Story
Palm Beach Gardens 54, Jupiter 14: Gators rush for 305 yards against Warriors
Friday, September 23, 2011
by
Matt Porter
Jupiter coach Charlie Persson knows a good team when he sees one.
"That's the best (Palm Beach Gardens) team I've seen since their (2005) state title team," Persson said. "They might be better than Dwyer."
While it's too early to weigh them against past champions, these Gators are definitely an area heavyweight. They run the ball better than any team in the area, which was clear after a never-in-doubt 54-14 win over rival Jupiter on Friday night.
Gardens (3-1) racked up 305 yards and six touchdowns on the ground, keeping the chain gang busy on long drives and putting the hammer down after turnovers by Jupiter (1-3).
"It's the line," senior running back Roshard Burney said. "They just block, block, block."
Gators linemen deserve credit. On running plays, they sprang from their stances and bullied Jupiter defenders. But Burney and senior Alex Clark stole the show, opening the game by carrying six times each on a 14-play, 4:56 drive that set the game's tone.
All but one play was on the ground. Gardens kept rolling, opening to a 28-6 halftime lead and turning on a running clock in the second half.
In all, Burney carried 21 times for 116 yards and three touchdowns, the third coming after a drive in which he stiff-armed Jupiter's Ray Tutella midway through a 13-yard gain, inciting some of the 150 or so visiting fans to chant, "Burney, Burney."
Clark carried 11 times for 125 yards and a touchdown, a brilliant 42-yarder. With less than 30 seconds left in the first quarter, Clark took a direct snap, paused a moment as the hole opened and was gone.
"The creases that they make, that's it. That's all me and Roshard need," Clark said.
It wasn't just the running game. Gardens' defensive line dominated, sacking Warriors quarterback Tyler Cameron seven times, forcing two fumbles and causing him to throw an interception. Cameron completed 11 of 23 passes for 168 yards. Jupiter's offense came from Cameron's touchdown passes to Charlie Giles and Collier Logan (seven catches, 84 yards).
With Jupiter trying desperately to stop the run, Gardens quarterback J.P. Caruso was 7-of-10 for 126 yards and a touchdown pass - a 40-yarder to Kyle Cameron that made it 35-6.
In the second half, the Gators converted turnovers into touchdowns. Senior Peter Sylvain returned a blocked punt 10 yards for a score. With about three minutes left in the game, Gators senior Noah Harris intercepted Cameron, and junior Jermaine Carn ran in an 11-yard TD.
Gardens coach Chris Davis said it feels good to start the season 3-1, but "more importantly, we're 1-0 in our stinking district for the first time in a long time. That's a great feeling."
With a running game like this, the best times appear to be yet to come.
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User Comments:
powder pufffs commented on September 24, 2011 at 2:32 a.m.: report abuse
lets see...coach p. says it was a great john i. leonard team we played,,,,great dwyer team...one of the best gardens teams ever...will you ever take responsibility for a lousy program? You can not win w/o strong line play and jupiter does not have one. Oh yea...that may mean a good weight program and since ,as a parent. i ve been through it for 6x years they don t have one.Hall of fame coach...even a blind squrrel can find a nut 2x--3x times a year
just saying commented on September 24, 2011 at 4:59 a.m.: report abuse
not to add insult to injury but the correct score was 55-14
just saying commented on September 24, 2011 at 4:59 a.m.: report abuse
not to add insult to injury but the correct score was 55-14
Enough Already commented on September 24, 2011 at 7:55 a.m.: report abuse
Seriously, when is coach P retiring? I graduated JHS in the mid 80's and he was TERRIBLE then. ENOUGH ALREADY!!!
Jupiter Fan commented on September 24, 2011 at 8:26 a.m.: report abuse
Charlie must have compromising photographs of some one at the school. He needs to GO! I thought he was a defensive "GENIUS". Maybe at chess but not at football.This is embarassing and someone with authority needs to step up and do something about this before our kids figure out that they can enter Dwyer through their ROTC or Business programs.........can you blame them?
skip commented on September 24, 2011 at 8:59 a.m.: report abuse
Matt who are the boys on Gardens O-Line??
Gators commented on September 24, 2011 at 9:31 a.m.: report abuse
Thanks Skip. While the Gators have three great running backs and a solid young QB, the offensive line has been AWESOME. I can name two of the linemen - Avery Young and Nick Hoffman. Who are the other three? They are the unsung hero's.
Last night we found the Gators have receivers this year too. Beautiful pass by J.P. Caruso and a great catch by Frank Brown with a Warrior DB right there.
I have seen peanut gallery comments in the past about Coach Chris Davis. While in the Gardens swamp, Davis and his talented staff of coaches have quietly built a solid program. This has happened inspite of two to three players transferring to the D-Block each year.
True character kids like Young and Clark have proven - stay at your school and build a winner.
Great job Gators!!!!
P.S.
The correct score from last night should have been 55-14.
Drummer commented on September 24, 2011 at 10:16 a.m.: report abuse
I don't know about you all, I was there to see something great -The Band! They were awesome! Tells you something. A new coach, even from JTAA would do better. I've watched the talent on the football team grow up and they deserve a better coach. Someone who coaches, teaches, adapts, and instills a winning attitude in the players. The players are good. They just need someone to lead with good plans, plays, and system adaptation when the original plan is not working. Good coaches do this. Bad coaches just ruin the reputation of a very good school. To other struggling schools, Jupiter is the game they look forward to for an uplifting win. Does the school administration want to continue this line of reputation degradation?
Monique Jones commented on September 24, 2011 at 11:48 a.m.: report abuse
Correction: Alex Clark made two touchdowns last night. GREAT JOB GATORS!!!!!!
GATOR FAN commented on September 24, 2011 at 12:13 p.m.: report abuse
Skip to answer your question Gardens statring OL are as follows.
#56 Avery Young LT
#55 Baguidy Elien lll LG
#75 Nick Hoffman C
#54 Anthony Hicks RG
#52 James Cruise RT
I have been a Gator fan many years two older sons played football here and i have to say this is one of the best offinsive lines I have seen at PBGHS in a very long time. They are for sure the unsung hero's. GREAT JOB boys you are the backbone of the offense.
GO GATORS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
@gator fan commented on September 24, 2011 at 12:35 p.m.: report abuse
Get a grip, you beat Jupiter, they suck. Lets put things in perspective. PBC lost to RPB yesterday. You'll make the playoffs because the conference sucks. You'll get blown out in the 1st round of the playoffs. I guess when you're used to winning 3 games a year you don't have very high expectations.
BE 4 REAL commented on September 24, 2011 at 12:50 p.m.: report abuse
It's always good to see Gardens offense put up those big numbers, but lets don't forget about there great defense LINE, DE, LB, Da' Kwon, Cameran, Anthony,
Avery, Baguidy, Korey, Jacob, Romahd, Verrick, etc... keeping the scores very low, but also adding on to the scores with interceptions for touch down, block 3 points conversion for touch down.Always remember for a team to be a powerhouse like gardens both sides have to do there job and both sides have shown it each week. My hats off top those defensive coaches coach Higgins, coach Wilson and coach Freeman for great job with those young men. Gators just remember never take any team lightly because now every team will work hard to beat you, so you have to work harder, pbc did not lay down and no other team will. Do not lay for john I next week they are coming for you. HARD WORK, GO GATORS THIS IS YOUR SEASON DON'T LET IT SLIP AWAY. GO GATORS! GO GATORS! GO GATORS!
Great first line commented on September 24, 2011 at 1:01 p.m.: report abuse
This article could not have opened up with a better sentence had it been written by the greatest authors of all time; "Jupiter coach Charlie Persson knows a good team when he sees one." Mr. Persson certainly knows good teams when he sees them. Problem is,he never has had the honor to see them as their own head coach. Charlie, STEP DOWN. STOP COACHING AND STEP DOWN. Parents of any Jupiter High School Student athlete, you should be sickend by how the school allows this guy to continual shame it. He is going to get some one seriously injured because of his poor knowledge or football. 30 years of losing is enough. GO, LEAVE, GET OUT OF THE WAY.
Sick of it commented on September 24, 2011 at 2:58 p.m.: report abuse
Did anyone see sophmore running back markeith dokes throw his pads off and walk off th field? Apparently he has done this few other times at practice I dnt think this is a very disciplined team especially if hes allowed to come back
Jupiter Fan commented on September 24, 2011 at 4:39 p.m.: report abuse
To all the Jupiter parents and fans. Be careful what you ask for and say. You will make it hard for any coach want to coach at Jupiter. Yes we are losing and it is easiest to point your finger at coach P. Until you look in the mirror and start implenting discipline at home nothing will ever change. The problems the coaches are dealing with at Jupiter is not talent or poor coaching. They have plenty of talent. And the coaches are giving them everything they need to succeed. I watch everyday at practice. I've been around winning teams and losing teams. The difference was always the players attitudes and how hungry they were to win and be successful. Jupiter only has a small group of players who think football is important and do the right thing all the time. Many of the senior starters believe it is ok to party during game week and after they get beat. Is it the coaches who taught them this? I think not. They believe it is ok to talk back and make excuses to an coach when being critiqued. Where does this come from? I wonder. The coaches are trying to deal with player issues learned before the kids ever stepped foot on Jupiter campus. Stop blaming the coaches for these issues. IT ALL STARTS AT HOME. HELP THEM HELP YOU!
gator fan commented on September 24, 2011 at 6:36 p.m.: report abuse
The gators are having great season. This PBG team is good. They play together and look out for each other on the field. The coaching staff is doing a great job with these young men. Coach Davis put a wonderful and respectful coaching staff together. I wish them all the luck doin the rest of the season. Go Gators. Oh yea gotta love our PBG cheerleaders too!! Great job Ms. Ralston.
Jupiter player commented on September 24, 2011 at 9:22 p.m.: report abuse
To all you people talking bad about coach p, hes giving us the keys to success and he does everything he can to mkae sure we win the game... Its the players fault because we dont take him seriously... He is a defensive genius because all week he was stressing to us that gardens is going to run the ball and that they was a great team but we didnt pay attention to what he was saying and he was completely right... We slacked off in practice and how you practice is how you play... To coach p and all the coaches on the staff thank you for everything youve done for me and i hope you guys dint leave because its not your fault we lost its us the players fault... I promise you that I will give you 100 percent everyday in practice and become a leader for this team...
Skip commented on September 24, 2011 at 10:13 p.m.: report abuse
Coach P has been bashed for years. He's still the man.
skip again commented on September 24, 2011 at 10:15 p.m.: report abuse
Thought that # 52 was as good as they get. Big kid. Where's he going to school?
Warrior commented on September 24, 2011 at 11:54 p.m.: report abuse
Imma player at Jupiter and I don't want my coach to leave. All you parents leave our coach alone. Don't ruin our team like you did the boca boyz. It's our fault we losing. We have some soft players who need to check demselves. They not hungry! But it's goin to change when my class takes over! 2014!
@drummer commented on September 25, 2011 at 11:54 a.m.: report abuse
Band sucks!!!!!!! They sound horrible, and they don't know when to play
the truth is commented on September 25, 2011 at 11:40 p.m.: report abuse
these are the real stats for alex clark from the last 3 weeks. fellas (matt and jeff) please correct his stats cause he deserves it.
WB: 17-114 YDS 3TD
PBC:17-155 YDS 2TD
JP: 11-149 YDS 2TD
He also scored 2tds against palm beach lakes: you guys were accurate as far as yardage on the ground for pbl (give or take a few yards) which was 114
total for alex is:
60-532yds and 9tds in four games. these are the accurate stats if you dont believe me then sit down watch his games on hudl. this guys is as humble as they come and deserves to be reported with accurate stats.
Persson Excuse Squad commented on September 26, 2011 at 8:55 a.m.: report abuse
They're out in full force! "PBG is going to run the ball" --- oh yea, that's pure genius.
More genius would have been that they're also going to hurt us through the air.
A Former JHS Player commented on September 26, 2011 at 1:08 p.m.: report abuse
To the players that are behind Coach P, I complement you on the way u were raised and your convictions. Unfortunately that is not sufficient to win games. Let me ask you a question. How many ex-player show up for the games. The answer is very close to "0". Why? Ask them.......I have. Their is no tradition at Jupiter. No pride. There was a sense of team when Dickman and Hillaker were there but that left went they left. Jupiter needs to get it's pride back and Coach P, who is arguable a fine man, is unable to do that.
Funny commented on September 27, 2011 at 4:27 p.m.: report abuse
Isn't it funny how every time you find hungry players, there's an inspirational coach leading them? Man, what a coincidence.
Just as funny, when you don't find hungry players, you don't find inspirational leaders. Man, what ANOTHER coincidence.
running 29 charger #1993 commented on September 28, 2011 at 10:26 p.m.: report abuse
Coach P is the man you parents need to make your kids grow some nuts and play football. Unfortunately you dont appreciate Coach P not only he makes football players,he also molds boys into young men .
@ running commented on September 29, 2011 at 9:45 a.m.: report abuse
Here we go......blaming the kids and now the parents. There's very few parents down on the sidelines with a headset on during the game when the results happen.
What makes you think the jupiter kids are any different than any other that a high school coach is managing? Many, many of those have found a way to succeed.
Sounds like jhs has just found an excuse to offer. But that excuse has seemed to work for the past 3 decades.
Joyce commented on January 12, 2012 at 10:28 a.m.: report abuse
Right on-this helped me sort tnhigs right out.
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