Roundup: George Jenkins, Lakeland, Fort Meade win in routs plus more highlights from Polk

LAKELAND — George Jenkins made sure that their first game played without their longtime offensive coordinator was a success.

Quarterback Sincere Burroughs accounted for four touchdowns as George Jenkins paid tribute to recently departed coach Jerry May with a 40-14 victory over Discovery on Friday night.

Before the game George Jenkins held a ceremony to name the field at Veterans Stadium after May for this season only. May, who had coached several sports at Jenkins for more than 20 years, passed away in July.

May's family was in attendance and got quite a showing from the Eagles (1-0).

Burroughs scored twice on the ground and twice through the air, racking up 78 yards rushing and 122 yards passing.

Running back Amare Minggia had 61 yards and a touchdown, and also returned an interception 78 yards as the Eagles built a big early lead.

Wide receivers Austin Fitz and Blaine Miller caught touchdown passes. Fitz led the Eagles with 90 yards on five catches.

Defensively Antonio Judkins picked up two sacks and five tackles for loss.

"After the disappointment of not being able to finish the classic game, the kids came out with a fire," George Jenkins head coach Paul Freeman said. " We turned it up this week. We went live all week, every practice session paid off tonight. Our defense played phenomenal and gave us a short field all night. There was a lot of emotion tonight and the kids responded well."

Lakeland 42, Clearwater 6

CLEARWATER — Lakeland looked like, well, Lakeland on Friday.

The Dreadnaughts routed Clearwater 42-6 in the season opener for both teams at Jack White Stadium and racked up 42-unanswered points after the Tornadoes took an early 6-0 lead.

“I think the defense could be our strength this year. We have some good players there,” Lakeland head coach Bill Castle said. “Our defense came to play.”

Lakeland junior running back D’Marius Rucker came to do everything else, he rushed for three touchdowns on runs of 21, 53 and 15 yards during the onslaught and finished with 101 yards.

“It was a pretty fun game,” Rucker said. “I came out here with something to prove. I really got stepped on last year and I just figured this is my year. I was just having fun with my O-line throwing great blocks.”

Clearwater scored first on a 25-yard running-back pass from Jaylen White to senior wideout Justin Glenn at the 10:22 mark of the first quarter. The point-after attempt was blocked.

“It was something we threw in just to get the momentum going and it really did,” said Clearwater head coach Thor Jozwiak, who played high school football at Lake Region, graduating in 2011. “To come out on the first drive and get a touchdown, that was a spark. We had practiced it all week long, and then it was pure execution.”

Lakeland answered on its ensuing possession with a hand-off pass for a touchdown when wideout Daidren Zipperer hit wideout Tyler Williams on a 40-yard scoring strike to give the Dreadnaughts a 7-6 lead with 8:33 remaining in the first.

“It was kind of in the back of my mind to set that up,” Castle said. “I thought if we got good field position we might catch them napping, but actually they didn’t even take the bait. They had good coverage on the play. Tyler just made a great play and Zipperer made a great play throwing it to him.”

Lakeland scored again in the first quarter when senior quarterback Zach Pleuss hit junior tight end Omari Mixon with a 20-yard touchdown pass. Pleuss finished the game 8-of-15 for 95 yards with two touchdown passes, the second, a 4-yarder to Zipperer right at the halftime buzzer gave Lakeland a commanding 35-6 lead.

In between, Rucker put on a rushing exhibition. His 53-yarder touchdown run was a nifty zig-zag outburst where he broke several tackles along the way. His third score in the third quarter instituted a running clock with 10:18 left.

Lakeland hosts Largo next week at Bryant Stadium while Clearwater travels to St. Petersburg Southeast.

“Largo is traditionally in the playoffs, so we expect a tough game with them,” Castle said.

Lake Gibson 28, East Lake 20

LAKELAND — Lake Gibson head coach Rich Pringle didn't like a lot of what he saw from the Braves on Friday, but the end result saw his team start the year with a win.

Fentrell Graham had two rushing touchdowns (68 and 5) and Lake Gibson's defense held on late to take care of East Lake at Virgil Ramage Stadium.

"We had a lot of jitters and maybe a lot of distractions with our pep rally earlier in the day," Pringle said. "It was a little hard to get them refocused. I have to do a better job to get them focused and prepared no matter what we run into during the day. We had a lot of alignment issues on defense. When you're playing a team that runs like they do it's a good way to get beat. We're getting there."

Fort Meade 49, Hardee 28

FORT MEADE — The Miners' defense forced three turnovers and the offense built a 35-6 lead going into halftime to pick up a season-opening win over Hardee.

Despite the big win Fort Meade head coach Jemalle Cornelius knows he has some things to work on moving forward.

We started off pretty well, but they came out and played well in the second half," he said. "They kept getting within two scores, but we created some turnovers. Any time you can take the ball away you can win. We have some things to clean up. We turned the ball over twice and had some penalties. We want to keep getting better every week."

Miners quarterback Carson Montsdeoca threw three touchdown passes, hitting Jamarion Davis, Josh Porter and Josiah Lozano.

Davis also had a rushing touchdown on the night, as did RJ Cabrera.

Omari Russell scored on an interception return as well for Fort Meade (1-0).

All Saints 48, Ocala Christian 0

WINTER HAVEN — All Saints (1-0) was dominant on both sides of the ball in a season-opening shutout victory at Jahna Field.

Bo Bell forced three turnovers and returned two for touchdowns. Bell had two interceptions and a fumble recovery, taking back one of the picks and the fumble for a score.

On offense, quarterback Daunte Giles ran for 120 yards on seven carries with three touchdowns. Giles also hit Andrew Foppe for a 29-yard touchdown reception.

"I'm super proud of my guys," All Saints head coach Stuart Weiss said. "We have a small roster but we have a lot of heart. Our defense led the way. Everything was set up off of our defense. I think we're going to have a good season, but there's still a long way to go."

Martin County 35, Bartow 7

BARTOW — The Yellow Jackets had a tough assignment in their season opener as they fell to the Tigers on Friday night.

Bartow turned the ball over five times, but the most costly came right before the half. Down 14-0, the Yellow Jackets fumbled at their own 1-yard line right before the half and the Tigers took advantage to make it 21-0.

"We were our own worst enemy tonight," Bartow head coach Richard Tate said. "Any time we built some momentum we'd get a big penalty or we'd turn the ball over. We had five turnovers. You're not going to beat anyone like that."

Kaleef Valentine had the only Bartow score on a quarterback sneak.

Calvary Christian 35, Victory Christian 3

CLEARWATER — Joel McGrath hit a 42-yard field goal for Victory Christian's only points on the night in a tough loss to Calvary Christian.

OTHER SCORES

Ridge 28, Celebration 14

Lake Wales 33, Zephyrhills 0

Northside Christian 21, A'Kelynn's Angels 0

Lake Highland Prep 45, Tenoroc 0

This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Roundup: George Jenkins, Lakeland, Fort Meade win in routs plus more highlights from Polk