High School

Bradford Tornadoes’ defense has been nearly perfect through eight games

The Tornadoes have out-scored their first eight opponents by 228 points heading into the Class 2A-Suburban, District 6 title game versus Palatka

Andy Villamarzo

STARKE, Fla.- One touchdown and an extra point. Seven points total. 

That’s all the Bradford Tornadoes’ defense has yielded through eight games in of the 2022 regular season. Yes, you heard that right. There’s a team in the state of Florida that’s held its opponents to less than a point a game. 

That team is out of Bradford County and the Tornadoes have their sights set on clinching the Class 2A-Suburban, District 6 championship Friday night when they face the Palatka Panthers (7-1) on the road. 

The Tornadoes are looking to do what they’ve done all season long outside of allowing one score and that’s hold the opposition to a big goose egg on the scoreboard by game’s end. That and a district championship victory is seemingly all that will suffice for one of the top teams in Class 2A-Suburban. 

This Bradford team started off the 2022 campaign with an impressive 21-0 victory over Baker County, whom began the season in our SBLive Sports Florida Power 25 rankings, and have just continued the strong play from there. 

The Tornadoes (8-0, 2-0) have strung together solid victories over Baldwin, Gainesville Eastside, Munroe, Tocoi Creek and Dunnellon most recently. Bradford’s seven points they ended up yielding came against Munroe on a 5-yard touchdown run by quarterback Luke Sather, who transferred to Bobcats from Wharton. 

Outside of that one scoring blemish, the Tornadoes have been practically perfect the rest of the way, with their defense playing as good as anyone throughout the Sunshine State. There’s obviously been a host of players behind the reasons why Bradford has been so good on defense. 

One of the top players over at Bradford is wide receiver/defensive back Chalil Cummings, who is a junior that’s attracted plenty of Power 5 schools over to Starke. Cummings currently holds offers from a host of schools, including Cincinnati, Florida State, Iowa State, Kentucky, Miami (FL), Ole Miss and South Carolina. 

Along with Cummings, a major contributor on the defensive side has been the play of junior linebacker Chason Clark, who has made nearly 60 tackles on the season. Playing side-by-side with Clark is 5-foot-10, 195-pound senior linebacker Bryson Bowen, who has notched three sacks and nearly 10 tackles for loss. 

Another player that will be playing on the next level that gives Bradford a boost is Cincinnati commit and senior running back Manny Covey. The other tailback that’s done plenty of damage via the ground attack is junior Willie Pollard. The team has received good quarterback play from sophomore signal caller Jeremiah McKenzie, who scored three touchdowns versus Dunnellon. 

Veteran’s Memorial Stadium in Palatka will be the site of the tilt between the Tornadoes and Panthers, with a winner-takes-all when it comes down to the district championship. The Panthers head into the contest coming off their first loss of the year against Fernandina Beach 27-15 on the road. 

Bradford will be in search of its eighth shutout of the season when they face Palatka  / Photo courtesy of Joel Davis

Palatka features a balanced offense that’s averaged 37.7 points per game going up against a Bradford defense that’s allowing an average of 0.8. With nearly 2,600 yards of offense in 2022, Palatka presents a threat to scoring against Bradford’s vaunted defense. 

The Tornadoes will be chasing history Friday night in trying to notch their eighth shutout of the season and a district title in the meantime. Dominance seems to be the only way Bradford knows how to win and defense is the backbone of the team’s undefeated campaign. 

Andy Villamarzo can be reached at andyvillamarzo@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter @Andy_Villamarzo. 

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Andy Villamarzo
ANDY VILLAMARZO

Andy Villamarzo has been a sports writer in the Tampa Bay (FL) Area since 2007, writing for publications such as Tampa Bay Times, The Tampa Tribune, The Suncoast News, Tampa Beacon, Hernando Sun to name a few. Andy resides out of the Tarpon Springs, FL area and started as a writer with SB Live Sports in the summer of 2022 covering the Tampa Bay Area. He has quickly become one of Florida's foremost authorities on high school sports, appearing frequently on podcasts, radio programs and digital broadcasts as an expert on team rankings, recruiting and much more.

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