Baker denies East Lee 31-14
The Ida Baker Bulldogs started the season in the right direction by rolling to a 31-14 victory over the East Lee County Jaguars Friday night.
It wasn’t as easy as last year’s win over the Jaguars (42-0), but the Bulldogs did it with a different style — power running, a stiff defense and a sophomore quarterback starting his first game. It is a much better Jaguars team, as last week’s preseason victory over Estero attests.
The post-Alex Lakes era for Baker is the start of the Sean Francis show. Francis orchestrated an opening drive that led to a Bulldogs’ touchdown to set the tone early. The scoring drive was all on the ground, with Joseph Byrd marching 25 yards to his first touchdown of the season.
Francis showed he is a major threat on the ground as he scrambled out of a couple of sure sacks.
Jaguars quarterback Dakota Curran failed to match Baker’s score, tossing an early interception snared by defensive back Mike Anderson.
On fourth down, Baker coach Brian Conn elected to run a fake punt and Marvin Riedewald ran for a first down. Francis capitalized with his first touchdown pass of the year to fullback Rafaelito Palazzolo for a 14-0 lead.
Byrd scored again on a seven-yard scamper to put the Bulldogs up 21-0 in the second quarter.
East Lee countered with their one highlight of the game. Jaguars running back James Holland broke away for a 70-yard touchdown run. The PAT was blocked by Jonathan Garcia to trim the deficit to 21-6.
Right before the half, Michael Gaudieri recovered a fumble to give Baker another short field to work with. Curtis Dean added a 25-yard field goal for a 24-6 halftime lead.
The Jaguars together their best drive of the game late in the third quarter, driving 79 yards, highlighted by three consecutive pass completions by Curran. With a two-point conversion, the Jaguars found themselves trailing 24-14 entering the final quarter.
Baker’s Darryl Gary intercepted Curran to put an end to the Jaguar.
The Bulldogs play at Riverdale next Friday.