KEYSTONE HEIGHTS - Keystone Heights' first year football coach Cameron Porch acknowledged before he got to the sideline for his first Indians game he would start to reverse the trends of the past few years.

"We knew coming in that we would have a lot of external and internal battles to getting where the school and the team would want us to be at," said Porch, who took over for Steve Reynolds. "We played a ton of eighth graders and ninth graders tonight, and [we] saw a lot of good things."

Porch and the Indians took on visiting Branford High, a 7-4 team last year that had a region opener loss to eventual state champion Hawthorne. Using their renowned ground game, the Buccaneers finished with a 21-0 first half victory that featured varsity players on offense and defense.

"In the third quarter, I think, we played our best game and gave our best efforts," Porch said. "The kids responded to just playing hard and trying to make plays."

With incoming returning senior Cole Crabtree starting at quarterback, the Indians, who had just three seniors last year, played pretty even with Branford's vaunted running game. Crabtree got some passes to Connor Mooneyham, a freshman varsity player last year, and Lincoln Campbell to keep the chains moving with the offensive line, which was manned by mammoth Andrew Snider, keeping the line of scrimmage neutral.

Punter Ryder Thomas is a returning starter and will be featured as one of the best punters in the area. Thomas is set for camps during the summer to improve his near-40 yards a kick average. Thomas also has an upcoming triathlon (swim, biking and running) race on his July agenda with dad Peyton to join him.

"He's been staying in shape, and it will be cool to do one with him," Thomas said. "July 26 is the date. (On) July 20, I will be at Georgia Southern for a kick camp."

Despite the three scores for the first half, Porch was content with the team's efforts on the field.

"For most of that opening quarter, we went to war with them," Porch said. "I liked that, but we had a four- or five-minute spell that we kind of let them get away from us."

Branford scored nine minutes to the first half, then again with five minutes to go for a quick 14-0 turnaround.

"Young kids let the little setbacks get to them a bit and they moved quickly," Porch said. "Mikey Gamble was running tough up the middle and making them work on defense."

Porch was hoping that the boys' weightlifting team, which just won the Olympics and Traditional state titles, will add some heft to the Indians lineup.

"Weightlifting is as big as it gets here," Porch said. "They just finished their season with state titles and, hopefully, we will get some of them out here for the summer. Attendance is a big factor for us."

Just before the half, Branford scored its final touchdown in the varsity segment of to go to the locker room up 21-0.

"We walked about all the little things that happened in that first half and the kids responded with a strong third quarter," Porch said. "We had seventh and eighth graders in the second half playing against their top players. We held our own."

Branford scored on long secondary breaks in the second half.

Porch noted the summer preparations would include weekly seven-on-seven passing scrimmages on Thursdays to sharpen the team's offense.