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Melnik breaks loose for Eagles

© St. Petersburg Times,
published October 6, 2001

SPRING HILL -- For one half, Justin Melnik and the rest of the Springstead offense had barely a cameo on the field, so it's hard to blame them for not sharing the ball with Citrus when the game was on the line.

Springstead got a dominating 194 yards and two second-half touchdowns from Melnik, shutting down the Hurricanes for a 14-3 victory Friday at Booster Stadium.

"We always knew the kid could run the ball," said Eagles coach Bill Vonada, whose team had just two first downs and 15 offensive plays in the first half. "He's the kind of guy you want to get a bunch of carries like that because he really gets momentum."

Melnik had seven carries on the opening drive of the second half, capped by a 14-yard score.

Then he put the game away in the fourth, gaining all 85 yards in a seven-play drive he finished with a 37-yard touchdown run. He even added a two-point conversion, giving him all of the Eagles' points.

"Our offensive line stepped up -- they had some great blocking," said Melnik, a 165-pound junior who had 178 yards in the Eagles' first five games. "We all played tough tonight, and the defense stepped up. We knew once we got on the field, we would score."

Citrus (1-5) owned everything but the scoreboard in the first half -- two minutes before halftime, the Hurricanes had run 34 plays while holding Springstead (2-4) to nine.

Penalties plagued Citrus -- a false start on the opening drive turned a fourth-and-1 to a fourth-and-6 Citrus didn't convert. The team also drew an illegal substitution flag on the Springstead 3, eventually settling for a 22-yard field goal on an 18-play, 84-yard drive. Two second-half drives were scuttled by holding penalties on first down.

"We are not a first-and-25 ballclub," said coach Larry Bishop, who got 81 rushing yards from Isaiah Webb, but just 3 in the second half. "We let up in the second half. (Springstead) did nothing different, but we did something different: we missed tackles all night."

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