It didn’t take long for Edgewater fans to get a glimpse of the past in the form of the present Thursday night during a spring football game against Seminole.
Coming into the contest, transfer running back Jahmari Hammonds, a rising sophomore from CFCA, had heard all of the comparisons to former Edgewater star CJ Baxter, now a running back at Kentucky.
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The 6-foot-2, 195-pound Hammonds is built much the same as what Baxter was when he was a freshman at Edgewater in 2019, so fans have been wondering if Hammonds could be Baxter, 2.0.
Not even four minutes into Thursday’s game, Hammonds gave Edgewater fans a flashback to Baxter with a 15-yard touchdown run, during which he broke a few tackles and then skated into the end zone. Hammonds would later score again from 40 yards out as Edgewater rolled to a 35-7 victory in a spring game at Edgewater.
Edgewater coach Patrick Browning has coached his share of strong running backs, including current Cleveland Browns second-year player Quinshon Judkins. He said Hammonds has elite qualities.
“The great ones are always gonna have something unique,” Browning said. “Jahmari’s contact balance, I think it what can separate him, along with his size. It’s hard to bring him down at that size and his contact balance is elite.”
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Browning lauds his entire running back room, which includes Jaelyn Powell, Bryce Jackson and Justyn Moore. In the blow out, five different running backs got touches.
Despite running the ball well, Hammonds still was not Edgewater’s leading rusher against Seminole. Those honors belonged to transfer quarterback Joe Aicher (Port Orange Spruce Creek), who platooned with teammate Cruz James, another transfer (Neptune Beach Fletcher), for most of the game, and showed off his speed on a pair of designed quarterback runs. He rushed for more than 100 yards, including a pair of touchdown runs of 75 and 30 yards.
Not to be outdone, James had his own moments to shine and besides showing his own dash of running ability, he also threw a 5-yard touchdown pass to big tight end Dylan Olmo Bush,
Browning said a few weeks ago that he wasn’t sure if he liked the idea of platooning his two quarterbacks, who are both rising juniors, but he liked what he saw Thursday night and he even rotated the pair on the same drive.
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“That was the first time in my career that I rotated quarterbacks during a drive,” Browning said. “I was talking to them during practice this week, and I was like, ‘If you can do that with running backs, why can’t you do that with quarterbacks. We tried it and it didn’t bother either one of them.
“I couldn’t be more proud of those two guys with the way they have supported each other while being within a battle. They both bring unique things to the table. They both can throw, they both can run in different ways and so I’m excited to keep developing those guys.”
On Aicher’s 75-yard touchdown run, he got through the line and into the second level and turned on the jets, easily distancing himself from all chasers.
“I told him if we block it, he’ll score on that first quarterback counter,” Browning said. “He’s fast. He’s a track guy who works extremely hard in the weight room and he’s a selfless teammate.”
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James had a good game as well, but did thrown an interception in the end zone. James hooked up with Michael Gainer on a 53-yard pass play in the second quarter, which set up the TD pass to Olmo Bush.
“Cruz is cool under pressure. He made the one bad decision on the pick down in the red zone, but that could happen to anybody,” Browning said. “Besides that he played a great game. I like both of their attitudes and their development.”
Edgewater also had sophomore Dylan Troutman come in late in the game and show his athletic ability at the quarterback position, but Troutman, by choice, is a wide receiver.
Defensively, Browning was please but the Eagles were slow out of the blocks. Seminole tied the game int he first quarter after a 75-yard scoring drive that was capped by a 7-yard touchdown run from sophomore quarterback Isaiah Taylor.
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Some of the bigger plays on the Edgewater defensive side of the ball were turned in by Octavius “Que” Lewis, who had 2 tackles for loss and a QB hurry in the first quarter. Linebacker Cordale Nunn had some good moments, Sheldon Jenkins had a sack, Wes Hendry had a tackle for loss, Gunner Voorhees had a tackle for loss, Torrey Scott had some big hits and Kemari Thompson and Michael Darden both had interceptions.
As for Seminole, coach Karl Calhoun was disappointed in what he saw as a lack of playing “Sanford football.” As a brand, Sanford Seminole football is known for being tough, gritty, determined and downright nasty.
As a whole, Calhoun, himself a former standout Sanford Seminole defensive player, didn’t see that out of his group.
“I just know we can be more physical at the point of attack,” Calhoun said. “I know these kids can do it but we have to be more consistent. When you wear Sanford across your chest, it’s just a tradition of physical football and I want to be that on both sides of the football, and we’ll work on that this summer.”
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There were positive glimpses of things in various areas for the Seminoles, starting with the quarterback Taylor. The youngster showed his ability to scramble and ran out of trouble on several occasions. He’s still getting his timing down with his receivers, but made some nice connections with big tight end Markel Barber, speedy slot receiver Luis Ojeda Robles and Cameron Roberts.
Taylor actually had given the Seminoles a 14-7 lead in the first half, but the 30-yard scoring run was waived off due to a penalty.
Also on the offensive side of the ball, sophomore running back Jelani Williams might be small, but he’s tough and did show some of that Seminole grit on several running plays.
Defensively, for Seminole, RJ Hampton came up with an interception in the end zone and Maxwell Wooden had a tackle for loss.
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“There were things we need to get a lot better at,” Calhoun said. “We gotta get stronger up front, more disciplined up front, but overall, you come into spring and you work and it’s three weeks of work and you try to get it all together.
“What we’re gonna do is work hard as heck in the weight room, pay attention to deal, watch the film and clean it up and we’re gonna get better. Simple as that.”
Orangewood Christian 28, Bishop John Snyder 13
Eighth-grader Cade Wright ran for 60 yards and a touchdown, and also had 8 tackles on defense. The Rams defense caused 5 turnovers. Thomas Franz had two fumble recoveries, returning one for a touchdown. Seventh-grader Day Adams got his first varsity start at quarterback.
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Remaining Spring Games
Friday night
Astronaut at Innovation, 6
Gateway, Windermere at Osceola, 6
Lyman at Mount Dora Christian, 6
Wildwood, Zarephath at Umatilla, 6
DeLand at TFA
Leesburg, Horizon at Wekiva, 6
Rockledge at West Orange
Winter Springs at Orange City University
No Spring game: Mount Dora
Chris Hays can be found on X.com @OS_ChrisHays.
