MIDDLEBURG – In a clash of marquis backfields; Middleburg High’s Mike Mitchell and Interlachen High’s Reginal Allen, touchdowns were the name of the game in a 7 v 7 passing scrimmage between the two schools Thursday at Middleburg High School.
For Middleburg coach Ryan Wolfe, the scrimmage was a chance to see the game-play of transfer quarterback Jaydan Jenkins out of Clay High folklore with big brother Jaylen Jenkins one of the top playmakers for the Blue Devils in their Joshua Hoekstra days of Final Four finishes.
Jenkins, a junior, showed good agility off the snap; mainly shotgun pivots left or right, with snappy passes to running back turned outback Micheal Mitchell. Mitchell, slated as a top tier ball carrier in Wolfe’s multi-faceted offense with backfield mate T.J. Lane, caught quick out passes then showed his ankle-break footwork to add yards to catches.
Mitchell’s first score was a 40 yard post pattern behind the Rams secondary.
Lane, equally dangerous as the “second” guy probable, was just as effective to keep the Interlachen secondary on its toes on both sides of the field with tight end Jayden Levy also making his way across the Rams defense for key pass catches.
Newcomer Andrew Rexach, a Ridgeview High transfer, caught two touchdown passes off back of the end zone strikes from Jenkins. Toshomba Jenkins also snared scoring strikes from namesake Jenkins.
Jenkins did misfire a few times and got intercepted by the athletic Rams secondary, but seemed undeterred by the mishap as Wolfe kept his in the pocket and slinging the rock.
On the defensive side, with Rams all-everything athlete Allen patroling the pockets and drawing sophomore defensive back Jaden Boyd’s attention, weak side DB Manny Cassan got two picks off attentive reads on quick out pattern passes to Rams receives. Boyd was able to limit Allen’s impact with some nifty pass break ups.
Safety Aiden Postemski, the second string quarterback for Wolfe, snagged the first of the Bronco picks off a deflected floater that would have been a game pick six romp.
Linebacker Austin Cruce showed his wrestling knee is fine with a just-miss diving interception attempt that thwarted an inside crossing pattern.