Spongers handed a painful home loss

Tarpon controls the first half but falls apart and loses QB Matt Selby in process.

By ERIC MUSKATEVC
Published November 12, 2005

TARPON SPRINGS - Matt Selby stared down the 80 yards ahead of him.

This was going to be his drive. Like his previous 46minutes, Selby moved and threw with ease to Rockledge's 23-yard line.

Then came pain. Trailing 23-21 with less than three minutes left in the game, Selby stepped back and was sacked by the Raider's Lorenzo McDowell for a 14-yard loss.

That fifth and final sack broke Selby's collarbone. And the Spongers lost their first playoff game in three years at home.

"We said we're going to blitz the heck out of them in the second half. We were going to go crazy," said Rockledge coach Pat Lusk. The Raiders dominated in the second half, but the first belonged to Tarpon Springs. Marquise Gamble (20 rushes, 95 yards) caught an 8-yard touchdown pass from Matt Selby early in the second to give the Spongers a 14-0 lead before giving up a touchdown and a late field goal to lead by only 14-10 at halftime.

"We didn't have anything left in the tank," said Bruce Buck, who guided the Spongers back to the postseason in his first year as coach. "Those games we scheduled down the stretch may have had something to do with it."

Selby was near perfect; 14 of 19 for 248 yards with seven straight completions to open the third, which Tarpon led 21-10 after Gamble's third score on a 2-yard run.

But fatigue plagued the Sponger line, and the Raiders' scored two fourth-quarter touchdowns - a 2-yarder from Rashad Haynes (15 carries for 111 yards) and a 4-yard keeper from Derek Willand to pull Rockledge (8-3) ahead with 4 minutes remaining in the game.

Calvin Wood played for the first time in three weeks for Tarpon (8-3) in limited action.

Brad Wooten took six snaps as Selby's replacement, the most interesting was with a minute left.

Wooten deliberately threw the ball in the dirt behind the line of scrimmage toward Montel Gamble (4 catches, 88 yards), who caught the ball on the bounce and fired it 40 yards (10 yards too far) to Jay Bozios (5 catches, 95 yards) who was open down the sideline.

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