TARPON SPRINGS - Behind the passing of quarterback Devin Collins, Seminole scored 21 straight points and held on for a 21-14 over Tarpon Springs.
Collins threw for 196 yards and a pair of touchdowns, both in the second quarter. Sponger cornerback Mark Hardy tripped in pass coverage, leaving Warhawks receiver Michael Raymond wide open down the sideline for a 20-yard score. Collins connected for a 33-yard strike to Colby Erskin with nine seconds left in the first half to give Seminole a 14-point lead.
PLAY OF THE GAME: Seminole blocked a Tarpon punt deep in their own territory. Running back Anthony Slano scored from 3 yards out on the next play and the momentum was in the Warhawks favor.
PLAYERS OF THE GAME: Collins, Seminole. Despite his size (he is listed at 5-foot-8), he stayed in the pocket and threw downfield with relative ease most on the night. He completed five passes of more than 20 yards, including a 45-yarder in the third quarter.
KEY STATISTIC: Tarpon turned the ball over three times, twice with fumbles and once with an interception as they were driving in the fourth quarter.
THEY SAID IT: "Hopefully we will learn from our mistakes, because I feel like we gave away some points tonight," Sponger coach Don Davis said."We have a really young team and we came out and played hard in the second half, but the mistakes in the first half were too much to overcome."
- JASON PAFUNDI
Countryside 35, Boca Ciega 28
CLEARWATER - Three touchdowns from fullback Corey Roebuck, the last a 4-yard score with 2:10 left in fourth, clinched a victory for host Countryside. The game wasn't sealed until the end as the Cougars (2-0) fumbled with 49 seconds remaining, but quarterback Harrison Beck, who completed 12-of-14 passes for 207 yards, pounced on the bouncing ball.
Boca Ciega (0-2) climbed out of a 14-0 first-quarter hole behind quarterback Terrell Skinner. He scored three times on the ground and finished with 169 yards of total offense. Shamon Washington had all 115 of his rushing yards in the second half, including a 63-yard jaunt for a score with 7:21 to go that tied the game at 28.
PLAY OF THE GAME: Beck took a five-step drop on the Cougars' first play from scrimmage and found a streaking Jermaine Filer 5 yards past the nearest defender. Filer, playing in his first game after winning an appeal for a fifth year of eligibility, barely broke stride as he corralled home a 56-yard touchdown.
PLAYER OF THE GAME: Roebuck wore down the Pirates defense in the second half. The junior had four totes for 18 yards in the first half, but ripped through for 64 yards and two fourth-quarter touchdowns from there.
KEY STATISTIC: Roebuck and tailback Isaiah Gwyn combined for 224 yards on the ground. Filer added a 25-yard end-around in the first quarter.
THEY SAID IT: "Can you believe that? They had two timeouts, so you have to run the ball a little bit. We got lucky there." - Countryside coach John Davis on the fumble with 49 seconds left in the game.
- ANTHONY GAGLIANO
Pinellas Park 35, St. Petersburg 14
LARGO - Running backs Aaron Williams and Jerrick Slocumb led the way as Pinellas Park improved to 2-0 for the first time since 1999.
The Patriots, who did not trail, took a 7-0 lead when Brandon Lawson returned the opening kickoff 94 yards. The Green Devils (0-2) tied it when Jared Paletti connected with Donald Bowens on a 63-yard pass. The Patriots regained the lead for good on Williams' 4-yard run near the end of the first quarter.
Trailing 20-7 at halftime, the Green Devils took advantage of Patriots' penalties to cut the lead to six. Paletti connected with Jerold Robinson on a 10-yard touchdown.
But the Patriots' rushing attack was too much as they added rushing touchdowns in the third and fourth.
PLAY OF THE GAME: After the Green Devils cut it to 20-14, the Patriots' Jerrick Slocumb busted through the defense and coasted 80 yards for a touchdown, wiping away any momentum for St. Petersburg.
PLAYERS OF THE GAME: Williams (112 yards and one touchdown) and Slocumb (104 and one touchdowns) combined for 226 yards for the Patriots.
KEY STATISTIC: The Green Devils lost three fumbles while the Patriots lost only one.
THEY SAID IT: "Coach (Todd St. Louis) did a great job in preparing for us. (St. Petersburg) came ready to play, and they have great athletes." - Luke Kademoff, Pinellas Park coach.
- AARON THOMAS
Dunedin 36, East Lake 20
A wide open and varied offensive attack helped Dunedin bury East Lake in the fourth quarter 36-20. The Falcons led 14-7 at the half, but the game started to slip away from them with two fumbles early in the second half. However, the Eagles could only manage one touchdown and a missed PAT from an assortment of Dunedin miscues.
Quarterback Theo Wilson of Dunedin finished completed 12 of 22 passes for 217 yards, with two touchdown passes. He added 97 yards and one touchdown on the ground. Jerome Johnson caught five passes for 87 yards and two touchdowns for the Falcons.
Leo Deartiaga scored two touchdowns and ran for 97 yards in the losing effort for the Eagles.
- STEVE FOLEY
Osceola 35, Palm Harbor U. 11
PALM HARBOR - Osceola matched last season's win total with a 35-11 victory over Palm Harbor University.
PHU dominated the statistics. Quarterback Mike Kampel threw for 56 yards. The Hurricanes had 185 rushing, compared to 143 for the run-happy Warriors, who passed three times.
PLAY OF THE GAME: Osceola, who led 21-0 at halftime, survived a second-half scare as the Hurricanes got within 10 points. Sergio Felton caught a screen pass from Warrior quarterback Kyle McDowell and ran 45 yards for a touchdown, silencing the rally.
PLAYERS OF THE GAME: PHU's Stanford Gulley ran for 154 yards to lead all rushers, including high-profile Warrior running back Tyler Gross, who settled for 33. Felton had 85 total yards and scored three times.
THEY SAID IT: "Palm Harbor physically got up under us. It's rare that you win games like this when you don't control the line. If we win two-to-nothing, we are happy." - Osceola coach George Palmer.
- CHARLES CARDWELL
Admiral Farragut 21, Miami Fl. Christian 17
ST. PETERSBURG - Admiral Farragut picked up its first win with a decision over Miami Florida Christian.
Vince Patterson set the tone early with an 85-yard rushing touchdown on the first play of the game for Admiral Farragut. Patterson added a second touchdown later in the first on an 8-yard rush. Patterson finished with 220 rushing yards on 17 carries.
Austin Chavez then found Chris Coleman for a 19-yard touchdown pass to put Admiral Farragut up 21-7 at halftime.
Florida Christian caught a break in the third quarter when Chavez went down with a leg cramp. Backup quarterback Kraig Brown came in for one play, a fumble recovered by Florida Christian, setting up a 6-yard run by Kevin Hernandez into the end zone.
Daniel Escobar's 30-yard field goal late in the fourth quarter kept the game close.
- Times Staff
Northside Chr. 36, All Saints' 0
Backed by defense and special teams, visiting Northside Christian cruised. It was the Mustangs' second straight shutout, and they are 2-0 for the first time since 1996.
Erick Anderson returned the opening kickoff 95 yards for a touchdown and P.K. Keller returned a punt 60 yards for a score. Northside also got points from its defense as Daniel Schultz ran back an interception 45 yards.
The Mustangs led 28-0 at the end of the first quarter. Both teams agreed to use a running clock during the second half.
- Times Staff
Moore Haven 53, Keswick Christian 21
MOORE HAVEN - Quarterback Morenzo Pleas ran for 228 yards in the the first half to help Moore Haven put up 39 points before the break. The Terriers totaled 411 yards rushing in the two quarters.
Pleas finished the game with five touchdowns and 265 rushing yards.
Led by quarterback Blake Englehardt, Keswick (1-1) opened the second half by driving 57 yards in 11 plays. The momentum appeared to have shifted to the Crusaders after Ryan Carpentieri sprinted 56 yards for a touchdown.
That, however, was all Moore Haven's defense would allow, shutting out the Crusaders the rest of the way.
- Special to the Times
Shorecrest 28, St. John Neumann 0
NAPLES - Shorecrest Prep piled up 354 rushing yards on 52 carries, pounding themiddle of Neumann's defense all afternoon with a punishing running attack.
The Chargers (2-0) were clinging to a lead gained by Ryan Iacovacci's 12-yard touchdown run on their second possession when they finally took the game over in the fourth quarter.
The Chargers finally put an insurance score on the board with 8:39 left, as Jacob Stein's 34-yard run capped an 87-yard drive. Stein finished with 85 yards on nine carries, had an interception and was perfect on four extra points.
Two interceptions thrown by Celtics quarterback Alex Leeds led to two more scores for the Chargers, the last one 21-yard interception return by Chris Cheezem, who also had a 6-yard touchdown run.
Iacovacci led all rushers with 102 yards on 12 carries, and Chargers fullback Byron Berthelot added 95 yards on 18 carries.
- ANDY KENT
Late Thursday: Gibbs 47, Lakewood 20
Gibbs got big plays from its running game and defense to beat neighboring rival Lakewood.
Walter Brady ran for 177 yards, 161 coming on three carries, and scored three times. He opened the scoring with a 51-yard touchdown run in the first quarter. On the Gladiators next possession, Brady ripped off a 32-yard run to set up his own score from 4 yards. He also scored on a 78-yard run in the second half.
The Gladiators' defense got on the board with interception returns of 95 yards by Avante Johnson and 48 yards by Jerrell Young.
