9-2 HS Football Reports

[E.T.]

Published Friday, September 3, 2004

Grothe Heroic in Rally

Thriller: Taylor grabs late TD pass to pull Lake Gibson past rival Kathleen.

By Roy Fuoco

The Ledger

roy.fuoco@theledger.com

LAKELAND -- Lake Gibson's seniors had this one last chance to defeat Kathleen, and the Braves used their last opportunity to pull out the victory.

Senior quarterback Matt Grothe capped a 72-yard drive with a 3-yard touchdown toss to Bobby Taylor with 54.3 seconds left to lift Lake Gibson to a 21-17 victory Thursday night at Virgil Ramage Stadium.

A crowd of nearly 4,000 fans witnessed the thrilling finish to a game that saw Kathleen's backfield of Marcus Okobi and Mondrell Lathan combine for 210 yards rushing. But in the end, it was Grothe and his receivers who made just enough big plays to end the Red Devils' threegame winning streak over Lake Gibson.

"The ones who were supposed to make the big plays made the big plays," Lake Gibson coach Keith DeMyer said.

The game-winning drive, which took nine plays, began inauspiciously when Grothe underthrew a wide-open receiver.

Then the Braves got rolling. Grothe completed four consecutive passes, including a 21-yarder to Roger Frazier that took the Braves to the Kathleen 3.

Lake Gibson stalled when the first two tries for a touchdown pass went incomplete. Then on third down, Grothe lofted a pass to the corner of the end zone, and the 6-foot-4 Taylor outleaped the defender and came down with the game-winning reception.

"He's a big, tall receiver who can jump, and he did the job," DeMyer said.

Grothe finished 17 of 21 for 171 yards and three touchdowns.

Kathleen had been controlling things with a strong ground game. Okobi finished with 112 yards on 14 carries, and Lathan added 98 yards on 10 carries.

Leading 10-7 at halftime, the Red Devils took five plays to score on their first possession of the second half.

Okobi had two runs of 31 yards on the drive, scoring on the second one.

Published Friday, September 3, 2004

Dreadnaughts Blast Blue Devils, 48-0

By Lisa Coffey

The Ledger

lisa.coffey@theledger.com

LAKELAND -- The Lakeland Dreadnaughts recovered mightily from a preseason loss to Lake Gibson with a rousing 48-0 victory over Winter Haven in front of about 1,000 fans at Bryant Stadium in high school football Thursday night.

The Dreadnaughts (1-0) shook off last week's 28-6 loss to Lake Gibson with 401 yards of total offense.

"They played a heck of a game," said Winter Haven coach Brian Jozwiak. "We'll get over it. We beat ourselves and we never really got our offense going."

That problem was evident from the first play when Winter Haven's Damien Jean was intercepted by Troy Johnson on an option pass.

"That first play we tried a sweep pass and threw it to the wrong guy," said Jozwiak.

A fake punt by Winter Haven (0-1) in the second quarter was easily read by Dreadnaught defensive back Randy Dobie, who brought down Ryan Temples for a loss.

On the upside for Winter Haven, quarterback Tim McNamee was 7-of-13 and freshman Derrell Jefferson looked comfortable in the game's final series, completing one pass in three attempts.

Many Lakeland players got into the action in the second half, including quarterbacks Billy Lowe, who ran for the game's final touchdown, and Blair Castle, coach Bill Castle's son.

"I'm pleased with our effort," said Bill Castle. "Everybody got to play. We came in knowing we could do better than last week."

Bill Castle said there was still room for improvement. Lakeland had 14 penalties for 111 yards.

Lakeland's Paul Wilson finished one catch short of tying the school record for receptions in a game. He had eight for 88 yards and one touchdown.

Published Friday, September 3, 2004

Hardee Slips Past Fort Meade

By DURWARD BUCK

Ledger Correspondent

WINTER HAVEN -- Wauchula Hardee, which will have to get used to road games in football this season, won a home-away-from-home thriller over neighboring rival Fort Meade on Thursday, 28-26, at Denison Stadium in front of about 1,000 fans.

Because of damage to its stadium by Hurricane Charley, Hardee may have to play all its games on the road this fall.

The season-opening game was one in which big plays were plentiful, including a pair of 88-yard kickoff returns by Fort Meade.

The winning touchdown came on a 34-yard reverse by the Wildcats' Rashad Vance on a fourth-down call with 2:39 remaining. It gave Hardee a 28-20 lead.

Fort Meade came right back on a 40yard kickoff return by Tony Huntley to the 42. Four plays later quarterback Anthony Johnson passed 33 yards to Huntley for a touchdown to cut the lead to 28-26. The Miners, however, failed to add the two-point conversion.

The entire first period was spent in Fort Meade territory. The Miners started three possessions in the quarter at their 14, 12 and 13.

Class 3A Hardee again had Class A Fort Meade backed up in the second quarter and blocked a punt. Hardee's Jackson Fernot picked up the ball and returned it 6 yards for a touchdown.

The Miners finally found a spark in Huntley, who took the ensuing kickoff at his 12, broke to his right and went the distance for a touchdown.

They swapped touchdowns early in the third period. Hardee scored on an 8yard pass from Travis Tubbs to Justin Woods. Fort Meade scored on an 88yard kickoff return by Brian Whitehurst.

But Fort Meade failed to convert the extra point. That left Fort Meade down, 21-20, and set up the dramatic finish. Fort Meade also missed a 35-yard field goal with seven minutes to go.

Published Friday, September 3, 2004

Yellow Jackets Pound Hornets

By Donna Fellows

Ledger Correspondent

BARTOW -- Bartow looked strong Thursday night as it rolled over Haines City, 39-13, in front of 500 fans at Bartow Memorial Stadium.

Bartow wasted no time lighting up the scoreboard as the Yellow Jackets scored on the first play from scrimmage.

After a 72-yard kickoff return by Ryan Colson, T.J. Jackson scored on an 11-yard run in the first 12 seconds of the game to put Bartow on top, 7-0.

The Yellow Jackets struck again on their next possession with a six-yard run by Carl Edler to increase Bartow's lead to 13 with 7:10 remaining in the first quarter.

"These guys have a chance to be pretty special," said Bartow coach Shawn Killets of the running combination of Jackson, Edler and Colson.

Hornets quarterback Theo Gray threw an interception late in the first quarter that Bartow's Eugene Johnson returned 27 yards for a touchdown to put Bartow up 20-0.

"We got down really quick," said Haines City coach Pat Herrington. "They were blitzing like mad."

Cardinal Mooney 31, Frostproof 14

FROSTPROOF -- Cardinal Mooney scored 15 points in the fourth quarter to pull away from Frostproof for a 31-14 victory at Faris Brannen Stadium in the season opener for each team.

Trailing 16-0 early, the Bulldogs rallied to pull within two points, but Cardinal Mooney scored 15 unanswered points in the fourth period.

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[E.T.]

Published Friday, September 3, 2004

Evangel Downs Mulberry, 20-7

By RICHARD CONNERS

Ledger Correspondent

LAKELAND -- Using last season's punishing running attack as a decoy, Evangel Christian converted a 50-yard bomb to open the scoring early, then got a good break late in the game to get by Mulberry, 20-7, on Thursday night at Crusaders Field.

Evangel (1-0) opened the game with four straight runs to set up a fly pattern to a sprinting Arthur Evans. He caught quarterback Paul Fussell's pass in stride to put Evangel ahead, 7-0, in front of 800 fans.

Three plays later, Evangel's Dustin Anglin jumped on a missed handoff by Mulberry at the Panthers 5.

The fumble led to a quarterback sneak by Fussell from 1 yard out to put the Crusaders up 140 with 2:59 left in the game.

"I thought it was just a good, aggressive football game played by them," said Evangel coach Brian Davis.

Mulberry's only score was a three-play, 48-yard drive highlighted by a 45-yard run by Roche Brown.

Northside Christian 7, Santa Fe 0

LAKELAND -- A late interception foiled the Crimson Hawks' final drive in the fourth quarter of a defensive battle at Santa Fe Field.

Austin Bowles led the Hawks with 13 tackles and Nathan Striz added 10 as the Hawks held Northside to 168 yards.

"It was pretty much a defensive struggle," Santa Fe head coach Mike Jones said. "We did a good job in the second half."

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Published Friday, September 3, 2004

Highlanders Hold Off Bloodhounds

By **** Scanlon

The Ledger

****.scanlon@theledger.com

LAKE WALES -- Harry Agee broke loose for two long touchdown runs in the first half and Lake Wales' defense did the rest Thursday night in a 12-10 season-opening victory over Auburndale.

Agee ran 25 times for 224 yards in a game moved up one night by the threat of Hurricane Frances. But his two touchdown runs were the difference.

Auburndale couldn't get its offense going until late in the game, scoring its only touchdown with just 1:14 remaining on a two-yard run by quarterback Dedrick Davis.

Solomon Rodriguez fell on the ensuing on-sides kick to clinch the victory for the Highlanders before a crowd of about 1,500 at Legion Field.

Lake Wales dominated the line of scrimmage on offense and especially on defense, limiting the Bloodhounds to 110 total yards.

"We knew it was going to be a physical game and we felt like we paid the price," said Lake Wales coach Chad Barnhardt.

"These kids have gone through a lot (refering to Hurricane Charley's damage) and we challenged them to be the more physical team. I think they responded."

Agee, a 5-foot-8, 170-pound senior, broke through the middle untouched on the Highlanders' second play from scrimmage, stunning Auburndale with a 45yard touchdown run for a 6-0 lead.

Davis responded with a 79yard kickoff return, but Gernade Gallishaw fumbled on the next play and the Highlanders recovered.

When Davis left the game briefly with an injury, junior quarterback Cory Mathis led the Bloodhounds on a scoring drive after Ed Hardee's interception.

The Bloodhounds moved inside the Lake Wales 10 but the drive stalled at the 7-yard line where Pascal Milien kicked a 25-yard field goal to reduce Lake Wales' lead to 6-3.

After an exchange of punts, Agee broke outside and beat the Auburndale defense down the sideline on a 79-yard TD run. That put the Highlanders up, 123, with 5:33 left in the first half.

Lake Wales went into a ballcontrol mode at that point, keeping the ball for 19 plays on a possession that consumed most of the third quarter and part of the fourth.

"We couldn't stop them," said Auburndale coach Bob Williams. "We weren't ready to play, but that's not to take anything away from Lake Wales. We just got beat on both sides of the ball."

Auburndale finally scored on a 44-yard drive that started with just 3:16 left. But the 'Hounds had to use all their timeouts to get Davis into the end zone with 1:14 left.