JACKSONVILLE - Orange Park High football coach Marcus Wimberly, the newest face of the Raiders proud football history, came to Raider Nation with an NCAA title from Miami, a state title in Tennessee and an injury-shortened NFL experience with all the expectations to turn around a Raider program that has recently stalled.

“This was our first real scrimmage since the spring game. I wasn’t expecting the amount of mistakes; especially from our Seniors” said Wimberly. “If we can eliminate some of our mistakes and protect the football we will be fine” he added.

Wimberly’s first test was a difficult one; visiting Florida powerhouse The Bolles School who is littered with Division One football prospects and signees. The first quarter saw Orange Park go toe to toe with the Bulldogs; the second quarter, not so much.

Orange Park received the ball first and starting quarterback senior Myrick “Bo” Durrionte showed some evasive running skills early against the vaunted Bolles defense. The Raiders were able to convert one third down but the drive would stall out on an incomplete fourth down pass near midfield.

Bolles first possession saw a stingy Orange Park defense where Triston Johnson would get a third down sack to stall out the Bolles drive and give the Raiders the ball back at their own 15 yard line.

Again, Myrick made a play with his legs gaining 16 yards on 3rd down run to the 31 yard line. The drive would stall after some Raider miscues and the quarter ended with the game scoreless. Unfortunately for the Raiders, things took a drastic turn for the worse.

On the first play play of the second quarter Bolles would block the punt and get the ball at the Orange Park six yard line. They would score on the first play to take a 6-0 lead 14 seconds into the second quarter.

The Raiders dropped a wide open pass on third down on the ensuing possession and were again forced to punt. Bolles blocked their second punt and recovered at the Orange Park five yard line. Again, one play drive to score and suddenly just over two minutes into the second quarter the score is 13-0.

After a JoJo Restall 34 yard kickoff return, penalties hampered the drive but with the punt team struggling Wimberly took his chances and kept the offense on the field for fourth down. Bolles would get the ball back and score on a 55 yard touchdown pass to take a 20-0 lead and flood gates were wide open.

The mistakes continued as Restall would fumble on the first play of the drive giving Bolles the ball at the Orange Park 34 yard line. They would score three plays later and increase the lead to 27 points.

After an Orange Park punt the Bulldogs were looking to add to the scoreboard but cornerback Decarrius Jacobs would intercept a third down pass to stop the drive for the Raiders. Unfortunately, the Raiders could not capitalize as they would again fumble the football on the first play of the drive and frustrate themselves and their coaches. The half (and game) would end for the varsity players as they start to look ahead to their week one match up.

It’s no secret it will take time to rebuild the once proud football program but Wimberly is confident his plan to install a new cluture is on the right track.

“It’s going well so far but we have a lot of work to do. I am confident we will get to where we need to go to have success for this football program.”