Preps

Boca Ciega 13, Bradenton Southeast 10

By NATHAN COWAN, Times Correspondent
Published October 20, 2007

BRADENTON - The Boca Ciega Pirates traveled to Bradenton Southeast for a key 4A-District 9 matchup, using a stout defense and strong running game to improve their their district record to 2-1.

"Late in the game it came down to our guys up front," Pirate coach Stevie Thomas said. "We knew if the (defensive) linemen did their jobs we could win."

The Pirates defense was the story of the night, holding the Seminoles to 105 yards of total offense.

"They came out and hit us in the mouth," said Southeast coach Paul Maechtle. "Our guys were shocked and never recovered from that."

The Pirates struck first on their second possession of the game when Pirate quarterback Orhion Johnson found running Mundrae Francis in the left flat. Francis turned the short pass into a 42 yard score. Randall Klafter made the PAT to make the score 7-0.

Boca Ciega aided the next Southeast drive with two personal foul penalties, but the Seminoles had to settle for a 28-yard field goal by Mike Cline to cut their halftime deficit to 7-3.

Boca Ciega scored on its first possession of the second half, using seven plays to go 67 yards, including Donald Warren's 7-yard touchdown run. The PAT failed and the Pirates held 13-3 lead. The big plays on the drive were a 26 yard run by Darius Johnson and a 20 run by Francis.

Following a Boca Ciega fumble, Southeast pulled with 13-10 on quarterback Bruce Kelly's 18-yard scoring run.

Southeast had chances to tie or win the game after stopping the Pirates twice, but couldn't sustain any drives and Boca Ciega ran out the clock.

In the second half the Pirates racked up 149 yards on the ground.

"We always want to establish the run but we made some miscues that put us in spots where we had to throw the ball," Thomas said.

After hearing about the Northeast loss to Bradenton Bayshore, Thomas wanted to make sure his players didn't lose focus.

"We can only worry about what we do and we have to stay focused on Osceola," Thomas said. "While we are happy to hear they lost, I'm more concerned with our team. I commend our guys for playing hard the entire game."

[Last modified October 20, 2007, 00:26:04]