PREP FOOTBALL: Kittrell, Dawson lead Gators' air raid

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on August 27, 2017 1:48 AM

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By RUDY COGGINS

rcoggins@newsargus.com

SEVEN SPRINGS -- Spring Creek quarterback Collion Kittrell walked off the field, removed his mouthpiece and high-fived a teammate after throwing a touchdown pass to lanky receiver Jamerion Dawson.

"There's more to come," he said.

Kittrell wasn't wrong.

The junior signal caller threw three additional first-half scoring strikes -- all to Dawson -- during the Gators' 48-0 romp over out-manned Lejeune at "The Swamp" on Friday evening.

"I'm pleased with the way the kids responded after our second slow start offensively ... defense played great again," interim SC head coach Daniel Robinson said.

Defense?

We'll get to that in a minute.

Kittrell directed a highlight-reel first half that featured Dawson as the main attraction. Twice Dawson caught a short pass and found himself surrounded by Devilpup defenders.

Each time he cut back against the grain.

And his blockers provided plenty of running room.

Dawson turned the two catches into scoring plays of 38 and 20 yards. He concluded the night with five catches for 149 yards.

"(Collion) and I have good eye-to-eye contact and once he threw the little hitch play and as I was running I saw all the motion of the defense flowing just one way," Dawson said. "I knew if I broke one tackle, I could score easily. That's what I told my other teammates, also.

"If they tried that, it would work."

Robinson applauded the decision making of Kittrell, who completed seven passes to three different receivers for 183 yards.

"At the end of the day, I don't think their passing game was good," Lejeune head coach James Gardiner said. "Their quarterback had some time back there where we didn't get enough pressure on the defense.

"He got lucky on a couple of bombs ... they weren't outstanding. Once he got outside the first scramble, he time to throw the ball."

Javon Newsome rambled for 68 yards and two touchdowns. Second-string running back Zach Spafford added a 16-yard fourth-quarter TD that capped the Gators' fourth straight win over Lejeune.

SC amassed 450 yards of total offense.

Oh yeah, almost forgot.

The defense.

"They were fired up and we watched defense on him (Lejeune QB Desmond Johnson) and we talked about he was the guy," Robinson said. "We had to keep him inside the pocket and they did a good job of that all night."

Johnson never found the key to unlock the doghouse gate. The Gators' defense recorded five quarterback sacks, allowed just two first downs and held the Devilpups to minus-32 yards of total offense.

Robinson's club filed 20 tackles for loss yardage.