Saint Joseph Academy - Guardian Yearbook (St Augustine, FL)

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Flashes Bomb Taylor High Wildcats, 40-6 By DAVE CONOVER Sports Editor St. Joseph Academy ' s Flash- es went out looking for surpris- es from Pierson Taylor last night, and found them. One was that almost anyone on the St. Joe squad can run with the ball, and defensive standout Rick Hernandez, is in- cluded in that list. And another thing was that, buried under a haystack of rushing yardage, the Flashes are capable of a creditable pas- sing game under the quarter- backing of Paul Thomas. Both aspects of football were combined in their 40-6 win over the Pierson Taylor Wildcats. The well-attended win at St. Augustine stadium was the fifth this season for the Flashes whose percentage slipped over the .500 mark. Flash announcer Tim Webb, after what seemed like an espe- cially long third quarter, res- ponded to the buzzer marking the end of the period with: That ' s the ball game, a statement usually reserved for the end of the game. But that, as Webb said, might just as well have been the end of the St. Johns River Conference clash because, by that time, the Flashes had seen to it that Taylor was thorough- ly outscored as well as out- classed. Three Flash TD ' s during the Deriod helr ed make it seem like HOT PURSUIT-St. Joseph Acade- my halfback, Doug Grissom, 44, re- mains just a step ahead of Pierson Taylor Defender, Ronnie Carlisle while the Flashes, Mike Robshaw, 13, rushes in to help during the third pe- riod of the game at St. Augustine High Stadium. Grissom got 10 yards on the run and a first down for St. Joe which won the game, 40-6, over the Wild- cats. a long one. Already St. Joe had assemb- led a wide leading margin. Eight minutes after the initial kickoff Sandy Preston snored (he first touchdown on a 10 yard run. Preston then hit an unusual duplication in the following two tallies. After a 50 yard march which carried through into the second period, the Flash tail- back broke through for an ap- parent TD from the 2. It was called back on a five - yard penalty and St. Joe wound up trying again from the 7. Pres- ton hit paydirt on a five yard run. The duplication followed two opponent plays later, when Rick Henrnandez covered a fumble on the Taylor 10. After an eight- yard Paul Thomas to Steve Hubbard pass, Preston carried the remaining two yards. Flags went down; the Flashes went back to the 7 to try again, and Doug Grissom wound up the march plunging through from the 1. A pass from Thomas to Pres- ton and ensuing 40-some yard run by Preston netted the ! Flashes a fourth TD in the third period. They added another in the same frame when Hubbard ran 30 yards to set up a scor- ing, five-yard charge by Jimmy Colee. And another when Bruce Bailey ran 39 yards to launch a one-yard tally by Hernandez. A 15 • yard penalty against St. Joe and 16 yard pass play I from Taylor quarterback John Anderson to halfback Leonard Heath netted the final touch- [ down of the game, a Wildcat tally just seconds before the game ended. Paul Thomas, who hit on five | of six passes for the evening be- hind outstanding protection, wound up with 64 passing yards to his credit and two successful conversions. His biggest hit was a screen to Lewis which netted the fourth touchdown. Rick Hernandez switched to the backfield after .some top- notch defensive efforts, and proved his offensive capability with 28 yards rushing and a touchdown in three carries. Others in on the Flash rush- ing game were Mike Robshaw and Jimmy Young.

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Flashes Top Dragons, 32-6 By DAVE CONOVER Sports Editor St. Joseph Academy coach Ed Drozd used to worry about long runs. Not anymore though. The Flashes used three of them Saturday to achieve a 32-6 victory over the Florida School for the Deaf Dragons and set even a record which has been faltering this season. The cross-town win in the St. Johns River Conference made St. Joe ' s mark 4-4. FSD has won but one game so far. Despite the Flashes turning the tables and using one of their defensive weaknesses to their of- fensive advantage, Drozd has not dismissed the long run as a weapon against his charges how- ever. Florida Deaf ' s sole TD for the evening was set Up on a 67-yard dash by halfback Robert Fields, fresh back from a long recovery period after an injury in the game against Aalabama Deaf early this season. Fields picked it up from quarterback Andy Lanning on the Flash 24-yard - line and hauled it down to the Dragons ' 27 before being stopped by Carl Thomas. Halfback Danny Watson toted the ball 17 yards for the tally. Watson had also packed an 11 yard per carry rushing average during the first half. No extra points were made on Charles Rachel ' s unsuccess- ful running attempt, but the Dragons had a six-point advant- age which they were able to hold for the remainder of the half. Things took a swift and deci- sive change after intermission however, and the shift in direc- tion still has Dragon coach Ed Gobble as well as several FSD fans scratching their heads. After holding St. Joe ' s high velocity running backs to an tin- pectedly mediocre 95 yards dur- ing the first half while the Dra- gons rushed for 146 yards, the Dragons folded (or the Flashes exploded) during the second half. Whichever it was. it caught fans on both sides of SAHS field unprepared. St. Joe uncorked three scor- ing runs in the 50-yard-plus cate- gory to accumulate a whopping total of 220 net rushing yards during the second half, and forc- ed a fumble deep in Dragon ter- ritory for another TD. The Flashes found they could break through late in the third period and capitalized en the ability from there. After a ho-hum session be- tween the Dragon 25 and Flash 40, St. Joe took over possession on a punt to their own 43. From a second down on the line of scrimmage Doug Grissom broke loose on a 57 yard trip to score St. Joe ' s first TD. Paul Thom- as passed to Jimmy Young for the extra point and the Flashes led 8-6. With startling swiftness on the Flashes ' next possession, new found tailback Sany Preston took the handoff and shot 60 yards into paydirt. Mid-way in the fourth period in a pair of back-to-back defen- sive dazzlers, Rick Hernandez nailed Lanning ten yards in the hole and then pilfered one of the Dragon quarterback ' s pas- ses to give St. Joe ownership on its own 24. Eight plays and ten yards lat- er Preston jitterbugged through the Dragon line from a third down and sped 66 yards into the Dragon diagonals. St. Joe put it on ice just sec- onds after the kickoff. JV Mark Bouseman pounced on a Dragon fumble on the ten setting up a six yard run for Young and a four - yard scor- ing plunge for Robshaw. Besides his successful conver- sion toss to Young on the first Flash tally, shot caller Paul Thomas connected with Gris- som aftr the second and with Steve Hubbard after the fourth. Young ran through the two- pointer on the third TD. Clay Campbell had recover- ed the Flashes ' sole fumble of the game, and Bobby Thomas had covered a Dragon miscue for St. Joe. It will be homecoming for the Dragons Saturday when they play host to South Carolina Deaf at SAHS field. St.. Joe en- tertains Pierson Taylor here Thursday.

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Time, effort, patience, drive, and devotion to our team was given by COACH ED DROZD throughout the year. Deep gratitude is given him by all. Games, well played, won or lost, we feel we have the best Coach in the State of Florida. Thank you, Coach Drozd. tt i