A sluggish half keeps Land O'Lakes coach Benedetto from enjoying district title celebration.
By JAMAL THALJI
Published October 19, 2003
LAND O'LAKES - His eyes cast glumly downward, his facial expression frozen except for a wry smile - not the good smile, the ironic one - as his players whooped it up nearby.
Land O'Lakes' John Benedetto did not look like a district championship coach. He didn't feel like one, either.
"This is, for me as a coach, one of the most frustrating seasons I've ever had," Benedetto said. "You come off a 12-1 season (in 2002) when everything goes just about perfect for you, then things go the other way for you pretty quickly."
Mitchell coach Scott Schmitz wasn't exactly overjoyed on the other sideline after Friday night's 13-6 Land O'Lakes win.
The Gators captured the Class 4A, District 7 title and are in the playoffs. The Mustangs can still get in with a victory Oct. 31 at River Ridge for runner-up honors. Yet Friday's maddening game, with just three weeks left in the regular season, left both coaches with more questions than answers.
At 3-4, Land O'Lakes climbed within a game of .500, and a winning season is within reach. But not if the Gators play the way they did in an awful first half, not with a trip to Ocala Forest next week.
What happened this time? How about back-to-back-to-back holding calls that had Land O'Lakes facing first and 30. Or three unsportsmanlike penalties, including one called on the sideline. All that in the first half.
What about quarterback Drew Weatherford's three first-half interceptions? His pass protection improved, but his pass receiving fell apart. Two receivers batted Weatherford's attempts into the air for easy interceptions. Another receiver error led to a third pick that negated a big turnover forced by the defense.
The Mustangs' J.J. Campbell fumbled the ball at his 25, and Nathan Gaul pounced on the ball. But when Weatherford threw the pass to tight end Caz Piurowski on a fade route into the end zone, the 6-foot-7 Piurowski ran the route too deep.
Instead, the 5-10 Campbell atoned for his fumble, making a leaping interception in the end zone and running it back 75 yards to set up Ryan Villiard's 30-yard field goal.
At halftime, it was Mitchell 3-0.
The Gators won it in the second half. The defense stiffened, the offense had two good drives - its only good ones of the game - and the team was penalty- and turnover-free in the last two quarters.
"We really didn't make a whole lot of adjustments other than to overcome close to 100 yards of penalties and numerous mental mistakes and three turnovers in the first half," Benedetto said. "I'm just happy we were able to settle down and regain our composure and play good in the second half. But I'll say it again. I'm not even sure we deserved to win the ballgame."
Without a consistent passing attack, Schmitz knew his Mitchell team (2-5) had to capitalize on Land O'Lakes' first-half mistakes. The Mustangs played hard, he said, but didn't take advantage when they had to. Turning the ball over four times and a penalty-filled second half also proved fatal.
The playoffs are in sight, but with a tough schedule, a winning season may not be.
"The first half was a big disappointment," Schmitz said. "We had three turnovers and didn't capitalize on them. When you intercept Drew three times, you don't get too many of those, you need to take advantage of that.
"Now it's us and River Ridge. That's not what we wanted. We wanted the district championship. But now we've got to focus our attention. First on Ocala West Port (this week), then on River Ridge and the playoffs."
