Armwood powers on

The Hawks brush aside Middleton once again in the first step toward their title defense.

By ROD GIPSON
Published November 12, 2005

SEFFNER - At this point, Middleton has to be wondering what in the world can it do to beat Armwood. To put it simply, not much.

Facing Middleton for the third time in less than two full seasons, including twice in the playoffs, Armwood again flexed its muscles at the Tigers expense, opening the playoffs with a resounding 44-7 victory over Middleton.

The win sends Armwood (10-1) on to the region semifinals Friday when it will host Plant.

Middleton, which has been outscored 146-38 by Armwood in the teams' last three meetings, ends its season at 7-4. Middleton also lost its quarterback as senior Dominic Grooms left the game midway through the third quarter with a left knee injury. The extent of the injury was undetermined.

"No mistakes," said Middleton coach Harry Hubbard when asked what his team had to do to defeat Armwood. "You can't make mistakes. But we didn't give up, I'm proud of our team."

But there was little the Tigers could do on either side of the ball to stop the Hawks' onslaught.

Pursuing its third straight Class 4A championship, Armwood was clicking in all phases of its game from the onset.

Armwood quarterback Justin Hickman threw two first-half scoring passes, connecting on a 13-yarder to Matt Brevi and a 29-yard pass to Johnny Carter as the Hawks jumped ahead.

After a 22-yard Darren deRochemont field goal, Armwood's defense got involved as Jaman Payton scooped up a Middleton fumble in the end zone for a touchdown as the first half ended.

It was more of the same in the second half as Armwood's backfield tandem of Eric Smith and Marquise Branton each had scoring runs.

Smith finished the game with 176 yards rushing while Branton added 50 yards. Armwood ran for 319 yards as a team.

"We feel like we are ready to defend our title," said Armwood coach Sean Callahan.

"We really don't have any great players but just a great team. We feel we are ready to play and we still believe the state championship runs through Seffner."

[Last modified November 12, 2005, 00:55:15]