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Turnovers give Bears edge, 21-7

By BRANT JAMES

© St. Petersburg Times,
published September 16, 2001

NEW PORT RICHEY -- Field position has a lot to do with deciding most football games, but Central coach Steve Crognale thought it would have everything to do with the Bears' game at winless River Ridge on Saturday night.

Especially on a rain-soaked field, with a backup quarterback running his mistake-prone offense.

When he's right, he's right.

Central overcame a woeful first-half performance by scoring three touchdowns on short drives after turnovers, upending the Royal Knights 21-7 in both teams' Class 4A, District 6 opener.

The Bears (2-1) scored on drives of 33, 31 and 12 yards and got a touchdown and 126 rushing yards from junior Tim Gaynor. The tailback had more than 60 yards nullified by penalties. Central was flagged 14 times for 132 yards, 12 times in the first half.

Gaynor's 1-yard plunge gave the Bears a 14-7 lead with 8:10 left in the third quarter, three plays after Thomas Lobianco recovered a Ryan Mistal fumble at the Knight 12. A Jamie McElfresh interception on the next Knights' series led to a 3-yard plunge by Central fullback Steve Martin for a 21-7 lead.

Central's defense held River Ridge to minus-19 yards and had two sacks, two fumble recoveries and an interception in the third quarter.

River Ridge finished with 95 yards of offense.

"We cleaned it up and started thinking about football in the second half," Crognale said. "Once we got after them on defense in the second half things went pretty well."

A turnover was also involved in the Knights' score as quarterback Tim Dare took it in from the 1 to punctuate a 10-play, 39-yard drive set up when Adam Eberle recovered a fumble by Bears quarterback Todd Joa.

Central managed to reach halftime tied 7-7 after Joe Johnson recovered the first of three lost River Ridge fumbles at the Knight 31. Joa scored from the 1-yard line 10 plays later.

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