. After Pollard was tackled for a 7-yard loss, the Tornadoes were penalized for holding, backing them up to the 17. Shanks was then sacked
twice for a total loss of 15 yards.
Baker had yet to pick up a first down when Bradford added the game’s final score. The Tornadoes began a drive at their own 38 and converted a third-and-9 play on an 11-yard Cummings reception. It was third-and-7 from the Baker 49 when Shanks hit a wide-open Cummings in stride for a touchdown at the 9:34 mark of the second quarter. McKenzie’s run on the two-point conversion came up short.
Cummings finished with four catches for 77 yards.
The Tornadoes threatened on their next possession when a 26-yard reception by Elijah Kellum resulted in a first down at the Baker 27. The drive ended, however, when Hudson Register intercepted a Shanks pass.
Baker found itself inside the Bradford 40-yard line after a pass-interference penalty. A reception by Register moved the Wildcats to the 30, but a fumble two plays later was recovered by Bradford.
The first half ended with Baker’s offense having generated only 3 yards, but in the second half, Bradford’s offense was held to 8 yards. The Tornadoes finished with approximately 150 yards and managed only 10 yards rushing.
“It’s a good feeling that we won, but I definitely feel like most of us wish we would’ve won in a better way,” said Clark, who plays on both sides of the ball.
Rodgers said the offense needs to produce more on first-down plays. The Tornadoes averaged 1.2 yards per first-down play, In the second half, that average as minus-2.3 yards.
“Our offense is based off positive gains on first down, getting us into second- and third-and-short,” Rodgers said. “We didn’t do that very much tonight.”
Rodgers said he’s certainly not panicking, noting that it’s just week one.
“We’ve got good coaches. We’ve got good players,” he said. “I suspect we’re going to figure things out, and things will look a lot better next week.”
It’s a lot better knowing you have to improve while still putting a mark in the win column.
“All in all, it was 12-0,” Rodgers said. “We got a win against our rival. We’re 1-0. Half the state’s 0-1 tonight. We’re not one of them.”
The next opponent also isn’t “one of them.” Baldwin opened its season with a 40-3 win over Wolfson.
Baldwin, which also plays in Class 2S, went 9-3 last season, advancing to the Region 2 semifinals. One of the Indians’ losses was to Bradford by a score of 35-0.
