BY CLIFF SMELLEY
Jy’Quez Cason returned a fumble 95-plus yards for a score as part of a defensive effort that created four turnovers in all in the Bradford High School football team’s 19-8 win over visiting Columbia in a preseason kickoff classic on Aug. 16.
The Tornadoes now have a starting blueprint to work from as they prepare for the start of the regular season on Friday, Aug. 23. Bradford will travel to play Baker County in a 7 p.m. game.
In assessing the kickoff classic performance, Head Coach Jamie Rodgers said, “Some things will be better on film than we think. Some things will be worse than we thought. We’ll get in, work on that and fix everything. That’s what our staff’s really good at and what our kids are really good at — adjustments.”
Bradford, last year’s Class 2S state runner-up and a Class 2A team in the Florida High School’s Athletic Association’s new classification system, continued its trend of making an impact on defense under Rodgers. The Tornadoes held Class 4A Columbia’s varsity team scoreless and recovered fumbles at the Tigers’ 4- and 16-yard lines that set up touchdowns.
Rodgers, who said such a defensive effort doesn’t usually occur this early in the season, gave kudos to the team’s defensive backs for being in the right places on almost every play as Columbia completed just 9 of 17 passes and was intercepted once.
“We’re in the third year of our system with a lot of guys who’ve played a lot for us, so we should have that,” Rodgers said.
The few negatives for Rodgers were that his defense didn’t tackle well at times and that the offense squandered didn’t fully take advantage of its first-half opportunities.
“We’ve got some things to clean up,” Rodgers said. “We’ll clean them up and get better from here.”
Columbia received the opening kickoff of a game in which the first half consisted solely of varsity players. The third quarter was a mix of varsity and younger players, while the fourth quarter was all junior varsity players.
A tackle by Jeremiah McKenzie and a pass breakup by Jordan Cason had the Tigers facing third-and-8 on their first series, but quarterback Zamarion Jones scrambled to the Bradford 41 for a 10-yard gain. Jones later had another third-down run that produced a first down at the 28. Jordan Cason broke up a pass in the end zone, while McKenzie flushed Jones out of the pocket on play that lost a yard and had the Tigers facing third-and-11. Jones connected with Antonio Days for a 7-yard gain before dumping off a pass to Kyren Caldwell that converted a fourth-down play and gained 9 yards to the Bradford 13.
Johnathan Andrews had a run to the Bradford 6 on the next play. The Tornadoes were able to hold Columbia to 2 yards on the next two plays. The Tigers went for it on fourth-and-1 and would’ve gotten the first down if not for a fumble, which Jy’Quez Cason scooped up and took the distance for the game’s first score with 3:42 remaining in the first quarter.
It was typical of the playmaking ability Cason demonstrated last year as just a sophomore.
“That’s what he does,” Rodgers said. “He’s a really good football player.”
Cy Cubbedge kicked the extra point following Cason’s score to make it a 7-0 game.
Bradford’s offense didn’t get on the field until the second quarter, starting a drive at midfield. New starting quarterback Zack Paul threw an accurate deep ball on the drive’s third play, but his receiver couldn’t come down with the catch in the end zone.
Paulk completed all of his next four pass attempts for 36 yards, hooking up with receivers Marlin Haywood, Mikey Oliver and Branden Williams as the Tornadoes drove to the Columbia 11. A couple of pass attempts and one running play netted only 2 yards for Bradford, which was also flagged for illegal procedure. On fourth-and-13 from the 14-yard line, Paulk was sacked for a 9-yard loss.
Rodgers said his team should’ve used the ground game to pound the ball into the end zone “like we’ve done 100 times” in the last two years. However, he also said the offensive game plan was to focus more on the drop-back passing game. Not counting quarterback sacks, the Tornadoes attempted only 5 runs in the first half, while Paulk (who played only the first half) completed 5 of 9 passes for 35 yards.
“I thought he did a good job,” Rodgers said of Paulk, a Columbia transfer who was playing in a Bradford uniform for just the second time after also playing in the spring. “I thought he handled himself well. He was under pressure a couple of times. He protected the ball. He didn’t give them the ball, didn’t throw any interceptions. That’s big.”
Columbia drove inside Bradford’s 40-yard line twice in the second quarter, but Jy’Quez Cason ended one drive with an interception, while Jordan Cason stopped the other with a pass breakup on fourth down.
Bradford drove inside the red zone to start the second half, with running back Iyen Addison ripping off a 26-yard run on the Tornadoes’ first play. Addison carried the ball six times in all on the drive, gaining 48 yards and finishing as the game’s leading rusher with 52 yards on nine carries.
A 13-yard run by Brian Cliffin put the Tornadoes at the Columbia 19, but a holding penalty, after an incomplete pass, backed Bradford up to the 24. A receiver in the end zone dropped a pass thrown by Cubbedge, while another incompletion had the Tornadoes facing fourth-and-15. Bradford turned the ball over on downs after going for it and gaining 6 yards on a pass from Cubbedge to Tyndale Mullins.
The Tigers fumbled on their first play of the half, with the Tornadoes’ Nate Raymond recovering and advancing the ball to the 4-yard line. Addison eventually punched the ball in from 3 yards out with 3:35 to play in the third quarter, putting Bradford up 13-0. The PAT was blocked.
Columbia ran just two plays on its next drive, with the second play a shotgun snap that sailed over the quarterback’s head. Bradford’s Barron Walden recovered, setting the Tornadoes up at the Tigers’ 16-yard line.
An 8-yard run by Jarell Harris moved the Tornadoes inside the 10-yard line. Bradford eventually scored on a 6-yard touchdown run by Caiden Carn. The two-point play failed, but the Tornadoes led 19-0 at the 10:50 mark of the fourth quarter.
Columbia had a 17-yard run that moved its past midfield on the following series before then scoring a touchdown on a catch-and-run that covered 44 yards. A completed pass on the two-point conversion made the score 19-8 with 6:21 remaining.
Bradford’s Curtis Gonzalez had a 35-yard run on the game’s final drive and finished as the second-leading rusher with 38 yards on four carries.
Bradford, after gaining just 42 yards of offense in the first half, finished with 178 yards, while Columbia had 173.
