The East Forsyth Broncos started their second football season with their first shutout in program history against the Seckinger Jaguars, cruising to a 48-0 win Friday night at home.
“I thought we played well. The first half we came out and took care of business,” Broncos head coach Brian Allison said. "We’re still making mistakes that a young football team is going to make, and we got to fix those. First time in school history we have a winning record [of] 1-0. I know that’s a small deal, but it’s huge for our kids and what we went through last year.”
The first series for the Broncos defense went how any defensive coordinator would like it to go — three and out to give the ball to the offense.
The Broncos faced a fourth-and-2 and decided to go for it, but the Broncos ran a freeze play to get Jaguars defensive lineman Zay Brown to jump offsides to continue the drive.
Soon after, Brandon Peoples took the handoff and dashed through defenders for a 37-yard gain, Will Moffit got in on the action, running a quarterback keeper for a 4-yard touchdown.
Later in the first quarter, Seckinger had its best field position at the 46-yard line from a Broncos punt. On third-and-8, quarterback Jordan Oldknow launched a long ball to wide receiver George Hunter, but defensive back Clarens Decelien made a great play on the ball to force the Jaguars to punt again.
However, a great punt by Nick Bernal pinned the Broncos on their 4-yard line.
On second-and-6, East lined up doubles right, and sophomore quarterback Brock Szakacs lasered a pass to senior wide receiver David Navarrete. Navarrete caught it and immediately hit a Jag with a spin move and raced all the way to the 31-yard line. Then wide receiver Andrew Frank decided to show off his ball-catching skills by hauling in a one-handed grab.
The big chunks of plays weren’t over for the Broncos, as junior tight end Jack Brumbelow caught the ball in traffic and burst down the middle of the field. One of the Seckinger defenders tried to bring him down, but Brumbelow hit him with a mean stiff-arm and accelerated 36 yards to the end zone.
The momentum carried over to the defense. The Jaguars lined up in shotgun formation and handed the ball to Isacc Arocho but could only pick up 2 yards, due to senior defensive end Garrett Wiggins making the tackle.
On third-and-6, the Jaguars needed to pick up a first down if they wanted to keep their drive alive, but as soon as Arocho rolled right, sophomore linebacker Jeremiah Foote was all in his grill. Arocho got the ball off but also got called for intentional grounding, forcing Bernal to punt from his own end zone.
Bernal knew the Broncos were going to try to block the punt, so he quickly tried to get the ball off but instead he hits his own teammate Avery Little. The ball landed in the hands of Brumbelow for a touchdown.
With 26 seconds to go until halftime, the Broncos picked up two penalties, pushing them back to the 24-yard line after getting the first down on Moffit’s run.
In shotgun formation with two receivers to the left running a slant, Szakacs patiently waited in the pocket. Finally, Brumbelow found an opening in the defense, and Szakacs bulleted the pass. Brumbelow shredded off a Jaguar and dove into the end zone for his third total touchdown to grow the lead to 28-0 at halftime.
Seckinger decided to do an onside kick to start the second half, but it bounced to Wyatt Varden on the 43-yard line.
Peoples received great blocking from his offensive line and found a hole for a 26-yard gain. On third-and-5, Tripp Morris stepped onto the field, hoping to get the first down. However, he got more than that, running for a 28-yard touchdown.
The Broncos poured on another rushing touchdown with Peoples bouncing left, where Gilley Gage blocks cornerback Hans Menakuntima to let Peoples walk in for the touchdown.
The Jaguars decided to go with their pass game to advance the ball past the East’s 40-yard line but threw an interception straight to Davis Downs for the Broncos' second caused turnover.
“I thought they played great,” Allison said, describing his team's defensive performance. “They actually came out in a few different formations we haven’t seen them in. Our guys adjusted well, and they didn’t really have many first downs. I’m very happy with our defense.”
Coach Allison decided to put the second- and third-stringers in, and even they were able to muster a touchdown when quarterback Kovi Edgil kept the football and powered in for a 6-yard touchdown.
“I thought we could run the football the way we did, so yeah I could see that,” Allison said, regarding if he envisioned the offense scoring a high number of points.
East Forsyth will travel to play its second game of the season Sept 2 at Cedar Shoals.