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Spring football: Anclote 63, Springstead 32

 
Published May 22, 2015

At Springstead

Score

Anclote 63, Springstead 32

Spring game-breakers: Anclote showed its potential Thursday night against the strength of the Springstead program. Rising junior running back Braxton Johnson, who led the Sharks with 733 yards and three touchdowns on the ground last season, carried the ball 20 times for 178 yards and two touchdowns, including an 80-yard run in the fourth quarter in which he shook off multiple Springstead tacklers in the open field. The young tailback showed the moves that make him a legit 1,000-yard threat this upcoming fall. …If his past three outings are any indication, Springstead rising junior quarterback Jordan Wright will be given more freedom to pass than any Eagles signal caller since James Mahla. After throwing for more than 100 yards in each of the last two games in 2014, he threw two touchdowns in the first half Thursday and finished 11-of-18 with 181 yards. His two interceptions came when he was pressing to bring the Eagles back in the second half. …Anclote quarterback Brandon Vinkler did not experience victory last season as the starter, but he showed a will to win like no other on the field Thursday. The rising junior threw for 129 yards on 11-of-20 passing with one touchdown and no interceptions. He also ran for 47 yards and two touchdowns. On defense, he returned an interception from his linebacker position 42 yards for another score. …Anclote defensive end Denver Eldredge recovered two fumbles and had a sack despite being questionable heading into the game because of a broken rib.

Did you know? Because of their lack of depth, the Sharks went to a no-huddle offense that paid immediate dividends. …Vinkler ran for only 40 yards and one touchdown all of last season before eclipsing those totals in only one game. …The Sharks didn't score their 63rd point of the year until Week 7 last season in a 50-24 loss to Gulf. …Although it was only an exhibition this time, Springstead hadn't surrendered more than 50 points in one game since giving up 53 to Ridgewood in 2006.

Audible 1: "I never in my wildest dreams ever thought we could score 63 points against (Springstead). That is always a well-coached football team, and we always expect to walk out of a game knowing what we're made of when we play them." — Anclote coach Matt Wicks

Audible 2: "In football you learn more from a loss than you do from a win. We will learn more from (this game) than we would have if we won. We're going to watch film (Friday) and try to move on and improve." — Springstead coach Mike Garofano