TAMPA, Fla. — The Gryphons weren’t great this season.
“This year didn’t go as we planned,” Sickles High School quarterback Brandon Royal said.
One win and nine losses.
“Our record and how it went, it’s not what we wanted and not what we expected,” he added.
A very young Sickles High School football team took its lumps under first-year head coach Kyle Jolly. But there is a bright spot in the Gryphons' offense, and it starts with the hands of Isaiah Hudson.
“He’s got the speed; he’s got the hands to be a possession receiver,” Jolly said. “He gets to the spots he needs to get to.”
“He just makes plays every time he has the ball,” Royal said. “If he’s in space, he’s not being tackled. Defenses and all the teams that play us, they know to look for him.”
Junior receiver Isaiah Hudson leads all Tampa Bay Area receivers in receiving yards with 1,117 — that’s the top three in the state of Florida. He does lead the state with 70 receptions.
“I don’t see it as an accomplishment because I don’t like the way our record is right now,” Hudson said. “I do build off it during the season to see how I can better my team.”
Hudson and Royal have a connection that came before Sickles. The duo’s friendship began playing against each other in youth football and flag football.
“What has separated him and me together from freshman year is building that chemistry together, working hard every day over the summer,” Royal said. “Building a relationship together, our friendship. What we do on the football field and outside of football, we always know how to read each other. That helps us out here and what we’ve been able to do numbers-wise.”
Sickles will have one more season of the Royal-Hudson connection.
“He’s great. Great quarterback,” Hudson said. “Probably one of the best quarterbacks I played with my whole football career.”
The Gryphons hope to turn those big-time stats into more wins.
