The First Academy’s interim football coach, Jason Gill, had the perfect word to succinctly sum up the Royals 41-7 home loss at the hands of Bradenton IMG Academy on Thursday night.

Gill, the defensive coordinator who will be the TFA game manager this season as head coach Jeff Conaway serves a one-year FHSAA suspension , told the team afterward, “We were humbled.”

It was a surprising dismantling of a team that had prepared all summer for a preseason Kickoff Classic game it had circled on the calendar from the moment it was scheduled. TFA wanted IMG, at its house.

The Royals were looking for a seat at the table with the big boys. They wanted to see how they matched up with a team like IMG, a team ranked No. 4 nationally by USA Today. TFA was No. 62 in the preseason MaxPreps top 100.

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