Football: Park Vista dominates Olympic Heights in spring game

Kenneth Stephens New Era Prep Staff Writer

LAKE WORTH – Park Vista looks season ready as it downed Olympic Heights 28-7 Thursday night.

Park Vista is a run-heavy team that requires a special type of player to carry the load. Tonight that player was rising senior Nick King, who was able to find the end zone twice on the ground.

King put the Cobras on the board first with seven and a half minutes left in the first quarter. His second score came a little before halftime to give the Cobras a 21-0 lead.

Park Vista’s Josh Jean also added to his team’s lead early in the second quarter with a short run to the end zone.

Olympic Heights struggled much of the first half as Park Vista’s defense was able to stall the road team’s offense on each drive.

Park Vista’s Dwayne Williams was a mad man coming off the edge. The Cobras standout was able to put pressure on the Lions quarterback play after play with his thunderous tackles.

Demarco Augustin helped Park Vista out in a big way by stalling an Olympic Heights drive when he picked off the ball on a deep seam route.

Park Vista’s final score would come on a pass from Tyler Thomas to Zacoldy Thaddies, who hauled in the deep pass to push the Cobras lead to 28-0 with nine minutes left in the third frame.

The Lions found some life in the second half as they were able to gain some momentum by causing a fumble and recovering it. The fumble was returned for 90 yards by Nicolas Palmentari.

Later on in the second half, the scrappy Olympic Heights squad forced another fumble and recovered it in Park Vista’s territory. But their drive would stall, resulting in no points to show for the effort.

Park Vista’s players and coaches provided a considerable amount of commentary from the spring game.

Cobras standouts Dwayne Williams and Demarco Augustin shared the same sentiments when asked about their evaluation of the spring game.

“We have a lot of potential,” Williams said. “But we have some things to work on.”

Augustin concurred.

“We stepped it up tonight,” he said. “We’re getting better everyday.”

Offensive standouts Nick King and Zacoldy Thaddies spoke on their performances that led their team to victory.

“The offensive line was really moving and we got the ball down the field to score,” King said.

Thaddies on his touchdown catch:

“I knew he wasn’t playing good defense, so I executed,” he said.

Park Vista head coach Brian Dodds has been a staple for this football program, as he’s been able to make good teams great year in and year out. Dodds credits his team’s consistency to the veteran coaching staff.

“I’ve been very blessed to be with a coaching staff that has been with me for a while.” Dodds said. “They are dedicated coaches and there’s a lot of experience on our staff.”

As far as the team’s overall evaluation from the spring game, there seems to be mixed feelings as coaches are still feeling things out with their players. Park Vista had only four returning starters in this spring game.

“It was actually an experiment to see who can play on a Friday night with the lights,” Dodds said. “We had a lot of young kids that stepped up, and it made us happy that they are doing what they are suppose to do.”

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