LAKELAND — Things were going along quite smoothly for the Evans football team Saturday night at a jamboree in Lakeland… until they weren’t.
Evans had already dispatched Tampa Jesuit 6-0 in the first of two spring games at Bryant Stadium. In the nightcap, the Trojans were holding on to a 13-6 lead over Clearwater Central Catholic when things start to go awry.
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Two fumbles, multiple missed tackles and several penalties added up to 22 unanswered points and Evans ended up splitting the doubleheader, losing to CCC 29–20.
Evans coach Karlos Odum called it self-destruction, and the positive thing for Odum is that he deems all that was wrong as fixable.
“Oh yeah, that’s all on us. We’re not a team that normally misses tackles, but a lot of it was just a lack of focus,” Odum said. “We sat out for an hour-and-a-half and when you come back and try to play, it’s just like a rain delay in the regular season, and getting the kids back warmed up and locked in and mentally focused, it’s kind of hard.”
Odum was talking about the down time between games, as Evans had to sit and watch Tampa Jesuit and CCC square off in the other jamboree game. What also played into the lack of focus could also have been the Trojans getting to comfortable. They had already defeated Jesuit and were holding a 13-6 lead on CCC.
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“Yeah, that too,” Odum said, “Once the kids get out there and realize they’re better than the other team, that’s always that killer instinct. You gotta have that. You gotta develop that. We’ll be fine. We’ll be good to go next fall.”
The bright spots Saturday, at least in the early stages, was the play of the Evans defense, new quarterback Will Jackson and transfer running backs O’Ryan Hartfield, from Ocoee, and Davion Williams, from Poinciana.
Orlando-area 2026 spring football game schedules
Several Evans defensive players had big plays in the shutout of Jesuit. Rashad ‘RJ’ Robinson, a transfer defensive end from Kissimmee Liberty had a sack, a TFL and he also batted down a pass. Zayvion Laster, a transfer from Wekiva, picked off a Jesuit pass, combined with Tyrone Paige for a sack, combined with Robinson for a sack and had a TFL.
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Chance Bell showed off some speed on his get-off, turning in a pair of sacks. Chris Sanon, the Orlando area’s leader in sacks a year ago, played well in his move to linebacker from edge rusher. Jayden Gibson had a TFL.
Offensively, Jackson looked good at quarterback, especially creating big plays out of nothing when his offensive line broke down. He used his legs quite frequently and he was impressive running the football. The 6-foot-5, 200-pounder scrambled on many occasions as protection broke down. The Evans offensive line, having blocked for the running game almost extensively last season, is still trying to gather its collective feet in the area of pass blocking.
Evans, which had six dropped balls in the two games, got a huge pass play from Hartfield, who caught a screen pass from Jackson and then did the rest on his own. He showed off some shifty moves in racing 52 yards for a touchdown, the Trojans’ only score against Jesuit.
Hartfield suffered a concussion later in the game and Davion Williams, a transfer from Poinciana, took over.
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“Our two running backs played really, really, really well,” Odum said. “O’Ryan didn’t play the second game, so that kind of threw a monkey wrench in there for us.”
Jackson ran for more than 50 yards and a touchdown in the second game, but a pair of fumbled snaps spelled doom for Evans, as CCC converted both turnovers into touchdowns.
Another player who had a good day was transfer defensive lineman Jacaryous Holzendorf, who moved in from Georgia, following former teammates Jackson and offensive lineman James Campbell.
Dropped balls were also a concern of Odum, but he said, “We just gotta get the receivers caught up to speed with the quarterback and then we’ll be fine.”
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Oak Ridge 21, Port Orange Atlantic 0
Oak Ridge 14, Mount Dora 14
Mount Dora 14, Port Orange Atlantic 14
For Oak Ridge, in the first-game victory over Atlantic, Liam Hall caught a touchdown pass from Antonio Field. Aiden Graham had a rushing touchdown. Linebacker Jaden Everette had a pick-6 interception. In the second game, Fields had a rushing touchdown and defensive end Donte Campbell had a fumble recovery for a touchdown.
Chris Hays can be found on X.com @OS_ChrisHays.
