Prep football: Marco Island Academy falls in preseason game

BRADENTON — Early this week, St Stephen’s Episcopal School coach Tod Creneti noted that his team’s offense wasn’t going to overwhelm anyone with its size, but he felt confident that their speed and quickness would put intense pressure on opposing defenses throughout the coming football season.

On Friday night at Palma Sola Park in Bradenton, the Falcons went out and executed their coach’s offensive philosophy to perfection.

Senior running back Herman Israelsson ran for 147 yards and two touchdowns on 13 carries, leading St Stephen’s Episcopal School over visiting Marco Island Academy in their Kickoff Classic game by a final score of 45-6.

Marco Island, playing the first year of varsity football in the school’s second year, came out in a wishbone formation after watching the opening kickoff sail into the end zone for a touchback. Three plays later, the Rays punted the ball to St Stephen’s at the Falcons 44.

In just over one minute, quarterback Sam Dages led a hurry-up Falcons offense on a five-play, 56-yard drive that started with a 16-yard Israelsson run up the middle and culminated with a 5-yard Israelsson dash around left end for the first score of the game.

“It feels great,” Israelsson said. “This is exactly what I’ve been working for since I was a kid in Sweden. I really want to play college ball and my parents are very supportive of me and my goals, so we moved to Florida to help me realize my dream. I’m very excited about my performance because it contributed to a great night for Falcon Football.”

Later in the first quarter, Tiagpaul Bhamber took a Dages handoff and raced 27 yards for the second St Stephen’s touchdown, giving the Falcons a 14-0 lead.

Marco Island made it interesting, albeit briefly, in the second quarter when sophomore defender Preston Reece stripped Dages of the ball on 4th and 8 at the St Stephen’s 45, and raced 55 yards to pay dirt for the first Marco Island scoring play in the school’s brief history. A failed PAT rush resulted in a 14-6 St Stephen’s lead.

What immediately followed, on the ensuing kickoff, was what Creneti would later describe as the play of the game.

Marco Island’s Peter Cerventes kicked off to the St Stephen’s 17-yard line, where up-man Camron Tally, playing only his second year of organized football, took control of the ball and sprinted hard to his left and took off for a touchdown and a 21-6 lead. St Stephens outgained Marco Island 393 to 21 in total offense.