First Coast Varsity Weekly: Bartram Trail cornerback Sharif Denson leading the way in 2022

With ESPN300 quarterback Riley Trujillo running the show and budding stars Laython Biddle and Nico Weiss giving a glimpse at the future, there’s still one player that’s likely going to have a direct hand in the success of Bartram Trail football.

Sharif Denson.

The four-star rated Gators commit led Bartram onto the field, literally, then shut down an entire sector of it during Friday night's 40-0 kickoff classic shutout of Riverside. Riverside didn’t pass in his direction during the opening half. They tried to find other avenues of success but ran into problems with the rest of the Bartram defense.

A poor snap and pick-six gave the Bears a comfy lead in the first quarter, and that was before the Bears’ offense even made its first appearance of the night.

As Denson dropped back routinely with no action coming his way, his coaches found a way to get him involved. They dialed up a cornerback blitz and sacked Riverside, showing off the Super 11 selection's versatility.

Super 11 profile: Bartram Trail cornerback Sharif Denson follows familiar path to Gainesville

Denson even made appearances on offense during the first half, largely as a decoy, but it wouldn’t be surprising if he saw targets as the season evolves.

He donned gloves with the University of Alabama logo printed on them — a nod to the offer he received from Tuscaloosa in early August — but remains locked in with the Gators.

“They’ve been hitting me up, they told me good luck before the game and have been keeping in contact with me to make sure fall camp is all good,” he said on the Alabama coaching staff. “We’re going to see. We’re just going to keep it going until signing day.”

Regardless of the decision coming in December, Denson and the Bears are going to be a long outing for any opponent this season.

Trinity, Parker in tight contest

Four years ago, Trinity Christian hammered Parker in a district football contest, 44-0. When the teams met Friday, Trinity's varsity squad needed Seth Bialek's extra point to pull out the week's narrowest kickoff classic victory, 7-6.

What changed? Safe to say the difference isn't from Trinity, coming off consecutive Florida High School Athletic Association championships.

Instead, Parker issued the latest demonstration of its growth, particularly on the defensive side, where they won battles at the line of scrimmage to block up the running lanes for Conqueror rushers Treyaun Webb (six carries, 23 yards) and Darnell Rogers (four carries, 14 yards).

Super 11 profile: Treyaun Webb's legacy in Jacksonville is unfinished ahead of his senior season

Drawing rave reviews for Parker were linebackers Clifton Richardson, who sacked Trinity quarterback Colin Hurley twice and stuffed Webb for a loss of 5 yards on a fourth down, and Lashun Mays. Middle linebacker Mays transferred to Parker from Sellersburg (Ind.) Silver Creek, where he rushed for 12 touchdowns on offense as a sophomore and earned first-team Mid-South Conference honors in the last two years.

Despite Parker's pressure, sophomore Hurley kept the football away from trouble to lead victorious Trinity, completing 10 of 17 passes for 117 yards and notching the Conquerors' touchdown on a 6-yard rush after he fired a 48-yard strike to receiver Tyrone Summerall.

'There's a plan': Inside the life of highly touted Class of 2025 quarterback Colin Hurley

Best of the Best: Top quarterbacks in Northeast Florida ahead of the 2022 season

Bullard impresses for Fletcher

Which player is ready to become Northeast Florida's next star kick returner?

Maybe it's time to add Fletcher's Ronald (Pop) Bullard to a list that already includes the likes of Parker's C.J. Dorsey, Westside's Antwon McCrae and Columbia's Tray Tolliver.

Bullard electrified the Jack Taylor Stadium crowd in the second quarter of Friday's kickoff classic against Creekside, grabbing a kickoff and zigzagging through the Knights' coverage on the way to a 95-yard touchdown.

Also a top performer on the defensive side of the ball at cornerback, Bullard committed in June to Campbell.

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Knights' Bradshaw on fire in preseason

Taylor Bradshaw grabbed a screen pass in the right flat, juked past a defender and galloped 75 yards to the end zone.

That's a reminder to the Northeast Florida football world: One of the area's most productive receivers from last year isn't letting up in 2021.

The Oakleaf senior was the star of the show in Thursday night's jamboree against Baldwin and Sandalwood, starting with his touchdown catch on the first snap of Jacksonville's first preseason game of 2022.

Bradshaw later followed with an equally impressive score a quarter later, catching a pass from quarterback Drew Ammon and rocketing through the Baldwin secondary for another TD.

With 2021 state receiving leader Dom Henry from Nease now across the country as a BYU freshman, Bradshaw is among two returning Northeast Florida players to surpass 800 receiving yards last year. He racked up 804 last fall as a junior, with 47 receptions and eight touchdowns.

Winning ways ingrained for Bolles, Fordham

The repetition. The determination. The attention to detail.

Now entering his senior year as a rare four-year starter on the Bolles offensive line, Cooper Fordham knows the routine for a machine that never seems to stop.

"Keep doing it over and over," Fordham said at this year's High School Media Day presented by Baker's Sports and Jaguars Prep, "and eventually, it's going to happen."

Continuity in the trenches, and elsewhere, keeps Bulldog hopes high entering a new season in District 2-2M even after the graduation of star running back Kade Frew. 

Four of Bolles' offensive linemen — Iowa State commit Brendan Black, plus Fordham, John Antolik and James Zebroski, a people-squashing quartet amounting to 1,158 pounds — have already received college football offers. The varsity unit stampeded Orange Park in Friday's kickoff classic with 27 second-quarter points on the way to a 41-13 win.

Fordham, already a part of a pair of state finalist teams going back to Bolles' Class 4A final against Miami Booker T. Washington in 2019, is ready to put those lessons to work for his final year in orange and blue.

"I've learned a lot of technique from my coaches, and really learning the offense has really helped me out a lot over the four years," Fordham said.

Best of the Best: Top offensive linemen in Northeast Florida ahead of the 2022 season

Raines' playmaker search pays off

A 57-yard touchdown run has a way of clearing up any team's search for playmakers.

Raines running back Mark Miller achieved that highlight, and staked a claim for serious playing time in the process, during Friday night's 21-7 victory over Tallahassee Godby.

Although the names are different this year, Raines head coach Donovan Masline is encouraged by the backfield newcomers as they gear up for an all-Northside district against rival Ribault and Jackson. He also praised the performance of junior Kyle Gilyard following the team's preseason scrimmage.

"The biggest thing is the new faces coming in, trying to find their niche and how they can help the program," Masline said.

This year, Raines must replace Quincy Burroughs, its top receiver, now at Cincinnati; Kareem Burke, the first Raines player ever to gain 1,000 yards both rushing and receiving, now at Florida A&M; and both of last year's quarterbacks, Carleton Butler and Reshawn Latimer.

Offensive renovation on that scale is unfamiliar for the Vikings, four years removed from their back-to-back Florida High School Athletic Association titles in 2017 and 2018.

But, as usual, Raines' cupboard is far from bare. They return one experienced receiver in senior Ta'darius Devoe (15 catches, 156 yards, two touchdowns in 2021) and add several players who have already caught Masline's eye in preseason, including some freshmen.

"Now, it's just a matter of putting [the offense] against another color jersey and getting those jitters out early, and playing some real good Raines football," Masline said.

Early turnarounds for Ridgeview, Stanton?

Preseason or not, it isn't every day that a team that just finished 1-9 knocks off an opponent coming off a 10-2 year.

So Chris Baptiste's performance in Friday night's kickoff classic brought a little extra excitement for Ridgeview, a 20-16 victor over Clay County foe Keystone Heights.

The senior scored two defensive touchdowns, a fumble recovery and an interception return, to spark the Panthers' victory. Ridgeview had struggled to a one-win campaign in 2021, but enters Week 1 on an optimistic note.

They weren't the only area team savoring the unfamiliar feeling of victory.

Stanton, 0-10 last season, rolled to a 42-6 win over visiting Eagle's View. The Blue Devils surpassed their point total from the entirety of the 2021 regular season, when they scored only 23.

Business as usual for Episcopal

It's not every preseason that a high school team is only the second-most prominent football team training on its own property.

But for Episcopal football, in an on-the-field sense, this summer isn't that far from the normal routine.

"For the most part, it's business as usual for us," Eagles head coach Marcus Wells said.

As the NFL's Jaguars wrap up training camp at Episcopal's Knight Sports Complex, the franchise's home away from home during the construction of the Miller Electric Center near TIAA Bank Field, the high school Eagles have spent the first three weeks of preseason working out inside their traditional home field at Jangro Stadium.

While it may be business as usual from a procedural standpoint, changes could be on the way for the offense at Episcopal, which finished 6-5 last year and qualified for the Class 3A playoffs. After the graduation of last year's leading running backs, Ershod Jasey and Kirk Reed, the Eagles' returning standouts are now in the passing department, quarterback Joe Wiesner and receiver Corey Scott. Scott's 866 receiving yards led all returning Jacksonville players in 2021.

"We're still trying to find our identity a little bit with the amount of seniors we lost last year," Wells said. "But this group works hard. They worked hard all spring and summer, so I'm looking forward to seeing the fruits of our labor pay off."

Speedy adjustment for Baldwin

In the space of a few hours, Baldwin went from zero preseason football opponents to two.

And whatever the scores, in some ways, an 0-2 night was better than no football at all.

Baldwin hadn't yet found a preseason game to schedule until they got the opportunity to join Oakleaf and Sandalwood in an on-the-fly jamboree, which turned into a marathon Thursday night at Dennis Bartley Field with each school playing four quarters. That's six quarters of football in all.

So speedily was the game arranged that Duval County Public Schools didn't even list Baldwin as a participant the morning of the game.

Though the night ended in the loss column, head coach Robert Shields got the chance to assess where his team stands against opponents from much larger schools. Baldwin enjoyed some highlights, too, particularly when two-way back Cortez Martinez dragged five Oakleaf defenders for a first-down rush.

A few teams weren't as lucky. Palatka's kickoff classic against Mount Dora was wiped out by weather, as was Beachside's scheduled jamboree against New Smyrna Beach and Titusville. The Barracudas will make their on-field fall debut Friday night against Tocoi Creek.

Around the area

Fleming Island held a ceremony Friday night to rename its stadium Randy Warren Stadium. Warren, who died in 2019, served as Fleming Island's inaugural athletic director from 2003 to 2017, and had previously worked at Bishop Kenny and Orange Park. ... Bolles fullback Jake Hogan committed to Trinity College (Conn.) football. ... Bartram Trail outfielder Brody DeLamielleure flipped his commitment from Notre Dame to Florida State baseball. ... Ridgeview shortstop Billy Girgis committed to FSCJ baseball. ... Middleburg hired former Ridgeview softball coach Casey Thompson as its new athletic director, after Jay Stilianou announced his departure for a different administrative role. Thompson had led the Ridgeview softball program for four seasons, advancing to the Florida High School Athletic Association final four in 2019 and 2021. ... St. Johns Country Day senior guard Taliah Scott won her latest national 3-point competition at the Slam Summer Classic in New York City.

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: High school football 2022 kickoff: Sharif Denson stars for Bartram Trail