Tag Archives: Gabe Brandner

Duke Football

Friday Night Lights – Future Blue Devils Shine

Welcome back Blue Devil faithful to another edition of Friday Night Lights, where Blue Devil Nation takes fans on a national tour from Georgia to California with stops in South Carolina, Alabama, Virginia and North Carolina as we cover high school action of Duke verbal commits and recruiting targets, complete with quotes from the players describing their gridiron performances.

Marietta, GA defensive tackle Mike Ramsay helped The Walker School to a 35-6 win over Mount Pisgah on Friday night. Ramsay described the game this way: "We played great. I had three sacks, three or four tackles for a loss, and a couple of other tackles. It was a good game." Walker improved to 5-0 for the first time in school history.

Wide Receiver Johnell Barnes caught a 23 yard touchdown pass as Ft. Myers (FL) Dunbar defeated North Fort Myers 34-9. Barnes stated after the game, "We were spreading the ball around a lot and I played quarterback a bit."

Defensive Back Breon Borders returned an interception 99 yards for a touchdown as Charlotte Statesville defeated North Iredell 48-0. Borders commented, "I had about four tackles and took a 99 yard interception to the house."

Defensive Back Evrett Edwards of Woodbridge (VA) caught four passes for 56 yards, including a 34 yard touchdown reception, but Woodbridge fell to Potomac 18-6. Edwards stated, "I had a touchdown and too many tackles to keep track of."

Southern Nash defeated Northern Nash 35-14. Quay Mann of Northern Nash was limited to action on the defense, "I don't have many stats other than a couple of tackles. They mainly ran the ball against us."

In Columbia, SC, Heathwood Hall defeated Pinewood Prep 34-19 to improve to 3-4 on the season. Heathwood Hall offensive lineman Gabe Brandner commented, "A lot of missed extra points! But it was a good win and I am proud of how we played."

In Roanoke, VA, Hidden Valley defeated Blacksburg 13-10. Safety Jake Kite of Hidden Valley stated, "It was a lot of turnovers for both teams."

Ft. Myers (FL) Quarterback T.J. Douglas was named Player-of-the-Week last week. Here is a video interview. Fort Myers matched up against Island Coast on Friday night in a game with playoff implications. The News-Press published a game preview which focused upon Douglas and Island Coast Quarterback Kurt Benkert.

Island Coast won the game 24-21 in overtime.

Dual threat Quarterback Parker Boehme ran for three touchdowns and passed for a fourth as Jacksonville (FL) Sandalwood defeated Mandarin 28-14.

In California, Norco dropped its second consecutive game, falling to Santiago 32-26. Norco running back Joseph Ajeigbe was stripped of the football at the one yard line on Norco's opening drive.

Class of 2014 action:

The Jacksonville Daily News named Josh Cabrera Player-of-the-Week and Cabrera showed why on Friday night with an 80 yard kick-off return for a touchdown to go along with an 18 yard touchdown reception as Northside blasted South Lenoir 35-3.

Kendall Hinton threw a touchdown pass as Southern Durham defeated Riverside 27-24.

Mobile, AL linebacker and verbal commit Zavier Carmichael intercepted a pass late in the 4th quarter as St. Paul's defeated Spanish Fort 31-21.

That's a wrap for the first week in October. Blue Devil Nation invites everyone back next week for another national tour of Friday night gridiron action. Until then, Rip 'em up, tear'em up! Give 'em hell, Duke!

BDN Premium Articles, Duke Football

Friday Night Lights – Future Dukies Flourish

Blue Devil Nation starts this week's review of high school gridiron action in Columbia, South Carolina, where Heathwood Hall Episcopal defeated Laurence Manning Academy 12-9 in overtime. Lineman Gabe Brandner spoke to Blue Devil Nation about the game and stated, "It went into overtime at 6 to 6. We held them to a field goal then we scored a touchdown - the final was 12-9. We rushed for over 200 yards again and I had 10 tackles."

In California, [private] wide receiver Darren Andrews demonstrated big play skills as Bishop Amat defeated Charter Oak 30-14. Andrews returned the opening kickoff 85 yards for a touchdown, but the play was negated by a personal foul penalty. After Charter Oak scored to go up 7-0, Andrews returned the ensuing kickoff 88 yards for a touchdown. This time the play counted.

Andrews also caught two passes on 3rd down as Bishop Amat built a 30-7 halftime lead. Unfortunately, Andrews was ejected from the game toward the end of the first half due to a scuffle in the end zone with a Charter Oak player.

Moving over to Norco, running back Joseph Ajeigbe rushed for 231 yards and two touchdowns on 14 carries in a 54-33 victory over Rancho Cucamonga Los Osos.

In Florida, quarterback T.J. Douglas completed 10 of 20 passes, but for only 55 yards as Ft. Myers struggled to mount sustained drives in a 27-0 victory over Cypress Lake. Video clip and a game recap is located here.

Also in Ft. Myers, Dunbar lost to Riverdale 24-10 as wide receiver Johnell Barnes was limited to two catches for 36 yards. Riverdale's sophomore cornerback Ryan Pulley played an excellent game in a one-on-one matchup against Barnes.

Up in Jacksonville, quarterback Parker Boehme and Sandalwood dropped a 13-7 decision to Trinity Christian. Boehme had a tough night against Trinity's aggressive blitz package, completing only 3 of 16 passes for 24 yards with one interception.

In Marietta, GA, The Walker School and defensive tackle Mike Ramsay remained undefeated with a 56-6 pounding of Southwest Atlanta Christian Academy. [/private]