Preps

Dixie Hollins 37, Palm Harbor U. 34

By JEREMY WRITT, Times Correspondent
Published September 29, 2007

ST. PETERSBURG - After just 14 plays, Dixie Hollins (1-4) had amassed 135 yards and scored 14 points, but they still needed Jermeil Douse's 30-yard acrobatic touchdown reception from quarterback Josh Brown to secure a 37-34 homecoming win over Palm Harbor.

Raheem Smith capped an eight-play drive with his second 14-yard run in as many carries to give the Rebels an early 7-0 lead. Dixie's defense then forced Palm Harbor (0-4) to punt after allowing only four yards.

Brown scored Dixie's second touchdown six plays and 71 yards later to make it 14-0 at the end of the first quarter.

Dajuan Bush scored on a 42-yard run down the visitor's sideline in the second quarter to get Palm Harbor on the board, but the Dixie lead swelled to 24-7 by halftime.

The Hurricanes responded by outscoring the Rebels 27-13 in the second half, including a 14-0 third quarter. Sean Shelton found Kevin Dickinson for a 16-yard score, then ran in a touchdown from a yard out to make it 24-21 going into the fourth.

Shelton's 2-yard plunge gave the Hurricanes the lead briefly with 61 seconds remaining before Brown threw the game winner to Douse.

"It's big. When you got down like that you didn't know how your kids were going to respond," Dixie coach Mike Morey said. "We were 0-4 coming into this game and we very well could have laid down and said, 'We got beat again.' Kids made plays and that's what has been missing in the first four games. We needed to make some plays and we did."

[Last modified September 28, 2007, 23:44:00]