St. Joseph's Prep (PA) capitalizes on 4 Lakeland turnovers enroute to 21-point win
LAKELAND, FLORIDA – St. Joseph’s Prep didn’t waste opportunities.
The SBLive Sports/Sports Illustrated Power 25’s No. 10 ranked team in the country, out of Philadelphia, took advantage of three fumbles, a pick-6 and big night by its quarterback to storm to 45-24 win over Lakeland, Florida at Bryant Stadium Friday.
“We played up and down at times, but it was a great team victory to come down here in this hostile environment with a great atmosphere,” St. Joseph’s head coach Tim Roken said.
“We are happy to get out of here with a team victory. We made plays on offense, defense and special teams, not consistently all the time, but we will work better to do those things. That is a great football program over there and they gave us a great test.”
Trailing 17-16 in the third quarter, St. Joseph’s senior quarterback and Cincinnati commit Samaj Jones rushed for two touchdowns – a 6-yarder and a 3-yarder – to give the Hawks a 31-17 lead they would never surrender. Jones had already fired a 40-yard touchdown dart to Kentucky commit David Washington in the second quarter.
“Communicating was our biggest thing, especially up front and on the perimeter,” Jones said. “As long as we communicated, and then coming out of halftime, we knew exactly what we wanted and where it would be. The (O-line) did a really good job of moving people.
“Our coaches had us prepared for this game. They had a really good scheme. The things that we wanted were there. We had the key reads with a lot of the guys. Lakeland played hard but our guys played as hard as they did.”
Philadelphia St. Joseph’s Prep quarterback Samaj Jones fires a pass downfield against Lakeland in the first half on Friday. Jones accounted for three touchdowns in the game.
Photo by Bill Kemp
St. Joseph’s began cashing in on Lakeland turnovers in the second quarter when Omillio Agard dashed 25 yards into the end zone to complete a pick-6 thrown by Lakeland quarterback Zander Smith.
After a pair of Lakeland fumbles set up both of Jones' touchdown runs, Sean McNulty returned a third Dreadnaught’s fumble 65 yards for a fourth quarter touchdown, pushing St. Joseph’s lead to 38-17 with 10:02 left in the game.
Smith accounted for two Lakeland touchdowns, hitting Jamar Taylor with 20-yard scoring strike in the second quarter and rushing for a 1-yard touchdown in the fourth. He also helped stake Lakeland to an early 7-0 lead in the first quarter as the opening leg of a double-pass play. Smith fired a pass to Malik Morris behind the line of scrimmage and Morris turned, planted and heaved a 65-yard touchdown pass to D’marius Rucker.
“We left a few plays out there. We just had a string of bad luck,” Lakeland head coach Marvin Fraizer said. “We had three fumbles in four plays, and you add the pick-6 they scored in the first half, and you are talking about four or five plays. The same thing happened with (Miami) Norland, and that was the difference in the game. When you play a team that is nationally ranked, you can’t aide them. You can’t help them.”
Lakeland quarterback Zander Smith rolls out of the pocket and looks for a receiver downfield against Philadelphia St. Joseph’s Prep on Friday at Bryant Stadium in Lakeland.
Photo by Bill Kemp
St. Joseph’s Prep (2-1) will travel to Ramsey, New Jersey Friday to tangle with Don Bosco Prep while Lakeland (1-2) heads to Kissimmee to meet Osceola.
“It’s an adjustment coming down here, playing here," Roken said. “I think he needed to settle in a little bit. (Jones) was a little bit shaky in the beginning, as we all were. It was just settling in and being ourselves and trusting one another. I was happy to see him settle down and trust his scheme. Trust his teammates and be able to make plays tonight.”
Lakeland’s Joshua Smith celebrates after recovering a St. Joseph’s Prep fumble near the goal line on Friday at Bryant Stadium in Lakeland.
Photo by Bill Kemp
