Story by Near Post Sports
“Well, as far as effort, as far as our kids making plays, I’d give ‘em a strong B. A low A, maybe,” Navarre head coach Jay Walls said.
The assessment came immediately following a 21-14 preseason victory Friday over the West Florida Jaguars.
This was the last tune-up game before the Navarre Raiders kick off the regular season this Friday against Fort Walton Beach. West Florida tees off at home against the Escambia Gators the same night.
“I thought there was a lot of success because of the different situations and scenarios we got to work,” Walls said. “Definitely something we’re going to build on.”
All the real fireworks came late in the fourth quarter after being tied at 7 for a long time. In successive plays from scrimmage, senior Derek Percivalle hauled in a 57-yard touchdown from Raider quarterback Kyle Chambers. The Jaguars immediately struck back with a deep pass to the right sideline. Percivalle, playing both directions as a wideout and defensive back, ran down the West Florida receiver and stripped the ball away, essentially preserving the victory.
“I think those plays were both equally important. They both mattered,” the senior defensive back/receiver said. “We had a pretty bad defensive breakdown. I saw him catch that ball, and the only thing that mattered at that point was getting the ball out so they couldn’t score. And that’s what I went for. I ripped it out and brought him down.”
It was the aerial attack for Navarre that managed repeated success against the Jaguar defense. Chase Richardson caught two key passes – one was a 10-yard scoring strike from Hunter Pfiester , and the other was a drive-sustaining deep ball putting the ball in the red zone.
Navarre’s defense showed up, in true Raider fashion.
“When it came to crunch time, we picked it up,” said senior defensive lineman Lemmy Wilson. “Obviously, first game out here there are going to be mess-ups. We knew that. We’ve got to move forward from this, carry on, watch film, and see what we’ve got to work on.”
However, the vaunted Raider running attack struggled.
“They had blitzers on the outside. And every play, I saw two outside linebackers coming at me all at once,” said running back Sebastian Melendez. “I think, right now, [we’re] just knocking the dust off, so we can get better.”
Jaguar head coach Rhett Summerford’s strategy focused on stymying Raider runners, and the Jags often dropped ball carriers in the backfield.
“We feel we have to stop the run,” Summerford said. “We’ve got a good front. We’ve got experienced linebackers. That’s [against] everybody, and that’s what we try to do.”
Kickoff for the Vikings-Raider game is 7:30 p.m. at Russell Stadium. The Vikings are hoping to bounce back from a 2-4 campaign in 2020.
All photos by Stu Camp Hi rez photos can be purchased at https://stuartcamp.smugmug.com/
