BY CLIFF SMELLEY
Telegraph Staff Writer
Bradford High School fell behind by two touchdowns before scoring 21 straight points in defeating visiting Buchholz 27-20 in a May 25 spring football game.
The Tornadoes’ final two scores came when the teams pulled their starters, with quarterback Damarion Hankerson rushing for two touchdowns.
Bradford, though, had already been generating some momentum, getting a touchdown pass from Jeremiah McKenzie to Dae’Jon Shanks to make the score 20-13 before the starters exited.
Buchholz, a Class 4S team that went to the Final Four last season, scored two touchdowns in the first quarter, but managed just two field goals the remainder of the game, with the Tornadoes creating two turnovers on defense.
“Obviously, that’s a really, really good football program over there with really good players,” Bradford Head Coach Jamie Rodgers said, adding, “I’m just proud of the guys and proud of how they handled adversity the way they did.”
The Buchholz offense took the field to start the game, with quarterback Trace Johnson completing 8 of 10 passes for 81 yards as the Bobcats took a 7-0 lead. Buchholz was 3 for 3 on third-down conversions before Johnson threw a 14-yard scoring pass to Justin Williams at the 5:53 mark of the first quarter. Jay Giunta kicked the extra point.
Bradford’s defense forced the Bobcats to punt on their next possession, with Chason Clark making a tackle for no gain, Torin Brazell tipping a pass at the line of scrimmage and Branden Williams breaking up another pass.
The Bobcats’ third series saw them cover 61 yards on four plays and score on Johnson’s deep pass to Jordan Richardson for a 42-yard touchdown as time expired in the opening quarter. Giunta added the PAT for a 14-0 Buchholz lead.
In one quarter, Johnson had completed 11 of 17 passes for 155 yards. Over the next two quarters, he completed just 5 of 13 passes for 68 yards and was intercepted twice.
More importantly, the Bobcats’ only scores after the first quarter came off the leg of Giunta.
“We had a really deep secondary last year,” Rodgers said. “We’ve got a lot of guys (now) who haven’t played there before. For us to stop that, to not allow another touchdown — that was huge. That was kind of back to what we’re used to (on defense).”
Bradford’s Chalil Cummings came up with an interception on the Bobcats’ first possession of the second quarter, giving his offense the ball at its own 45.
The Tornadoes had been struggling, going three-and-out on their first three possessions and gaining just 14 yards. They got a boost following Cummings’ interception when Buchholz was flagged for pass interference, resulting in a first down at the Bobcats’ 39-yard line. McKenzie was sacked on two straight plays before completing a short pass to Shanks, who turned it into a 17-yard gain. That set up fourth-and-1, which Bradford converted on a 2-yard McKenzie run.
Bradford faced another long-yardage situation on the drive, thanks to a sack and penalty, but a 23-yard reception by Clark set up third-and-1. McKenzie picked up the first down on a 2-yard run to the 17-yard line. After three plays that netted 4 yards, McKenzie threw a 13-yard touchdown pass to Clark on fourth down to make the score 14-6 with 2:54 to play in the first half. The extra-point kick by Dayton Roberts was no good.
The Tornadoes’ defense got an interception from Williams on the ensuing series, but the Bradford offense, which lost 9 yards on two sacks, went three-and-out.
McKenzie was sacked six times in all for a total loss of 35 yards.
Buchholz, on the final drive of the half, was able to pick up first downs on pass plays of 11 and 15 yards. A pass-interference penalty as time expired wiped out an interception by Shanks and gave the Bobcats another first down and one more play. Giunta kicked a 44-yard field goal to send the visitors into halftime leading 17-6.
A 34-yard pass play helped set up another field goal for Giunta on the Bobcats’ first drive of the second half. Giunta was good from 46 yards out, putting Buchholz up 20-6 at the 7:10 mark of the third quarter.
On Bradford’s second drive of the half, Cummings and Shanks caught passes for gains of 28 and 19 yards, respectively, as the Tornadoes moved from their own 30 to the Buchholz 23. After running back Willie Pollard was tackled for a 2-yard loss, McKenzie threw a 25-yard touchdown pass to Shanks with 4:23 to play in the third quarter. Roberts added the PAT to make the score 20-13.
Shanks led Bradford with three receptions for 61 yards, while Cummings had three catches for 51 yards. Clark caught two passes for 36 yards.
McKenzie threw incompletions on his first three pass attempts, but finished 10 of 15 for 157 yards.
Bradford’s offense had minus-7 yards rushing (factoring in sacks) before the starters exited the game. Gino Addison got the ground game going as he ripped off a 38-yard run as part of a three-play, 70-yard scoring drive that was capped by Hankerson’s 26-yard touchdown run with 34 seconds left in the third quarter. The PAT was no good, leaving Bradford trailing 20-19.
On their next possession, the Tornadoes drove 60 yards for the game’s final score. Brian Cliffin and Hankerson picked up first downs on runs of 19 and 15 yards, respectively. A 10-yard run by Cliffin resulted in first down at the Buchholz 15-yard line. Three plays later, Bradford converted on a fourth-down play when Reese Wainwright caught a 6-yard pass from Hankerson, setting up first-and-goal from the 4. Hankerson eventually scored on a 3-yard run with 3:55 to play. Addison had a successful run on the conversion attempt.
Hankerson finished with 44 yards on three carries, while Addison had 43 yards on three carries. Cliffin added 32 yards on four carries.
Rodgers said trophies aren’t won in May, but he added that trophies also aren’t lost in May. Spring games don’t make or break the season to come, but they are beneficial.
“We needed to put stuff on film so we can correct it,” Rodgers said, adding, “We know we’ve got some talented guys coming back, but we had so many kids (against Buchholz) who had never played in this atmosphere before.”
