KEYSTONE HEIGHTS – Keystone Heights tailback Blake Sanders earned his starting slot in the Indians’ backfield after game one and showed Indians’ coach Chuck Dickinson that the move was well worth it as he romped for three scores in the Indians’ 48-0 non-district win over Bishop Snyder Friday at Keystone Heights High School.

“After week one, I made the decision to put Blake as the number one back because he ran hard for us against Fernandina Beach,” said Dickinson, now 1-2 with losses to Fernandina Beach (14-12) and The Villages Charter (31-7) in weeks one and two. “He has steadily improved his numbers for us, but has also taken on a leadership role on the field.”

Against Snyder, Sanders ran up for 166 yards on 17 carries to lead the Indians to their first win of the season. In the prior two games, Sanders ran for totals of 84 yards and two scores against Fernandina Beach and 96 yards against The Villages.

“We still have work to do to be ready for our district schedule with Bradford and Santa Fe both playing very well,” said Dickinson.

Also scoring for the Indians against Snyder were Alex Cruz, who scooped up a fumble and ran 25 yards to paydirt for one score than caught a 30 yard pass from quarterback Matthew Stovall for a second. Fullback Mason Davis plunged for a touchdown with wideout Briar Smith sprinting 40 yards to paydirt to finish off the scoring.

“Tyler Ricketts and Justin Raysin are our leading tacklers with Ricketts having a team-high 26 tackles,” said Dickinson. “Alex Cruz has been our middle linebacker and has 20 tackles there.”

Dickinson also noted that cornerback Jalon Thomas has two interceptions with Fletcher Teague and Sawyer Maxwell both with one pick.

“Fletcher was our first quarterback, but I put him back in the secondary because he has more experience there,” said Dickinson. “Matthew Stovall has done well at quarterback.”

In other district 3-4A action, Santa Fe (2-1, 1-0) defeated Interlachen (1-3, 0-1) 38-8 and Bradford (2-1, 1-0) beat P.K. Yonge (0-3, 0-1) 51-14. Keystone Heights (1-2, 0-1) opens their district schedule with P.K. Yonge on September 30.