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Sloppy, but a 24-0 win for Fleming Island

By Ray DiMonda Correspondent
Posted 8/21/19

FLEMING ISLAND - It didn’t take long for the Fleming Island Golden Eagles to make a statement on the visiting Westside Wolverines when Timmy Thomas took the third play of the opening drive 52 yards …

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Sloppy, but a 24-0 win for Fleming Island


Posted

FLEMING ISLAND - It didn’t take long for the Fleming Island Golden Eagles to make a statement on the visiting Westside Wolverines when Timmy Thomas took the third play of the opening drive 52 yards to punch in the first six points of the Golden Eagles 38-28 home pre-season victory.

“My thoughts were, we were sloppy," said Fleming Island head coach Damenyum Springs, 6-4 last year. "We made some mental mistakes, both with the Coaches and kids. I know it’s our first game and we knocked some rust off.”

While not perfect on the night, the Golden Eagles showed the team has plenty of depth to get the job done.

“We are going to go with Thunder (Timmy Thomas) and Lightening (Sam Singleton) as we like to call them," said Springs, who opens Friday at Clay High in the annual non-district rivalry. "Hopefully they can get it done, but I was impressed with what I saw from our JV guys tonight. If anything happens, we can pull up some JV running backs.”

After the 52-yard mail hauler, the Golden Eagles attempted a fake kick, two-point conversion that failed for a 6-0 lead.

Thomas would quickly answer again for another six putting Fleming Island out 12-0 after another failed point kick attempt.

In the second quarter, another standout for Fleming Island was freshman Sam Singleton, an incoming talent from Lake Asbury Junior High School. Singleton shook off four Wolverines on his way to a gutted out 30-plus yard gain, putting the ball inside the Westside five yard line.

With T. K. Kocak, a Clay High transfer at quarterback, the exchange to Singleton failed in the backfield, turning the ball over to the Wolverines.

Making lemonade out of lemons, New York transfer defensive lineman Elijah Montgomery broke into the Westside backfield and produced a two-point safety, putting Fleming Island up 14-0.

Not to be outdone, on the ensuing free kick back to Fleming Island, senior flanker Brody Domenico caught the kick on the fly, cut to his left, made several moves and saw nothing but wide-open field ahead of him. Domenico’s 65 yard touchdown put the Golden Eagles up 20-0. The good point after kick put Fleming Island out front 21-0 with 8:47 left in the first half.

The exchange and fumble were not the only issue the staff will have to deal with this week. The shotgun snaps back to quarterback Dean Hyams were inconsistent with several worm-burners, and a few very high snaps that Hyams got control of and made something happen.

“The solution is we are going to have to get them out and snap after we run conditioning," said Springs. "You have to snap when you are tired. As fatigue was setting in, the balls started going everywhere. We’ll get them snapping at the end of practice and get that fixed.”

On the night, Hyams only had a single interception on his last play before being pulled to test other players.

“This week we’ll get back to the weight room and onto the practice field Monday” said Hyams. “I have to focus more. Today we played our script and pounded the rock. It was a real test for the O-line and they did great. I want to mentally prepare better this week and make sure I have everything down packed.”

Another bright spot was the discipline the front line brought to the opener. Last year’s event couldn’t get the first several drives moving because of offside penalties from the offensive line. In tonight’s event, one offside call all night.

Fleming Island added more points later in the game with a Garrett Godfrey field goal at 1:46 left in the first half, 24-0.

“Our PAT’s and special teams I was really worried about," said Springs. "We didn’t have much time to work on them and our kickers joined the team late. We have to sharpen that area up but they really showed me some good stuff.”

Just before halftime, Westside found a gaping hole in the Fleming Island defensive backfield and hit a streaking receiver for their first score, 24-7.

In the second half, as the coaches went deeper in the bench to test players, the Golden Eagles gave up another deep throw score, 24-14. Kocak went back in at quarterback and found his receiver open for another Fleming Island score, 31-14. Both teams traded scores again and finished the evening with a 38-28 Fleming Island pre-season victory.

Friday night, Fleming Island will travel up Highway 17 to the Clay High Blue Devils, 7 PM at Clay.