Saturday, November 9, 2013

Blanche Ely Pounds Dillard, Wins 50th Soul Bowl

     The 50th annual Soul Bowl was played between longtime Broward County rivals the Blanche Ely Tigers and Dillard Panthers at Lockhart Stadium in Fort Lauderdale on Saturday night. The Tigers dominated the game from the beginning and blew away the Panthers 50-0.
    The avalanche of scoring for Blanche Ely(5-5) started on the opening kickoff as Laderrick Smith returned the ball 99 yards for a touchdown and a Tigers 7-0 lead 15 seconds in. Later in the first quarter, wide receiver Edward Walker received an 18-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Nelson Ervin at 5:35 and they had a 14-point margin.
     In the second quarter, Dillard(7-3) lost the ball on a fumble at the Tigers 20-yard line during their best drive of the first half at 8:33. The Tigers drove the ball down on their next possession as running back James Jean finished with a touchdown run up the middle from eight yards out at 6:46 for a 21-0 lead.
     Panthers quarterback Bud Martin threw an interception toward the right sideline and the ball was returned by Gary Bright 41 yards for a score as Blanche Ely moved ahead 27-0 with 5:54 remaining in the first half. It was part of a bad performance by the Dillard offense and they had five passes intercepted and turned the ball over twice on fumbles.
     Tigers defensive back Jamar Battle intercepted a ball at the Panthers 33-yard line with 3:18 left to set up another Blanche Ely scoring opportunity. Jamal Capobianco kicked a 33-yard field goal with 27 seconds to go in the first half and increased their lead to 30-0.
     The first drive for Dillard in the second half did not turn out well when defensive back Zacchaeus Jackson intercepted the ball and returned it 20 yards to the Panthers 20 at 11:06 of the third quarter. Several plays later, Ervin lobbed a pass to the right side of the end zone where wide receiver Teddrick Moffet Jr. jumped up in double coverage and brought in an 11-yard reception for a touchdown at 10:22 as the Tigers led 37-0.
     Blanche Ely extended the gap to 44-0 with 5:49 left in the third when they blocked a Dillard punt and Terry McCray returned the ball 30 yards for a score.
     The Panthers followed with their best possession of the second half when backup quarterback Jason Collins fired a pass to wide receiver Dennis Turner and he raced down the right sideline until he was taken down at the Tigers two-yard line on a 56-yard gain. Jackson would make his second interception of the game on the next play at 1:30. Both teams then agreed to a running clock for the remainder of the game.
     Dillard would turn the ball over one more time during the fourth quarter as Collins fumbled the ball away on a blindside hit at 8:20. Two plays later, Tigers backup quarterback Tyquan Fields sprinted around the right end and scored from 15 yards away with 7:20 remaining to make it 50-0.  

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