Patriots Rise, Cowboys Fall in Carrollwood Day School Football

If you showed up in the second half of this game you probably wondered if you were in the right place. Last seasons 58-55 marathon was nowhere in sight. It was just 13-8 at the half, Carrollwood Day School taking the lead on another of senior tailback Robert Davis' thrillride touchdown runs.

Carrollwood Day School kicked off at 4pm agaisnt district-leading Indian Rocks Christian.

It was all set up when senior Andy Embody intercepted an Eagle pass in the end zone to get the ball back. The Patriots took it 80 yards on four plays and they were the finest series of plays of the season. Senior athlete Nate Lewis one-handed a pass and took it into Eagle territory on a 38-yard catch-and-run. Then Davis got bottled up on an outside run, shook two defenders, took a full on hit from another defender, spun around, balanced and stiff-armed another defender as he slipped past him, around the corner and 38 yards all the way for the score.

The offense put up 28 points but in the end it was the defense that pulled it through for the Patriots. They stopped the Eagles on two fourth down plays, one in the fourth quarter that all but sealed the game.

"No senior on this team has lost a game on this field," head coach Lane McLaughlin said to his team during senior night at CDS.

The Patriots control their own destiny in the playoffs. If they beat a Cavalry Christian team on the road next Friday they are guaranteed a playoff spot.

Gaither High School:

Just down the street, at Ron Allen Field at Gaither High School, the Cowboys scored a late touchdown to go ahead 17-13 with 2:53 left to play. It was the play of the game, even if it came from the losing side. Junior quarterback Alex McGough had a low snap squirt through his legs and way behind him, ten yards behind him. McGough scoops it up, rolls to his left to avoid pressure and delivers a dart to senior Marcus Brown in the end zone.

On an earlier play, senior Dom Neglio got his hand on a Chamberlain punt, sophomore Samson Moore and the line in general got a third blocked punt in the game. On the punt Neglio blocked, senior Jeshua Williams scooped it up and took it the rest of the way in for a touchdown. Those were the Cowboys two touchdowns.

The Cowboys just could not contain the hard inside running of the Chamberlain Chiefs. The Chiefs gained 278 yards on 54 carries and it was on the very last play of the game, the Cheifs ran a reverse and it could not be stopped from eight yards out. The clock exipred on the play and the Cowboys were left heartbroken on their own field.

"It sucks, there's no other way to put it," head coach Jason Stokes said to his team.

The loss puts them in not just a tough situation but a situation where they must win next Friday against Tampa Bay Tech to even give themselves a chance to get in the playoffs.

"Football mirrors life sometimes," Stokes said. "Sometimes you give all you have and it isn't enough and you have to live with that."