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Jefferson loss won't stop Titans

Tampa Bay Tech learns from its setback and switches to ''playoff mode'' for tonight's game against Armwood.

By MIKE READLING, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published October 17, 2002

TAMPA -- Tampa Bay Tech coach Mike Bradley listens to everyone talk about tonight's matchup with Armwood and smiles.

He hears about the heated rivalry between the schools. He knows a win puts the Titans in the proverbial "driver's seat" for a playoff berth. He feels like a victory would signal another step in what he hopes is a turnaround in his program.

But Bradley can simplify all that into two concise sentences.

"It's the biggest game of the year. We have to win."

Next question.

This might be the Titans' biggest game of the year in terms of playoff implications, but Friday night's 31-28 loss to Jefferson was the biggest game of the past decade for Tech. It is that game, many feel, that will determine what happens to the Titans' program during the next four or five years.

Against Jefferson, the Titans stumbled through a first half in which they couldn't seem to do anything right. Tech finished with 1 yard of offense and the Dragons went into the half leading 31-0.

Bradley talked quietly to his team during the break and then watched his Titans do a complete turnaround, reeling off 28 unanswered points. The Dragons got their first first down of the second half with just under eight minutes remaining.

Jefferson held on but Tech walked out with a whole new outlook. Bradley said he already could see the difference as his team practiced early this week, saying the Titans have "gone into playoff mode."

"They're practicing like they won that game Friday night," the first-year coach said. "They have a little more confidence this week."

The situation at Tech, now 4-2 and 1-1 in Class 4A District 8, is eerily similar, Bradley said, to when he coached at Male High in Louisville, Ky.

Bradley took over a team that was perennially solid, finishing with 5-5, 6-4 and 7-3 records, only to lose early in the playoffs every year. Tech was 5-6 and made the playoffs for the first time in 2000 and finished 8-3 last year, losing in the first round again.

Bradley recalls a game at Male in which his Bulldogs trailed rival Fern Creek 28-3 at the half, setting up another disappointing loss. That was until Male staged a second-half comeback only to lose in double overtime. Much like the Jefferson game, it was a huge moral victory.

That was the early 1990s and Male hasn't lost to Fern Creek since. More important, the Bulldogs have played in the past three Class 4A state finals. Bradley pinpoints the Fern Creek game as the turning point and he has told his Titans all about it.

"I spoke to them after the game and told them that this could be a loss or a learning experience," Bradley said. "If you take this as a loss then it was a waste of time. You have to believe in what you're doing."

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