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Friday night replay

JOHN C. COTEY
Published October 1, 2003

Not only has Seminole won consecutive games by scoring seven points in each, they have done so by identical scores of 7-6.

We checked to see if anyone had won back-to-back 7-6 games, but to no avail. Granted, we didn't have time to check every score from every game ever played - nor do we have every one - but our research was thorough.

Winning two consecutive games by scoring 14 points is impressive, but Largo scored 13 in beating Clearwater 7-6 and Lakewood 6-0 in 2000. And it isn't alone: East Lake beat Bayshore and Gulf by 7-3 and 6-3 scores in 1990, and the '79 Gibbs team won 6-0 and 7-0 over Largo and Northeast respectively.

But the record (to the best of our knowledge) in winning two straight with the fewest points is 12, and that goes back to the 1946 Gibbs juggernaut. Under coach Nathaniel "Love" Brown, Gibbs beat Daytona Beach Campbell and Miami Dorsey 6-0, 6-0.

Maybe that's how he got his nickname.

HOWEVER ... : Clearwater beat Dunedin 3-2 and Northeast 7-0 in 1975, but we're not sure if those were consecutive games.

NEW RECORD?: Seminole has two wins when scoring eight points or fewer, so it has 16 games to equal Northeast's total of four wins with eight points or less accomplished in 1974-75.

AND ANOTHER THING: Speaking of scoring streaks, Dixie Hollins nearly lost three straight by an identical score, falling to Dunedin and Lakeland 20-6 in 1970 but escaping the trifecta when someone made an extra point in a 20-7 loss to Boca Ciega.

CRUSH-A-LOT: Osceola rolled over another opponent with a 51-6 win Friday and has 111 points in two weeks.

But to top Northeast's three-game total from 1995, the Warriors would need to score 79 this week at Sarasota Booker.

How good was that Vikings team? In its final three games that year it scored 69, 56 and 64 in wins for 189 points.

Indian Rocks scored 169 in three straight wins in 1998: 53, 47 and 69 (then added 93 in its next two wins for good measure.)

LET'S FIRE UP!: Was it the halftime speeches? The Gatorade? Threats of a Saturday practice?

Whatever the reason, it was a Friday of big second halves.

Nine teams scored 20 or more in the second half, and 14 of the 21 teams that played scored more points in the third and fourth quarters than they did in the first two.

Admiral Farragut scored all 21 of its points in the second half to win. Keswick scored 22 to hold off a rally. St. Petersburg Catholic outscored Lake Highland Prep 20-0 to win 27-14.

Clearwater stretched an eight-point lead to a 30-point win thanks to a 21-0 second half. Osceola only led Boca Ciega 14-0 at the break before a 37-6 blitz in the final two quarters.

And we have more. Dunedin's 11-point lead turned into 49 thanks to a 38-0 second half, and Largo scored 24 in the fourth quarter to finish off Gibbs.

Since the average margin of victory last week was 21, we'd normally suggest arriving and leaving early. But as we showed, it might be better to arrive late.

STRIKE A POSE: Teams that scored on a fumble recovery and a punt return and rushed for a touchdown of 40 yards were 1-0. We know because Clearwater's Jarrid Daniels did all those things in a win over Lakewood.

WHAT PARITY?: Only three games last week were decided by fewer than 12 points. Six were decided by 25 points or more.

- John C. Cotey can be reached at cotey@sptimes.com

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