New FPC football coach pleased with effort in green and white scrimmage

Flagler Palm Coast High School football fans got to see a preview of the team under new coach Daniel Fish at the green and white intrasquad scrimmage on Friday, May 19.

The Bulldogs will get their first taste of competition against another team in a spring game at 6 p.m. Thursday, May 25, at Riverside High School in Jacksonville.

In the scrimmage, the offense (white) defeated the defense (green) 41-33. The defense was awarded points for touchdowns, turnovers on downs, interceptions and fumble recoveries.

Safety Zyquan Neal scored the only touchdown for the defense with a pick-six. Neal had two interceptions in the scrimmage, while Dylan Bennett had a fumble recovery. Ethan Laupepa and Stacy Mitchell each had a sack.

Grant Winkler and Dwayne Webb each caught two touchdown passes for the offense. Jordan Gales also had a touchdown catch and Andrew Bass ran for a score.

Rising senior Caden Gonzalez played quarterback for most of the scrimmage, throwing four touchdown passes with two interceptions.

“It was a great effort on both sides of the ball,” Fish said. “There were a lot of good things and some things we need to work on. Both sides were very physical and very resilient.

“We’re very young on defense and pretty young on offense,” he added. “We’re getting them comfortable with the terminology, and we’re trying to eliminate mental mistakes.”

Running back Marcus Mitchell and defensive tackle Charley Perry missed the scrimmage with hamstring strains.

Mitchell, who ran for 1,025 yards and 12 touchdowns last season, is expected to miss six to eight weeks with a grade 2 hamstring strain. He expects to be at full strength for the start of preseason practice.