It was a short bench for both teams Thursday night at Swanson Field, but it didn't seem to affect Taylor.

Taylor's bench was seven players deep and St. Augustine Florida Deaf had six players on its bench, but it was the Wildcats who were most effective in pulling out a 43-0 victory.

"We're not going to be fancy. We're going to try to ground the ball out on offense and play great defense," Taylor coach Doug Pettit said. "That's the M.O., and right now the guys are buying into it."

Taylor (1-1) didn't allow Florida Deaf (0-1) a single yard in the opening half and rode the running back tandem of senior fullback Jacob Boltz and Carl Bentley to the victory.

Bentley rushed for scores of 6 and 19 yards and tallied 94 yards on the ground, while Boltz amassed 66 yards on 11 carries and a pair of TD runs.

"I like getting 4 yards and I just like hitting people," Boltz said. "So if I can get 4 yards and Carl makes 40, I did my job."

After a slow start, the Wildcats got rolling behind its single-tight offense and a stifling defense that forced four turnovers and limited the Dragons to 19 yards in the game.

Taylor quarterback Nick Schoppert accounted for two scores, running for a 5-yard TD and throwing for a 24-yard touchdown to Dean Gemeinhardt.

"We come out and start our practices sluggish and started our last couple of games sluggish, and fortunately the alarm clock went off a lot earlier tonight than it has in the past, so we were happy about that," Pettit said.

Both teams exchanged turnovers in the opening quarter, but neither could take advantage until the second quarter.

Florida Deaf got down to the Taylor 22 following a mishandled punt return, but turned the ball right back over three plays later.

Taylor outgained the Dragons 59-8 in the first quarter.

At the beginning of the second quarter, Taylor put together a 10-play, 78-yard drive that was capped by Boltz's 16-yard touchdown run. Boltz's two-point conversion run put the hosts up 8-0 with 9:15 left to play in the first half.

Florida Deaf then went three-and-out, but a high snap on the punt attempt gave the Wildcats the ball at the Dragons 15. On the next play Boltz bolted in for his second score.

Boltz's two-point run gave the hosts a 16-0 margin with 6:37 left in the opening half.

With Taylor's defense in control, the Wildcats called 21 straight running plays before going to the air for its third score and a 24-0 halftime margin.

Florida Deaf fumbled the ball over on the third play of the second half, and one play later Bentley ran in a 6-yard score.

Near the end of the third quarter the Wildcats put together an eight-play, 64-yard scoring drive that was capped by Schoppert's 5-yard scoring run.

buddy.shacklette@news-jrnl.com

Taylor 43 0 0 0 0 --0 0 24 12 7 --43 T -- Ja. Boltz 16 run (Boltz run)

St. Augustine Florida Deaf 0

Florida Deaf

Taylor

T -- Ja. Boltz 15 run (Boltz run)

T -- Gemeinhardt 24 pass from Schoppert (Boltz run)

T -- Bentley 6 run (run failed)

T -- Schoppert 5 run (kick blocked)

T -- Bentley 19 run (Bentley kick)

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS Larry 9-(-2), Santana 16-39, Molinelli 5-(-7), Koski 1-4, Torres 1-(15). Team: 32-19. T: Boltz 11-66, Bentley 11-94, Livingston 7-45, Schaefer 5-40, Schoppert 2-3, Johnson 2-0. Team: 38-248.

RUSHING -- FD:

PASSING-- FD: Larry 0-1-00-0. T: Schoppert 1-1-24-0.

RECEIVING -- FD: None. T: Gemeinhardt 1-24.

PUNTING -- Florida Deaf: Torres 1-33.0, Intsons 2-27.5. T: Land 1-23.0.

GAME STATISTICS: Florida Deaf 4-35, Taylor 3-20. First downs: Florida Deaf 3, Taylor 16. Fumbles/lost: Florida Deaf 6-4, Taylor 2-1.

Penalties --