Bayside football battles past Seabreeze in Kickoff Classic
DAYTONA BEACH, FLORIDA – It may be early in the 2022 season but Bayside and Seabreeze got plenty defensive about their play in Thursday’s preseason Kickoff Classic game at Municipal Stadium.
The schools combined for three defensive scores over the first three quarters before junior varsity teams finished things in the fourth quarter. The end result was a 14-14 tie for the varsity teams but Bayside tagged on two touchdown passes in the fourth quarter to win the overall count on the scoreboard, 28-14.
Seabreeze running back Tyrone Cordare (22) looks for an opening in Bayside's defense as the two teams battle in the Kickoff Classic preseason contest.
Photo by Jeff Gardenour
It was a gutsy win for Bayside, which took a 7-0 halftime lead on a 33-yard fumble return by defensive back Trevion Butler but then fell behind 14-7 on two pick-sixes by Seabreeze’s Eli Campbell at the start of the third quarter. Campbell is a nifty senior defensive back who is being courted by at least 10 schools.
“Defensively, we did some good things,” Seabreeze coach Pat Brown said.
Bayside fought back to tie it when quarterback Caiden Brabham threw a 30-yard TD pass to Michael Parkes with 3 minutes, 55 seconds left in the third quarter. The duo would hook up again early in the fourth quarter on a 5-yard TD pass to put Bayside in the lead for good.
The Bayside defense swarms Seabreeze quarterback Hayden Hayes during Friday's Kickoff Classic.
Photo by Jeff Gardenour
Brabham and Parkes played very sparingly in the final quarter as the JV players took the field. Parkes is an Iowa State commit.
“Our coach said to keep your head up and keep focusing,” Parkes said.
JV quarterback Garrett Louks threw a 25-yard TD pass to Isaiah Cordero to round out the scoring for Bayside.
“I’m very, very proud of them,” said Bayside coach Corey Broomfield, who is in his fifth year at the helm. “We had a little bit of adversity coming out of halftime when we gave up two quick pick-sixes. They had to take one on the chin and they fought back, and I was very excited how they responded.”
Both schools struggled offensively in the early going as the defenses shined. Seabreeze’s troubles could be at least partially attributed to losing star quarterback Blake Boda (6-foot-4, 185 pounds), who transferred to small-school power Cocoa.
The Sandcrabs rotated junior Zeli Hayworth and sophomore Hayden Hayes at quarterback and that figures to be the plan going forward for the time being.
“It’s going to be a rotating situation,” Brown said. “It’s an open competition. Nobody separated themselves.”
Seabreeze quarterback Zeli Hayworth (15), one of two Sandcrabs vying for the full-time starting job, looks for running room against Bayside in the Kickoff Classic.
Photo by Jeff Gardenour
The Sandcrabs seemed to be their own worst enemy for most of the first half with multiple penalties, overthrown passes and more. But Seabreeze made up for it with some opportunistic defense in the second half.
“I thought we played okay,” Brown said. “Obviously, there are some things we have to work on. Offensively, we had way too many penalties. And then we got to work on our assignments. Too many busts, drops, wrong reads, not projecting to the right people.”
Seabreeze will host Port Orange Spruce Creek for its regular-season opener on Thursday, Aug. 25. Bayside will visit rival Palm Bay on Friday, Aug 26.
