GREEN COVE SPRINGS - Back in the day, Clay High football had speedsters like Wes Weeks, JT Turner and Bilal Ally, throw in Colin Wilson and you got a handful of guys that routinely blasted 70-80-yard touchdown sprints to the delight of Blue Devil fans.

On Saturday, at the Blue Devil intrasquad Pancake scrimmage, Javaris Roberts turned up the heat and bounced right to scorch the first 80-yarder of the season for coach Kyle Kennard.
"I had to bump outside and find some grass, but when I got there, the corner was all green," said Roberts, a senior running back and linebacker returning with spot duty last year on defense. "I thought I was going to get caught, but I made it."
Kennard reveled in the thought that he may have found a ball carrier that could go the distance and make bone-jarring tackles.
"He's a beast on both sides," said Kennard. "I take scrimmages like this with a grain of salt because the 80-yarder was nice, but is the defense out of position? I think he made a big-time play either way and can do it again."
For Kennard, who was without senior quarterback Merrick Rapoza, who was busy slamming a grand slam homer for the Blue Devil baseball team that is en route to a possible Final Four berth with a region title game in Tallahassee scheduled for Mon., May 13, but tentatively watching tornadic activity in the Panhandle.
"Landon Martin and Landon Chadwick both did a nice job moving the chains," said Kennard, referencing his two young quarterbacks; Chadwick a junior and Martin a freshman brother of former Clay linebacker Dominic Martin who was on the sideline with his younger brother. "It's good to have a couple of guys able to play quarterback with efficiency. We are never too fancy, but want mistake-free execution."
Landon Martin also got some time as a linebacker, maybe at the suggestion of brother Dominic and stuck his nose in some pileups.
Both Landons moved the ball into scores with Chadwick slicing a nice pylon pass in the first series; Martin getting two scores; one a plunge from running back Oliver Pierre, the other a superb fake and rollout that fooled Clay Today Sports Editor Randy Lefko missed Martin prancing unaccompanied into the end zone.LOL.
On defense, Clay got a pick-six interception return when I was eating pancakes, but I do recall how disruptive the defensive front of Omar Goosby, Aaron Stacy and Darius Swilley were off the line of scrimmage. Skyler Phoenix Dean was a factor as a linebacker for the Blue team with numerous stops.
On the offensive line, led by center Eli Iscoa, a tackle last year, the snap was a cause for pause, but heft is not a problem up front with Joshua Hetz and Ben Loper, Blake Warren, brother to madman Brad Warren of Clay history, and Joe Bryan.