16 Football Preview 2015
Ponte Vedra Recorder ·August 27, 2015
Sharks prepare for
Battle of the Bridge
Jerry Norton
Special to the Recorder
Coach Matt Toblin’s Ponte Vedra High
School football team gave Shark fans
every reason to think they’re more than
ready to meet arch rival Nease in the
annual Battle of the Bridge this Friday
evening as his team’s varsity manhandled
Paxon for 24 minutes last Friday night at
the Shark Tank in a pre-season tune-up.
The game saw nearly one hundred
varsity and JV Shark players take on
the Eagles in a format that had the two
varsities battling in the first half and JV
players in the second.
Ponte Vedra took the opening kickoff
and scored seven plays later. Junior quarterback Nick Tronti effectively mixed in
the run and the pass to negotiate the 80
yards in two minutes. Junior Hal Swan,
expected to be the Shark’s featured
running back this season picked up a
total of 57 yards on the drive including a
3-yard burst for the touchdown.
The Eagles couldn’t generate any serious offense in their first series despite
receiving a gift of an extra down from
the officials.
The Sharks need only two plays to
cover 48 yards on their series. Tronti pick
up 12 on a keeper and Swan finished
matters with a 28-yard sprint to the end
zone.
Ponte Vedra got the ball back almost
immediately after Paxon went three and
out against the stout Shark defense. This
time a Tronti to JD Pirris pass good for
11 yards was all the Sharks were able to
muster and had to punt.
On the next play Shark sophomore
linebacker Gibson Pardue stepped in
front of an Eagles pass at the Paxon 41yard line to give the ball back to Ponte
Vedra then Christian Depersio, showed
the depth of Toblin’s backfield with a
pair of runs for 11 and 30 yards and
another TD.
The Sharks didn’t need a number of
their offensive weapons on this night
but will certainly have an opportunity to
use them in their season opener against
Nease. Expect Tronti to make good use
of a vast array of wide receivers, including Marshall Few, Quint Boyd, Jarret
Stepp and Pirris.
Protecting Tronti and opening holes
for running backs, Swan, Depersio
and Colin York are several behemoths
including Ryan Dowd, Zack Lowery,
Dustin Wolitz, Carter Lewis, Jacob Doyle,
Tommy O’Neil, Korey Johnson and Taylor Montroy.
Defensively the Sharks are formidable with a D-line that includes Wilson
PONTE VEDRA SHARK SCHEDULE
Aug. 28 HOME
Sept. 4 AWAY
Sept. 11 HOME
Sept. 18
Sept. 25
Oct. 2
Oct. 9
Oct. 16
Oct. 23
Oct. 29
Nov. 6
AWAY
AWAY
HOME
HOME
HOME
AWAY
AWAY
Nease
Palatka
Arlington
Country Day School
Wolfson
Pedro Menendez
Westside
Bartram Trail
Bishop Kenny
Bye
Terry Parker
Creekside
Erickson, Alexs Djukic, Brogan Warwin,
Carson Shoals, Alfred Koch, Jake Richard
and Ryan Morgan and a strong linebacker group with Pardue, Daniel Knuth ,
Cade Macri, Jacob Reeves, Ruan Martins,
Jake Yale, Carson Richter and William
Whitley all getting plenty of playing time.
The solid defensive secondary has several returning veterans--Andrew O’Dare,
Noah Solan, Ryan Gleason, Gabby Estevez, Ricky Davis and JB Sheppard who
are joined by juniors Ryan McDonough
and Jon Santillo.
Chris Howard will handle field goals
and kickoffs with Kellon Kramer doing
the punting.
The Sharks open the season against
Nease at home at 7 p.m. this Friday.
ABOVE: Christian Depersio protects the football on his touchdown run.
BELOW: The Sharks’ #50 Gibson Pardue sandwiches the Paxon ball carrier between a pair of teammates.
Photos by Chris and Jerry Norton