Land O'Lakes fails on a two-point conversion and falls 35-34.
By FRANK PASTOR, Times Staff Writer
Published October 29, 2005
TAMPA - Wharton defensive back Ryan Dixon got his hands on the ball first, but Land O'Lakes wide receiver Develin Robinson pulled it away as the two tumbled into the end zone.
The 21-yard touchdown catch pulled the Gators within a point with little more than 2 minutes to play in what amounted to the Class 5A, District 5 championship game.
But as it had done all night, Wharton took Land O'Lakes' best shot and pushed back.
The Wildcats stuffed fullback John Weatherford's two-point conversion run, then held on after the Gators recovered an onside kick to pull out a 35-34 victory Friday at Mitchell D. Muley Stadium.
The win gave Wharton (9-1) its first district championship in its nine-year history and denied Land O'Lakes (8-1) a 10th district title and fourth in a row. Both teams made the playoffs.
"I'm not disappointed in our kids at all," Land O'Lakes coach John Benedetto said. "Our kids played their hearts out. We have to just recover from this and come back out next week and play well again and hopefully go on into the playoffs with our heads up high."
Land O'Lakes relied on its running game to build a 21-7 lead, but Wharton scored twice in the final 1:26 of the second quarter to tie the game. Seventeen seconds after Robinson's 12-yard scoring catch, Dixon raced 87 yards down the left sideline for the first kickoff return for a touchdown in Wharton history.
Jarius Jones' interception with 31.9 seconds left in the half gave Wharton the ball back at the Land O'Lakes 46. A roughing the passer penalty and 25-yard pass to Dontarian Thomas moved it to the 6, and Chris Krcmar found Dixon wide open in the end zone with 5.5 seconds left in the half.
With the game tied at 28 and 3:45 to play, Joshua Powell set up Wharton's winning touchdown with a 30-yard pass to Joel Miller on a fake punt. Miller picked up 10 of his game-high 135 rushing yards up the middle two plays later to put Wharton ahead 35-28 with 3:31 left.
With no timeouts left, Land O'Lakes drove 63 yards in three plays to pull to 35-34 on Robinson's catch over Dixon with 2:19 left. Benedetto opted to go for two, and an illegal substitution penalty moved the ball to the 11/2. Weatherford tried to run left, but was stopped short of the end zone.
Land O'Lakes recovered an onside kick, but three plays gained only 3 yards, and Joe Weatherford's jump pass for Caz Piurowski on fourth down fell incomplete.
"Just a great game by two great football teams," Benedetto said. "We went for two to try to win the ballgame at the end, we even got a penalty to help us get a little closer. We ran a play that had been successful earlier in the ballgame, but it wasn't successful then."
Joe Weatherford passed for 262 yards and three touchdowns. Robinson caught nine for 218 yards and all three scores.
