EAST MANATEE — Sharrod Neasman-Glover has waited awhile for the game he had Friday. Last year, Neasman-Glover was a backup and barely touched the field, but this season, he’s developed into Braden River’s go-to wide receiver, and the senior showed why against the Bayshore Bruins.
Neasman-Glover returned a punt 75 yards and hauled in two scoring passes to lead host Braden River to a 39-0 triumph over the Bruins in a Class 3A-District 10 contest. Before the game, the Pirates honored former Pirates offensive assistant coach Douglas Garrity, who was killed in a car crash in March.
“I had to hold it down for Coach Garrity,” the sure-handed wideout said. “He was with me the whole way and helped us get to where we are at now. But this year, I knew I had to step it up. My coach told me my time would come, and this is my senior year I have to go all out.”
After appearing bottled up on a punt return, Neasman-Glover shook loose and raced 75 yards for a touchdown with 3:59 left in the first quarter, giving the Pirates a 14-0 lead.
Two minutes later, Neasman-Glover pulled in a 40-yard scoring toss from quarterback Stephen Fischer, who completed 5 of 9 passes for 115 yards and two scores.
Neasman-Glover’s second reception was a 20-yard touchdown with 52 seconds left in the first half. He had 60 receiving yards.
“We just came out and played 48 minutes and did our thing,” he said.
Pirates senior running back Tevin Bryant turned in his usual workman-like performance, rushing 19 times for 135 yards and two touchdowns.
Braden River (3-1, 1-0) depends on its running game, but the passing attack came alive Friday.
“We know in order for us to separate, points-wise, we’ve got to find some explosive plays in the passing game,” Pirates coach Ed Volz said. “We’ve been close, but we saw a little bit (Friday) that we can certainly build on.”
Bayshore had two scoring opportunities inside the Pirates’ 10-yard line and came away empty.
Bayshore fell to 2-2, 0-1.
“I thought the defense played much better in the second half,” Bruins coach Jean P. Gordon said. “I thought we were hitting quite a few plays offensively, but we couldn’t put anything together and get something happening.”
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