It's all relative: A King leads Gibbs

By PETE YOUNG and ALEX LYNCH

© St. Petersburg Times, published June 1, 2000

PINELLAS PARK -- In a five-team spring football jamboree, Gibbs won the first two quarters, Lakewood won the last two, and if Cedric King keeps this up, Shaun King soon might have an identity crisis.

Cedric King, a rising senior for Gibbs and the brother of Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Shaun King, scored three touchdowns on long runs to lift the Gladiators to 12-minute wins over Osceola (15-7) and Tampa Catholic (8-0).

King scored the only points against TC when he lined up to punt, saw the Crusaders defense was undermanned on the right side, took the deep snap and raced 68 yards for the score, juking one man along the way.

In the first quarter against Osceola, King took a punt 62 yards for one score, catching it in stride and outsprinting the defense up the sideline. He also scored on a 35-yard reverse. King averaged 55 yards per scoring play.

"I was itching for the coaches to call (the reverse) earlier, but they didn't. So I looked to the sideline and I was like, "Coach, coach,' and he called it, and when I got it, there was nothing but daylight," King said. "We were a little sluggish on offense. If we're going to do what we plan to do next year, which is win the county and go to state, we have to do better than that on offense."

Osceola bounced back from the Gibbs defeat to edge Pinellas Park 7-0. Rising junior Jason Teague, who scored the Warriors' touchdown against Gibbs, had the lone score against Pinellas Park. He took a pitch right with a 1:32 remaining, shed a tackle and sprinted 35 yards up the sideline for the winning points.

"I got hit, lost my balance, got it back, and I just made a run for it then and dove in at the end," said Teague, who had a 54-yard run earlier in the quarter that led to a missed field goal attempt. Lakewood defeated Tampa Catholic 7-0 and Pinellas Park 15-0. Against the Crusaders, Spartans quarterback Darrien Copeland connected with T.J. Roberts for 30 yards on a slant pattern to set up the only touchdown, a 9-yard keeper by Copeland.

The Spartans caught a couple of breaks against Pinellas Park. With the quarter scoreless, Copeland fumbled and the Patriots' Sam Smith recovered and ran 80 yards untouched for an apparent touchdown. However, an illegal block well behind the play negated the score.

After Pinellas Park fumbled the ball back to Lakewood, Copeland scored his second touchdown of the night on a 3-yard run. The Spartans made it 15-0 when a Pinellas Park punt snap sailed too high, and Ricky Smith recovered it in the end zone.

Diverse debuts

DUNEDIN -- One coaching debut was successful, another was spoiled during Wednesday's jamboree at Dunedin.

Rick Rodriguez, a former assistant at Clearwater who took over at Largo this spring, won his first jamboree as the Packers rallied 7-6 against Dunedin.

The Falcons marched down the field on their opening possession and scored on a 3-yard touchdown run by Javier Jackson. The extra-point was missed.

The Packers didn't score until late in the second quarter of their half. Largo relied on the running of Devon Goodlow to move down the field and quarterback Marcus Paschall finished things with a 1-yard keeper. Brandon Mai made the extra point.

"We showed a lot of character to be able to come back and get the job done," Rodriguez said.

The loss put a damper on the night's festivities for Dunedin. Before their half, the Falcons retired the No. 33 jersey of Crawford Ker. Ker played one year on Dunedin varsity in 1980 before going on to be a star lineman at Florida and in the NFL.

In the other half, Mike June, an assistant at Palm Harbor University since the program's inception, lost for the first time as head coach as Tarpon Springs rallied 8-7. The Hurricanes scored first when James Brown returned a punt from midfield. The Spongers countered in the second quarter on Nelson Walker's touchdown run and Anthony Houllis' keeper on a 2-point conversion.

Houllis, cousin of starting quarterback Achilleas Houllis, started the half. Anthony played because Achilleas broke his hand this spring.

BOGIE ROMPS: Playing Friday at Florida Atlantic University, Boca Ciega beat Miami Coral Park 24-0. Pirates coach Jean Gordon had success alternating quarterbacks Wilbur Hunter and Dan Eanes, as both directed long scoring drives. Boca Ciega also benefitted from the running and receiving of Justin Whittaker. -- BOB PUTNAM

Harris sparks Northeast

ST. PETERSBURG -- Northeast junior quarterback/safety Andrew Harris shined on both sides of the ball and led his team over Dixie Hollins 20-13. Dixie Hollins got on the board first in the opening quarter, capitalizing on a fumbled punt return by Dominique Flower at the Viking 9. Fullback Jeremy Kerr ran the full 9 yards for the touchdown on the first play to give the Rebels the lead at 7-0.

In the second quarter, Harris completed two passes to Mawase Falana, who had three receptions for 89 yards, one of which Falana stole a sure interception from Melvin Teartt and ran the distance for a Viking touchdown.

With Northeast leading 14-7 and 4:30 left in the game, Harris lofted a pass that was picked off at the goal line by Jeremy Digman, who ran the ball back 95 yards to the Viking 5. Kerr scored again, and the Rebels decided to go for the lead with a two-point conversion. But Kerr could not get it in, and Northeast retained the lead at 14-13.

With 1:25 left, Harris ended the Rebels' hopes by intercepting a Digman pass and going 45 yards for the game-clinching TD.

"(Harris) is for real," Northeast coach Jerry Austin said. "He is an outstanding football player. I can't name a college team that hasn't been here to see him. He has started ever since he was a ninth-grader and did an excellent job tonight."

ALEX LYNCH

© St. Petersburg Times. All rights reserved.

Headlines

Americans Lose in 1st Round of Davis Cup

---