Patriots Defense Impressive in Spring Win

For the third year, the Pinellas Park High School Patriots football team beat Springstead, by a score of 22-0.

No one was more excited than Patriots coach Kenny Crawford.

"That's a hit, that's a shutout," Crawford said, beaming. "The kids played hard. We had some circumstances that made things tougher, and the kids overcame them and did a good job, a great job."

The format at this game was varsity players in the first half and junior varsity players in the second half. The Patriots varsity won 14-0.

Like any game, it's more than just the score. The thing that made Crawford giddy was the type of team the Patriots played.

Springstead, a playoff team, uses a very complex triple-option offense. It's uncommon and hard to defend. Just a little too much overpursuit by a defender and the play busts wide open for an offense. The defense must be highly disciplined.

The Patriots came through with flying colors, especially with limited time preparing for that offense.

"The first three weeks of (spring) practice we just worked on fundamentals," Crawford said. "The fourth week we do a mock game week practice, so we only had four practices to prepare for Springstead's offense."

It's an incredible feat for a defense, many with first-time starters and substitutes, to be disciplined enough on a handful of practices against a veteran playoff team to keep that team off the scoreboard.

"We expected to play well on defense, but we had to be very consistent and we had to make sure everyone was in their right spots," Crawford said. "We had a lot of new faces on the field, and for the defense to come out like that, it was just a great job."

Among the players Crawford lauded were Justin Dorsey and Iman Smith at middle linebacker and free safety Juquan Clark.

“He did a great job in there and came up big and made some big hits,” Crawford said.

But it wasn’t just defenders who played well. Because of injuries and absences, the Patriots had to start third-string quarterback Art Nagle, who surprised Crawford.

“He did a great job,” Crawford said. “He wasn’t comfortable throwing – we threw only one pass – but he operated the offense really well and did a good job.”

Marquis Samuel, who is being recruited by a number of strong academic schools including the U.S. Naval Academy and The Citadel, led the Patriots on the ground with 131 yards and a touchdown on 12 carries.