There were some cramps, there were some growing pains … heck, there was a third down-and-68.
But what there weren’t, were significant injuries and when it comes to a preseason kickoff classic, that’s about all either coach could hope for.
For Travis Roland, coach of the Mainland Buccaneers, that happiness stretched a little beyond a clean bill of health as his highly touted defense lived up to the billing, pitching a shutout in a 42-0 win over Matanzas on Friday night at Daytona Stadium. The teams played around two-and-a-half quarters of varsity ball before junior varsity subs were implemented for the remainder.
Mainland scored in all three phases of the game, found the end zone in each of its first two offensive possessions and limited the Pirates to just five first downs with a pair of interceptions and fourth-and-short stops to boot.
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“They understand the expectations they have on them, and they’re embracing them,” Roland said. “And they’re excited about it.”
Indeed, a year after reaching the Class 3S state title game, falling just short in a 32-30 decision to Lake Wales, the Buccaneers harbor even loftier intentions this time around. One week ahead of a season-opening showdown at DeLand, Mainland had plenty of momentum to carry forward.
Ezaiah Shine, playing in his first game back after transferring from Spruce Creek, scored on a 73-yard punt return, Demond Noelien added a 31-yard interception return for a touchdown and Rayquan Mitchell added a pair of fourth-quarter TD jaunts.
And despite the final score, there were signs for Matanzas as well. After the initial two drives, the Pirates’ starters held the Bucs’ offense off the scoreboard and a year after losing 11 players to season-ending injuries, came away healthy as well.
Here’s three takeaways from Friday’s matchup
Christian Hudson embodies and sets the tone for Mainland’s physicality
Say what you want about Christian Hudson, he makes his presence felt. On both sides of the ball.
Twice, Matanzas had fourth-and-short opportunities in Mainland territory, once at the Bucs’ 2-yard line after a muffed punt. The result? A combined minus-3 yards, two turnovers on downs and two big tackles behind the line of scrimmage for Hudson, who along with LJ McCray and Ramon McCollough, anchor a talented defensive front.
Hudson had plenty of moments offensively as well, maybe most notably on a play that got called back. Quarterback Dennis Murray hit Corey Hill on a screen pass with Hill scampering 31 yards into the end zone. Hudson never saw it, however, as he was busy driving a Matanzas defender past the sideline and almost out of the stadium before finally finishing off the block. The play was called back due to a hold elsewhere.
The play didn’t count on the scoreboard, but it sure made an impression on the Bucs sideline.
“I had to get my pancake so it wasn’t for nothing,” Hudson said with a grin. “It shows how much of a dog I am and how I can do it on both sides.”
Roland certainly agreed.
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“That’s the best two-way player in the state, and it ain’t even close,” Roland said. “We’re blessed to have him. Our guys up front and our defense is a problem.”
That defense swarmed and battered Matanzas quarterback Jackson Lundahl, as he completed just 4 of 19 passes for 7 yards and was picked twice.
Dennis Murray makes a mark from the start
Talk about starting with a bang.
Dennis Murray’s first throw in a game as a Mainland Buccaneer was hauled in for a 33-yard touchdown by Marquis McCants. It made the score 7-0 after the Bucs held the Pirates three-and-out.
Sandwiched around Shine’s punt return was a 16-yard touchdown run for Murray, which came on the first play after an interception. At that point, Mainland’s offense and special teams had touched the ball six times and scored on three of them.
Murray threw for 1,516 yards, rushed for 799 and accounted for 28 touchdowns at Flagler Palm Coast last year. Now, protected by a dominant offensive line and with explosive weapons flanking him, he’s quickly finding his place at the helm of the Buccaneers’ attack.
“I’m just happy to be part of the team,” Murray said. “Everybody just wants to win. We know what the goal is ultimately, we’re just taking it one game at a time. Just trying to continuously dominate each defense they put in front of us each and every week.”
Murray finished with 53 yards on four carries and hit on 3 of 8 pass attempts for 54 more markers.
Matt Forrest pleased with his team’s effort
Obviously, things couldn’t have started much worse for the Pirates but after settling in, Matanzas was much better than the final score may have indicated.
Matanzas came up with a pair of second-quarter, fourth-down stops of its own and seemed to find a workhorse in the backfield in Micah McGuire, a transfer from Mainland. While the offensive numbers weren’t gaudy by any means, McGuire was able to rip off runs of 16, 15 and three carries of nine yards. He finished with 59 yards on 13 totes.
“First, let’s go ahead and state the obvious, that’s a really great football team,” Forrest said of the Bucs. “So, yeah, they jumped out on us. We made some mistakes offensively, just some busted plays, you can’t do that against any team, much less a state-championship caliber team.
“I told (the team) that you play games like this to figure out where you’re at and we went toe-to-toe with them as best we could and we played our hearts out and gave it all we had. We didn’t shy away from anything, we just didn’t make enough plays and they did.”
Lundahl took all of the first-team quarterback snaps as Dakwon Evans, the team’s starter at the beginning of last year, didn’t dress with a hand injury. Forrest called the decision “precautionary” and said Evans is questionable in the Pirates’ season opener at South Lake.
