Junior QB Logan King Passes Bulldogs to Fourth Win of the Season, Sets School Record

Junior Logan King tied a school record with six touchdown passes to lead the St. Cloud Bulldogs to a convincing 51-18 win over Tru Prep Academy (Miami Gardens) on Thursday night at Austin Tindall Park.

The game, which was added to the St. Cloud schedule after a Week 2 game contest with Pine Ridge was cancelled because of inclement weather, was the Bulldogs second consecutive win and pushed their record to 4-3 on the season. Tru Academy fell to 1-4.

“It was a solid win for us tonight and it came against a team that definitely had some fast athletes on the field,” St. Cloud coach Mike Short said. “I saw a lot of positive things out there tonight, Logan King threw the ball well, Owen Conner had a huge game and other than a few breakdowns in the backfield, our defense played a pretty good game too. After losing to Osceola a few weeks ago, we set a goal of taking the rest of the season one game at a time and running the table. We’re halfway to that goal.”

King finished the game 15 of 29 for 327 yards. Three of his scoring strikes went to Conner, who caught seven passes for 220 yards. Alex Springs added six receptions for 73 yards and a pair of scores.

St. Cloud took the opening kickoff and King drove the Bulldogs 70 yards in 10 plays – completing the drive on a 19-yard scoring strike to Owen Conner. But the Saints would answer back on their first play from scrimmage as Anthony Harris hit Antonio Givens on a 62-yard bomb to knot the score at 6-6.

“It was one of three or four bad plays we made in the defensive backfield,” Short said. “Watching game film we noticed they liked to throw quick screens on the first play of a series and he (Harris) did a great job on the pump fake, we bit on it and Givens ran right by us.”

But it would be the only serious mistake the Bulldogs would make in the first half.

On the Dogs third possession, King hit Conner on a 15-yard scoring pass to cap off a drive where he went four for six for 48 yards. Conner also had a 15-yard run on the drive. A safety and a TJ Griffin 1-yard touchdown run would push the led to 21-6 early in the second quarter.

St. Cloud would then blow the game open late in the half.

Faced with a third and 25 from his own 20, King hit Conner on a short pass. The senior would break a couple of tackles, pick up some blocks and race 80 yards for a touchdown. Two plays later, Jacob Hernandez would pick off Harris and Springs would haul in a 15-yard pass from King to up the lead to 35-6 at the half.

Still, Tru Academy would not quit. Harris came out of the locker room to lead the Saints on an 8-play, 80-yard touchdown drive to make it a 35-12 game. A 39-yard pass from Harris to Dillion Givens was the key play in the drive.

St. Cloud would then go three-and-out but a 54-yard punt by Gonzalez pinned the Saints back on their 10-yard line. On the first play from scrimmage, an errant snap sailed over Harris’ head and although he recovered in the end zone and got a pass off, he was called for intentionally grounding in the end zone for a safety and a 37-12 St. Cloud advantage.

The Saints had a chance to cut the lead early in the fourth quarter, but a wide-open Givens dropped a long pass that would have gone for a touchdown on a fourth and two play. Taking over on the TA 38, King needed just five plays to find Springs on an 18-yard touchdown pass as St. Cloud extended the lead to 43-12.

Givens would answer with his third touchdown of the game; but after a failed on-sides kick, King closed the scoring with his sixth touchdown pass in unusual fashion. Facing a second and four on the TA 48-yard line, King hit Conner on a pass to the goal where he was hit and fumbled but Stacy Taylor caught the ball in the air and ran it in for a touchdown.

St. Cloud now travels to South Lake (2-5) next Friday night. After two straight wins, the Eagles lost a 62-14 decision to Lake Minneola on Thursday night. “They had a really rough year last season and went 0-10, but they hired Brad Lord and he is a fantastic coach. They’ve won two games this season and I know he is going to have them ready to play us,” Short said.

Scoring Summary

First Quarter