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Remember feeling ...
By KRISTEN LEIGH PORTER CRYSTAL RIVER -- The mood on the Pirates' sideline during last Friday's 29-15 setback to Dunnellon was different than usual. It wasn't just because Crystal River fell to 1-2, matching the number of losses as last year's 10-win season. Senior Charlie Slattery, who had five of his 21 tackles in the game, said emotion is key for a team that lost 22 seniors and has many newcomers. "They don't know what it's about to play on varsity, and the coaches are trying to work up their attitude -- like just getting real pumped up," Slattery said. "We don't have a bad team, we just don't have the wanting-to-win attitude that we did last year when we had a bunch of seniors," he said. "They started since they were freshmen, so they knew what it was about and they got the whole team pumped up." This season, there are 11 seniors making their mark on the stat sheets. Returnees Ryan McNally (363 yards rushing, 3 touchdowns, 23 tackles), Josh Hall (2 receptions for 31 yards, 35 yards rushing, 21 tackles) and Scott O'Steen (15 tackles) are among the squad's leaders. The seniors are starting to make their presence known to the younger players, Slattery said. Sophomore Bam Cleveland said the Pirates need to pull together, which the veterans reiterated after the first loss of the season. "They just told us we need to stop playing, that we need to get it together," Cleveland said. "It should be more practice and less play." "There's a lot of different attitudes. Mostly everybody wants to win, but some people don't want to do what it takes to win," said Cleveland, who has a team-leading 32 tackles in addition to 8 carries for 49 yards. Crystal River had a talk after the Dunnellon game, and decided to start from the beginning. This week in practice, the focus was on fundamentals. Coach Jere DeFoor prepared the Pirates for Dixie County the way he does for any opponent, going over offensive and defensive recognition. He has stressed the need to come back strong after the loss. "Some of them aren't accustomed to getting beat like that, and we just talked about how you've got to keep your head up, you keep going," DeFoor said. "The program through the years has earned a lot of respect, and we've got to keep going to work and battling each week," he said. Crystal River goes back to work tonight against a 3-0 foe ranked fifth in the Class 2A poll. The Pirates beat the Bears 17-14 last season, when Dixie County finished 8-4. After watching the Crystal River-Dunnellon game tape, Bears coach Brent Wilkerson said take away the Pirates' six fumbles and it would have been a different ending. "That game was very misleading," Wilkerson said. " Without those fumbles, Crystal River beats 'em. I think Crystal River's better. They're the best 1-2 team I've seen in the state." Dixie County is hoping for the same success the Pirates have enjoyed the past few years. The Bears have been district champs the past two seasons, but never had won a title before 2000. Dixie's ground attack is sophomore Paul O'Hara, who led the Bears in rushing last year as a freshman and has 390 yards on 42 carries and 2 touchdowns this season. Senior back Jeremy Carter is a receiving threat, and he leads the team with four touchdowns, including a kickoff return. Wilkerson said Carter is being recruited by the University of Central Florida, Florida and Florida State as a defensive back, but the player has yet to qualify academically. Crystal River is confident, Slattery said, even if Dixie County will provide a tough road test. "Every person on the team thinks we're going to beat them," Slattery said. "We can't really change (the record), so we're just going to try to work out better and win our games from now on." -- Kristen Leigh Porter can be reached at 564-3628 or porter@sptimes.com.
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