Melbourne football's spring game shows dominant offense, new defense

Melbourne football concluded a productive spring camp on Friday, May 15, with a jamboree game against Fort Pierce Westwood.

The Bulldogs' offense picked up where it left off last season while the defense saw the debut of several new players in a 44-0 victory.

“I can’t really be mad about anything. We didn’t do anything too crazy. We had one silly play toward the end of the first half, but a lot of young kids grew up. (Friday) we replaced seven guys on defense,” Melbourne head coach Jeff Pannucci said. “We were expecting our offense to be as dominant as they were with one of the best offensive lines in the county and two of the greatest running backs in the county. It was just a flawless performance on both sides of the football.”

Melbourne scored touchdowns on four of its first five drives to build a 28-0 lead.

Bulldogs running back Tyrese Jefferson capped an 80-yard drive with a 21-yard touchdown run on the game’s opening possession.

After a strip sack set up Melbourne in the red zone, quarterback CJ Hall rushed for 19 yards on 2 carries and snuck into the end zone to double the lead.

Melbourne increased the lead to 28-0 before halftime. Quarterback Will Reinhold threw a 28-yard touchdown pass to Jeremiah Thomas with 5:49 remaining in the first half.

After a Westwood punt, Melbourne struck again on 2 plays on a 50-yard touchdown pass from CJ Hall to EJ Hall with 1:58 left in the second quarter.

The Bulldogs scored on their first drive of the second half after a 1-yard touchdown run by Jefferson. The tailback ended the game with 14 carries, 102 yards and 1 touchdown.

“The team performance was good,” CJ said. “We did really good executing on both sides of the ball and team effort overall.”

CJ ended the night completing 7-of-10 passes for 115 yards, 1 touchdown and 1 interception.

“Offense, we’re getting a little better. We were off last year," CJ said. "Our executing in practices is doing a little bit better."

In his first season as the Bulldogs' starter, CJ completed 66% of his passes for 1,725 yards and 18 touchdowns. CJ said he believes the offense still has another level to reach.

“Everybody last year was individual. Really wasn’t a team effort,” CJ said. “Now we need practice to build chemistry and all that.”

Melbourne's defense was disruptive all night, shutting out Westwood thanks to two forced turnovers and scoring a safety.

Bulldogs defensive end Silas Walters strip sacked the Westwood quarterback leading to a fumble recovery by freshman TJ Ross. Walters led the defense with 3 sacks.

The final touchdown of the night was a 23-yard scoop-and-score by linebacker Kamarre Jennings early in the third quarter. Melbourne scored a safety in the fourth quarter after a fumbled snap and a sack in the end zone.

“We started a little bit sloppy,” Pannucci said. “I think they were a little bit nervous because they haven’t played a lot of varsity football, but they adjusted real well. We went back from an odd to an even front and they did very well with that.”

Pannucci said the spring camp was a success with a primary objective of establishing leaders on the team.

“We know what we have on offense. Obviously, we want to find a whole new backend of our defense,” Pannucci said. “That’s huge, but we’re trying to see who’s growing up. I graduated 13 seniors who played here for 4 years. We needed guys to reestablish that culture and carry that on.”

As the students embark on their final exams, Pannucci said he wants the team to build off the spring camp heading into the summer.

“The train’s rolling. We started this thing early and we got to keep going,” Pannucci said. “No let up. We can’t miss days. You got to stack days and carry that momentum into the summer.”

This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Melbourne football wins spring jamboree 44-0