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Branford receiver Cade Coker scored a touchdown against Bell during the teams’ spring game Monday night. (JAMIE WACHTER/Lake City Reporter)
BRANFORD — An earlier start to the night sparked Branford to a quick start on the field Monday night.
An accident that prevented Hamilton County from taking part in the spring jamboree at Cleve Sikes Field at Buccaneer Stadium caused Branford to take part in the opening kick.
The Buccaneers didn’t waste much time putting rival Bell away. Branford forced turnovers on the Bulldogs’ first two possessions, including returning one for a touchdown, and scored on four of its five first-half possessions to roll past Bell 49-14, 35-0 in the three varsity quarters.
“We knew there pretty early we could be productive with about anything in the playbook,” Branford coach Tim Clark said.
With that full playbook at their disposal, the Bucs scored quickly and often. The longest scoring drive of the first half, when they opened up the 35-0 lead, was three plays.
It took Branford just two plays to take the lead after Bodhi White recovered a Bell fumble on the Bulldog 11. After Adrik Miller was just out of bounds on the home side of the end zone while catching a Kyson Johnson pass, White raced untouched around the right side to put the Bucs up for good with 5:31 left in the first.
Three plays later, Branford’s lead double when Caden Coker intercepted Hayden Brown’s pass and raced 25 yards for a score.
“Any time you score on defense, especially early, it’s so devastating for their offensive game plan,” Clark said of his opportunistic defense that limited Bell to minus-8 yards through three quarters. The Bulldogs had 1 yard passing as Brown completed 3 of 8 attempts. Bell had minus-9 yards rushing on 15 attempts.
“They’re not a big-play offense. It’s tougher for them to catch up when they get in a hole.
“It was very, very precise on defense, in my opinion, for a completely new system this spring.”
The Bucs’ longest scoring drive came on its next possession as they covered 54 yards in three plays. After White raced up the middle for 28 before getting tripped up, Johnson and Miller connected for 12 and Coker then raced around the right end for the final 12 and the 21-0 lead. Coker also connected on all seven Branford extra points. Coker, who is transitioning to the slot after playing mostly in the backfield in his career, hauled in two passes for 19 yards to go along with two carries for 30 yards and two touchdowns.
Midway through the second, Branford used another short field — this one set up by a defense that three times stuffed Bell behind the line forcing a punt on 4th-and-24 from the Bulldogs’ own 3 –—to stretch the lead to 28-0. On the first play of the possession, Johnson found a wide-open Brice Criggall down the right sideline for a 36-yard touchdown. Johnson completed 10 of 18 passes for 122 yards and one touchdown, connecting with six different receivers, none hauling in more than two passes.
“Kyson was on the money tonight, he threw dimes,” Clark said, noting the Bucs had a couple drops among the incompletions.
“We had the opportunity to experiment with some guys a little bit and, man, every one of them played well with what we asked them to do.”
Taking over near midfield with 1:38 left in the half, Branford needed just three plays and 35 seconds to go ahead 35-0. Johnson connected with Miller and then Coker to set up an 18-yard Coker scoring scamper.
Branford added touchdowns in the fourth quarter on runs of 21 and 49 yards from quarterback Austin Malaguti. Those scores were sandwiched around a 65-yard Bell touchdown from Connor Hastings and a fumble return for a score from Zack Powell.
TROJANS DERAILED EN ROUTE TO CONTEST
Hamilton County’s bus was involved in an accident on the way to Branford on Monday afternoon, leading to HCHS canceling the Trojans’ participation in the jamboree.
According to a press release from the school, the players and coaches all “appear to be fine” but the decision to cancel was made as a “precautionary measure.”
“Just praying for Hamilton’s program,” Clark said. “(HCHS coach Kirkland Mitchell) told me that everybody is OK and hope over the next few days that proves to be the case.
“I just hate it for them.”