CORAL SPRINGS – Following the most successful football season in school history, the Coral Springs Charter Panthers had high expectations for their jamboree spring game, hosting the visiting Coral Glades Jaguars and the Keys Gate Charter Knights.
The Panthers which, went undefeated in the 2015-2016 season took to the spring jamboree looking on toward a slew of underclassmen to step up to fill the void left by a massive graduating class from the team.
KEYS GATE CHARTER 21, CORAL SPRINGS CHARTER 0
In the first game of the jamboree, the Panthers faced off against the Knights. Keys Gate took the ball on their own 30-yard line to begin the game, as there were no kickoffs or kick returns allowed in the spring game. The Knights high caliber offense set the tone for the game early, handing the ball off to Jahbrille Campbell on the first play of the game, who broke off for a first down.
A solid gain on a toss to the left to Ceddrick Lester mixed with encroachment against the defense set up the Knights in the red zone. Quarterback Eddie Evans took advantage of his team’s field position and found receiver Angelo Gonzalez in the end zone for six.
Panthers’ junior running back, Michael Carrion, shouldered much of the offensive load in the game, but was unable to find the end zone, although he did pick up many first downs after he had shed multiple defenders through out the evening.
Later in the game, Keys Gate quarterback Eddie Evans made some plays on the ground to pick up a few first downs. However, Evans did not lose sight of his core of quick and tall receivers, hitting Isaac Lipscomb on a cross route and again connected with Gonzalez for a 40-yard gain, in which the initial gain was reduced in half following a block in the back penalty.
With the first quarter drawing to a close, it appeared that the Panthers were on their way to tying up the game as the threatened to score deep in Knights territory.
Keys Gates’ Deandre Wynter had other plans, however.
Wynter proceeded to jumped a route which allowed him to picked off Jordan Sepulveda’s pass and take it to the other way for a touchdown to extend the lead to 14-0 after the PAT.
The pace of the game slowed down considerably in the second quarter, but the Knights did find the end zone once more to extend their lead to 21 points when Knights workhorse Jahbrille Campbell found the end zone after several holding calls in the end zone negated several would-be touchdowns.
Running back Michael Carrion was the one athlete to standout for the Panthers, who led the team in rushing yards and carried many Keys Gate defenders with him for first downs.
In the end, Angelo Gonzalez proved to be too much for the Coral Springs Charter secondary and Campbell’s ground attack, complemented by Evans’ plays on the ground, gave the Panthers defensive line a headache all night, with Keys Gate Charter walking away from the first part of the Jamboree with a 21-0 win.
PHOTO GALLERY: Spring Football: Coral Springs Charter Jamboree
KEYS GATE CHARTER 10, CORAL GLADES 0
In the second game of the jamboree, Coral Glades took on Keys Gate Charter.
With this being head coach Christian Baldwin’s first spring with the team after taking over last fall who lead the Jaguars to the Gold Coast Football Conference playoffs, changes were bound to happen as well.
As such the Jaguars introduced a new defense, new offense and new quarterback during the jamboree, marking a new era was starting for Coral Glades football.
Sophomore Cameron Brooks, who has transferred from rival school J.P. Taravella earlier in the year, took his first snap in black and teal for the Jaguars.
However, the new looks wouldn’t look favorable at first for Coral Glades as Keys Gate Charter picked up where they left off in the first half of the jamboree.
The Knights got things started quickly, handing the ball off to Campbell and getting out of the way. After getting a feel for the Knights’ offense, the Jaguars were able to key in on the running game and force a punt.
Coral Glades took over on their own 20 and were unable to do much with the ball either. Brooks was able to pick up a few yards on the ground after being rushed, but ultimately the Jaguars were forced to punt.
Keys Gate got to work on their second possession after the Coral Glades punt and was able to make multiple third down conversions on their march towards the endzone. On a crucial third-and-long, the Jaguars’ secondary broke up a pass to Evans’ favorite target, Gonzalez, setting up fourth down. Kicker Nikolas Venegas split the uprights to give the Knights a 3-0 lead.
Coral Glades could not get anything going on the ground and Brooks had little to no time to set up in the pocket to find his receivers during their second possession of the half.
Early in the second quarter, Gonzalez rose up on the sideline to grab Evan’s high throw, out-jumping the Jaguars’ cornerback, and was able to stroll into the end zone to put his team up 10-0 after the successful PAT.
Brooks was able to draw the trigger happy Knights’ defensive line off sides multiple times throughout the course of the game with the hard count, but a lack of protection affected his production. Two times he had WR Donovan Samuels Jr. streaking down the sideline and two times he overthrew him for would-be touchdowns.
Late in the second quarter Bent put together some solid runs, but it was too little too late and the Jaguars fell to Keys Gate 10-0.
“I thought the team performed well for our first time together. We had a few kinks that we can correct but aside from that I was happy with the performance. We’ve come a long way but we still have a lot more to improve,” sophomore Cameron Brooks said.
CORAL SPRINGS CHARTER 7, CORAL GLADES 0
In the final half of the jamboree, Coral Glades met the Coral Springs Charter Panthers. Despite both teams having already played one half of football, there was little offense in the game.
Apart from a score on the ground late in the game from Charter, there was relatively no offense.
Both Brooks and Sepulveda had much more time in the pocket in this game rather than in their respective games against the swarming Keys Gate defense. Despite that extra time, there were not many more complete passes in the game.
Sepulveda took after Evans’ attack and made many plays on the ground in this one, especially late in the game.
A pass to freshman Jordan Fleurival near the endzone set up the only score of the game, following a long drive by the Panthers.
TAKEAWAYS
– After losing many starters on both sides of the ball, it is expected that there would be a learning curve for Coral Springs Charter during the jamboree. The team has all summer to work out the kinks to perfect their game for the Friday night lights and will use the game from the jamborees in stride to improve upon that.
– The Knights’ offense did not let up all night and shutout both teams that they faced. As for Coral Glades, their defense certainly outplayed their offense, but the team is still confident that they can work out the issues before the fall.
– Keys Gate shined in this jamboree, but both Coral Springs teams now know what they have to work on this summer to prepare for the regular season. With new quarterbacks for both Coral Glades and Coral Springs Charter, the best thing right now is repetitions, and they are both sure to get a lot of reps in anticipation of fall.
