Around the county

High school football highlights for around the county.

By Times Staff
Published August 26, 2006

PLANT 35, BLOOMINGDALE 0

Robert Marve tossed a pair of long touchdowns to Derek Winter within the first 90 seconds of Friday's win over Bloomingdale. Marve went on to rack up 282 yards and four touchdowns on 9-of-15 passing.

The first touchdown came after a holding penalty on the Panthers' first play-one of 16 flags for 120 yards on the night. On second-and-eight from the 12, Marve found a wide open Winter on the right side, and the fleet-footed receiver blazed 88 yards for the score.

After a Bloomingdale fumble on its first possession, Marve found Winter in the corner of the end zone for a 20-yarder and a 14-0 lead. Then, Marve hooked up with Cornelius Gallon on a 52-yard strike to make it 21-0.

Marve and Winter completed the hat trick on a 22-yard fade to the left corner of the end zone in the third quarter.

- JEREMY RASMUSSEN, Times Correspondent

DURANT 17, PLANT CITY 13

PLANT CITY - Durant scored offensive and defensive touchdowns in the first quarter against Plant City and held on for the win.

Durant's offense capitalized on Plant City's first-drive fumble with a 29-yard touchdown pass from Jeremy Fussell to a heavily defended Jack Coan.

"I thought it was going to be a deflected pass," Cougar coach Mike Gottman said. "Then all of a sudden (Coan) came down with it and made it to the end zone."

The Cougar defense came back and pressured Raiders quarterback Derrick Hargrove, forcing a fumble in the end zone that was recovered by Shane McDougall for a touchdown.

Jacari Bennett led the Raiders with 73 rushing yards, including a 5-yard TD run in the second quarter. However, 95 penalty yards doomed the Raiders. A holding penalty in the first quarter negated a 30-yard touchdown run by Bennett.

- JARRETT GUTHRIE, Times correspondent

GAITHER 21, SICKLES 0

TAMPA -- Only the year has to be changed on the Northwest Classic trophy. Gaither used a big second half to defeat Sickles , the identical result as in 2005. The Cowboys scored on their first two series after intermission to snap a scoreless tie.

PLAY OF THE GAME: John Chesnut's 24-yard pass to Kornelius Donnell at the Sickles 17 sparked a 61-yard scoring drive on Gaither's first drive of the second half, setting up Josh Sullivan's 13-yard TD run.

PLAYERS OF THE GAME: Gaither's Jarvis Giles rushed for 145 yards on 15 carries and a 68-yard TD. Teammate Tony Moore added a 73-yard scoring run to cap a 100-yard effort. Sickles punter Corey Page averaged 42.8 yards on seven kicks, including punts of 56 and 54 yards.

- DON JENSEN, Times correspondent

ROBINSON 34, KING 20

TAMPA - Robinson started the season strong with a balanced attack. Junior quarterback Justin Le led the Knights on 11-of-19 passing for 200 yards, three touchdowns and an interception. Two of Le's touchdowns were caught by Greg Ellingson, who also had a blocked punt and a tipped pass on defense.

"Ellingson is a special player," Robinson coach Mike DePue said. "He is going to be our go to guy this year."

The Knights got help from senior defensive linemen Ryan Scott and William Paleveda who controlled the line of scrimmage to help force two fumbles.

King's Dwayne Callaway ran for 60 yards on seven carries before leaving on a stretcher after receiving a stinger in the third quarter. Lions quarterback Keith Graham was 7-of-10 for 162 yards and a score.

- ADRIEN DE MARTINI, Times correspondent

RIVERVIEW 28, NEWSOME 7

RIVERVIEW - Riverview didn't complete a single pass all night but it didn't matter as the Sharks used a balanced running attack to run all over Newsome.

PLAY OF THE GAME: In the opening minute of the second quarter, Sharks running back Jahleel Addae returned a punt 50 yards to give Riverview a 14-0 lead.

PLAYERS OF THE GAME: Addae added 108 yards rushing on 14 carries, including a 60-yard touchdown scamper to put the game away in the third quarter. Wolves quarterback Keith Gosdoski threw for 109 yards and scored Newsome's lone touchdown on a 5-yard bootleg.

KEY STATISTIC: The Sharks had four runners gain at least 40 yards and finished with 289 yards

- JUSTIN DARGAHI, Times Correspondent

BLAKE 14, TAMPA BAY TECH 6

Blake spoiled the return of former coach Clarence Higdon with relentless defense. Higdon made his debut for Tampa Bay Tech after a three-year absence from coaching.

The Yellow Jackets broke a 6-6 tie after linebacker Vernon Hobbs returned an interception for 38 yards to give Blake the lead.

Junior fullback Willie Hobbs carried the ball 17 times for 84 yards to help Blake control the ball and the clock.

A swarming Blake defense held the Titans to only 102 yards of total offense. The Yellow Jackets secondary intercepted one pass and dropped four other passes.

"Our whole mentality is to control the ground game. We were able to run the ball very well tonight," Blake coach Sean Washington said. "Our defense really carried us for the win."

- BRENDAN GALELLA, Times correspondent

JESUIT 34, CURLEY 10

TAMPA - Miami Archbishop Curley kept it close until Jesuit piled on 17 fourth-quarter points. The Tigers found most of their success by pounding the ball behind senior tailback Kevin Valenti who rushed 23 times for 186 yards and two scores. The Tigers outrushed the Knights by 130 yards.

"Valenti and the offense really had a great game for us tonight," said Tigers coach Joe Ross.

The Tigers' defense caused all kinds of havoc for the visiting Knights, who fumbled twice over to Jesuit, one ran back by senior linebacker Thomas Moore for a score. The Knights' offense was unable to produce any points despite being inside the Tigers' 10-yard line twice.

"We worked on a lot of fundamental things this week in practice," said Ross. "Overall, I think we had a great game."

- DAN GENOVESE, Times correspondent

ROUNDUP

Tampa Catholic coach Bob Henriquez played his second-stringers in the second half after his starters put up 35 points in the first, leading to a 37-0 win over Celebration.

Senior quarterback Dickie de Lama threw for 125 yards and the offense rushed for 120 yards before the backups took over.

Miami Gulliver Prep 48, Berkley Prep 6: Gulliver Prep took an early 12-0 lead in the first quarter, adding eight more points before halftime.

Berkley Prep finally got on the scoreboard in the third when senior Josh Knight connected with senior Tyler Richardson, but it wasn't enough as Gulliver Prep went on to score 28 more points.

EASTBAY 47, LETO 26: After a 1-9 record last season and its first season under Hugh Denhert, Leto's third coach in three years, the Falcons' struggles continued against East Bay.

Providence 29, Tampa Baptist 13: Junior running back Matt Reynolds scored both of Tampa Baptist's touchdowns. He also served as the kicker, as there are only 17 active players on the team's roster.

- KEVIN SMETANA, Times correspondent

[Last modified August 26, 2006, 08:52:08]