LARGO – The bad news for Indian Rocks Christian was that it lost to Miami Westminster Christian 38-0 Saturday evening. The good news is the preseason game didn’t count.
The Warriors scored on their first two possessions and never looked back. They threw for 274 yards and four touchdowns and added 151 rushing yards. Westminster outgained the Golden Eagles 425-99.
It’s hard to find a silver lining in a game like that, but IRC coach Mark Buchanan thinks it’s going to make his team better prepared for the regular season.
“Our kids did play really hard,’’ Buchanan said. “I can’t fault the effort at all. That’s probably the best team we’ll face all season. We knew this was going to be a tough game, but it’s going to get us ready for some big games we have early in the season.’’
Westminster quarterback Hunter Boyett did most of the damage with his arm. His first touchdown came on the opening drive when he hit Devonaire Clarington on a 26-yard touchdown pass. The two-point conversion made it 8-0. There were no kickoffs, punts or extra points during the game.
The Eagles failed to move the ball on their first drive. By the time the Warriors got the ball a second time, running back Tim Irvin ripped off a 65-yard TD run to make it 14-0. Irvin led all rushers with six carries for 112 yards and two touchdowns.
Down 26-0 at halftime, the IRC defense tightened and the offense showed some signs of life. On its second possession of the third quarter, the Eagles mounted a 10-play drive, highlighted by a 13-yard pass from quarterback Garrett Ross-Johnson to Preston Heeren.
But the drive stalled on the Westminster 2-yard line when the Eagles failed to convert on fourth and goal.
From there, the Warriors scored two more touchdowns with mostly their second-unit offense.
“I thought Garrett played well at quarterback; that was one of the questions for us,’’ Buchanan said. “Our offensive line is going to be a strength but they had some missed assignments. We’ll get that stuff straightened out. We’ll get our running game going.’’