WINTER HAVEN — Winter Haven went 1-9 season, so there’s no doubt this spring — especially the spring game — was going to be big in setting the tone for the summer workouts and how the Blue Devils felt about themselves going into the fall. They should be feeling pretty good.
Winter Haven showed big play ability on offense, speed on defense and defeated Davenport, 41-18, at Denison Stadium.
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“Absolutely we needed this,” Winter Haven coach Carl White. “We needed this. The momentum is huge in this thing right here. So you know those kids, they can walk back in school on Monday with their heads held up high and be just right. I’m proud of them.”
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Winter Haven quareterback Michael Kerney runs for a 50-yard touchdown against Davenport.
Here are three takeaways from Winter Haven’s victory.
It’s now Kerney’s team on offense
While Winter Haven in the fall will be dominated by sophomores, it will have senior leadership at quarterback in Michael Kerney, who replaces John Kostuch. Kerney showed finished with 154 yards of total offense, 83 yards passing and 71 rushing.
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“I’m very excited to take over the offense,” he said. “I just got to keep my head up because I’m the new leader now. It’s easy though to me now because we got a lot of young guys, and I made sure to get everybody in the box as much as I could. I’m just making sure I’m keeping calm, make sure I’m reading the defense, making good plays.”
Kerney made good plays with his arm and his feet. He scored the Blue Devils’ first touchdown on a 50-yard run. He also a 67-yard touchdown pass.
“He waited his turn, and this is a byproduct of patience,” White said. “You come out and have a fantastic night.He’s one of the old heads. He’s gong to be very very very big and an instrumental part of what we do this year.”
Winter Haven linebacker Vario McBride closes in on Davenport running back Jonathan Fields.
McBride a playmaker
Linebacker Vario McBride appears to be a playmaker on defense. While rushing the quarterback, McBride tipped a pass, caught it and ran about 50 yards for a touchdown to make it 14-0.
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Later in the first half, he caused a fumble on a sack, picked up the ball and scored his second touchdown of the game to make it 28-12.
“He told me he told me to go for a blitz,” McBride said. “I seen the quarterback. I seen nothing but the quarterback. I had a vision of Ray Lewis and I had to go get him.”
There’s no doubt that White expects McBride to be a big part of the defense.
“He’s a freak,” McBridge said. “He’s just freakishly athletic. He’s freakishly talented, and that’s why he’s different than everybody else. The weight room’s going to be big for him this summer, but as you can see, he’s super explosive.”
Winter Haven running back Andrew Simpson looks for running room against Davenport.
Secondary work in progress
Despite the two defensive scores, it wasn’t a perfect night for Winter Haven. The secondary has work to do as it gave up several big plays. On his first drive, Davenport quarterback Joshua Middleton had completions of 28 yards and 53 yards that took the Broncos down to the 1.
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Middleton, who also had a 50-yard run in the game, threw a 73-yard touchdown pass to Johnathan Fields.
“We need to tighten up our outside linebackers and defensive backs,” White said. “We got to continue to get better, just continue to get stronger in the weight room. That’s going to be important.”
This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Winter Haven defeats Davenport in spring football
