Harvest Prep posts big football win over Bloom-Carroll to start season
Friday, August 18, 2023
By Jarrod Ulrey
julrey@cbussports.com
Harvest Prep quarterback Dez’Mond Porter runs up the middle against Bloom-Carroll in the Warriors’ 38-16 win Aug. 18. Photo: Kevin Lam
Considering Bloom-Carroll was the Division III state runner-up last season and has won three consecutive regional titles, it makes sense to Harvest Prep football coach Milan Smith to acknowledge the respect that his team’s opening opponent has earned.
The Warriors were a Division V regional runner-up last season and showed with a 38-16 victory on Friday at Jack Johnson Field that they’re not planning to take a backseat to anyone in terms of accolades.
“They have one of the best programs in central Ohio,” Smith said. “I think that people don’t think we have one of the best programs in central Ohio. … We did some math the other day, and last year’s seniors had played something like 52 games. Essentially, they’d played five seasons of football at the high school level. You can’t buy that experience.”
Harvest Prep has a new quarterback in sophomore Dez’Mond Porter and is “tiny” up front according to Smith, but in a matchup of teams that won a combined 27 games last season, it was the Warriors who dominated in nearly every facet.
Possibly the most impressive aspect of Harvest Prep’s performance regarded holding the Bulldogs to (minus)-19 yards rushing.
Bloom-Carroll senior running back Dylan Armentrout, an Army commit who rushed for more than 2,000 yards last season, was limited to 13 yards rushing on six carries.
“The defense was great actually, with the communication from the backers, defensive ends, defensive tackles, effort and just pushing it through,” said sophomore lineman Ebenezer Ankamah, who had two sacks. “I feel like the reason we did that was because of our effort. We never give up.”
The Warriors recovered the opening kickoff at the Bulldogs’ 32 and turned it into a 4-yard touchdown by Porter with 8 minutes, 32 seconds left in the opening quarter.
Harvest Prep took advantage of a bad snap on a punt and took over at the Bulldogs’ 19 with 8:16 to go before halftime, with Porter hitting Elijah Brown for a 7-yard touchdown. Porter then connected with Chris Brown for a two-point conversion pass that made it 14-3.
Then on the Warriors’ opening third-quarter drive, they drove 85 yards and scored on a 2-yard run by Porter. Lenny Wicks had a 45-yard run and 68 rushing yards overall on the drive as his team went up 22-3.
Bloom-Carroll quarterback Ethan Thanthanavong looks to throw against Harvest Prep during their Aug. 18 game. Photo: Kevin Lam
Harvest Prep was charged with a personal foul on the interception, giving the Bulldogs the ball at the Warriors’ 12, but Thanthanavong threw incomplete in the end zone on three of the next four plays as his team turned it over on downs.
“They’re very sound defensively and they’ve got kids all over the field,” Bulldogs coach Jeremy McKinney said. “We knew their defensive line was very, very good, and defensively for us, six of our seven in the front graduated, so we knew we were going to be young up front and awfully wet behind the ears. We didn’t get it done.”
Porter ran for a 5-yard touchdown with 7:56 remaining to make it 30-9.
Thanthanavong hit Carter Cornelius for a 53-yard touchdown with 4:04 left to cut it to 30-16, but Matt Saunders returned the ensuing onside kick 50 yards for the game’s final touchdown.
“I can say we played our hearts out,” Porter said. “We go to practice every day and just work our hardest. It was basically just a connection with family, how we communicate with each other, and it just builds how we play. I feel like I want to really give it up to our linemen. They did their thing today blocking on point and that’s what gave it to my running game today.”
Wicks finished with 15 rushes for 145 yards and Porter had 26 carries for 111 yards and three touchdowns while also throwing for 36 yards and one score.
Thanthanavong threw for 245 yards and two touchdowns but completed just 15 of 32 passes for the Bulldogs, who lost to Harvest Prep 20-7 a year ago but won its next 14 games.
Harvest Prep is coming off a 13-1 finish.
“One thing our kids have an advantage in is that you play early here,” Smith said. “You get used to that grind. We practice like it’s game day every day, so when you get used to that type of preparation, in the game it’s just like practice. You’re going against (first-string players) every day as a freshman. The hard part is staying good because (we) don’t have (high participation) numbers.
“My coaches were really adamant in making them uncomfortable in what they do and creating defensive chaos, making their offense have to play with aggression instead of understanding. That’s our strength because we’re aggressive, so now you’re playing our football game.”