TAMPA — As the Lennard football team walked down the sideline to the other end of the field, the fourth quarter about to begin, a few players made the iconic Longhorn sign with their thumbs and pinky fingers and lifted it in the air.

Their hands were high, but their heads were low.

Lennard, in pursuit of its second straight win for the first time in four seasons, had a lead, but not for long. King began the fourth quarter on the 2-yard line and scored a go-ahead touchdown moments later.

The Longhorns’ disappointment, though, would be brief. Lennard marched down the field later in the fourth, and freshman quarterback Devin Black connected with Deshawn Barnes for a 58-yard, winning touchdown as Lennard beat the Lions 20-17.

It’s Keith Chattin’s third season coaching the Longhorns, but he saw a different team on the field Friday night.

“We didn’t have that toughness the first two years,” he said. “The way we fought back tonight, the last two years that game would have been over.”

Lennard, which won its preseason game and season-opener against East Bay, showed up at Bill Stewart Stadium with momentum. And it didn’t take the Longhorns long to capitalize on it.

Senior athlete Diontae Johnson returned the opening kickoff 95 yards for a touchdown to put Lennard up early. 

“I saw a big hole, and I hit it,” Johnson said. “My mentality is to get the ball in the end zone.”

Johnson’s teammate, Josh Shelman, did the same late in the second quarter to give Lennard a 13-7 lead — King quarterback Demario Brisbon scored on a 1-yard keeper minutes earlier — but the Lions weren’t done scoring. Just before the break, Alex Alhomsi kicked a 20-yard field goal to cut the Longhorns’ lead to three. 

The Lions took control of the game, and soon the lead, in the second half. But as the dejected Longhorns moped along the sidelines, the Lennard coaches continued to remind them the game wasn’t over. After going 1-19 during the previous two season, the Longhorns’ newfound magic hadn’t yet run out.

And when Black hit Barnes for the 58-yard winner on third-and-10, less than three minutes to go in the game, that much was overwhelmingly evident. 

 “I’ve been through the losing. It was all just 'I’ instead of the team,” Johnson said. “We got a goal — to get to the playoffs — and we’re not stopping till we get there.”

CLEARWATER — St. Petersburg pulled away from Clearwater in the fourth quarter of a wild back-and-forth contest. The much improved Tornadoes used the legs of sophomore Adarius Lemons to stay close, but it was not enough to overcome a tough Green Devils squad led by sophomore quarterback Austyn Causey.

Drive of the game: Clearwater trailed 26-16 at the half. St. Pete fumbled the opening kickoff of the second half, and Lemons scored from 13 yards on the next play. After a Lemons touchdown on the Tornadoes’ next drive to make it 30-26, it looked like Clearwater might be en route to winning its first game since the 2012 regular season. Green Devils running back Jarrett O’Connell scored from 18 yards to change the momentum and put St. Petersburg up for good.

Play of the game: Lemons spun out of a crowd of Green Devils and darted downfield into the end zone on a spectacular run in the second quarter, the second of his four touchdowns.

Stars of the game: Jacquel Waller scored three touchdowns for St. Petersburg. Lionel Hart returned a kick off 85 yards for the Green Devils. Lemons finished with 142 yards on 16 carries to go with his four touchdowns for Clearwater.

Final word: “We always talk about playing until the end of the game. Our kids understand that we are going to finish the game. My assistants do a great job of keeping the kids on an even keel.” — St. Petersburg coach Joe Fabrizio

CLEARWATER — Countryside (2-0) scored on its first two drives of the game and cruised to an easy  victory over Bradenton Southeast. Running back Dante Satcher had two touchdowns while Trent Chmelik and Giavanni Gonzalez connected for two scores.

Drive of the game: The Cougars took the opening drive and went 72 yards in six plays with Chmelik hitting a wide open Gonzalez in the back of the end zone from 22 yards out. Chmelik was 3-of-3 for 67 yards on the drive.

Play of the game: Satcher gave Countryside a 21-0 lead midway through the second quarter on a 30-yard jaunt after a poor punt by Southeast — one of several mishaps for the Seminoles. It was Satcher’s second score of the game and best run as he and many of the Cougars starters would sit out much of the second half.

Stars of the game: Gonzalez had a strong game with six catches for 113 yards and two touchdowns. Satcher didn’t have his best statistical games but finished with 88 total yards (67 rushing, 21 receiver) on 13 touches and two touchdowns.

Stat of the game: Countryside’s defense, which has given up some big plays early this season, held the Seminoles to just 33 yards in the first half.

Final word:“Right now the offense is running smoothly and the line is blocking well. Everyone’s on the same page and we all share a will to win.” — Satcher on the team’s 2-0 start.

The Durant Cougars (1-1)  defeats the Sickles Gyrphons (1-1) 30-20 behind the arms and legs of senior quarterback Erick Davis. Davis rushed for 135 yards and passed for 89 yards and a touchdown.

Key drive: Right out of the gates of the secnd half, Davis ran it up the gut of the Sickles defense for a 77-yard touchdown make the score 24-7.

Key play: As the Gryphons defense was holding the Cougars on third and 15, Davis found Aaron Zofnas for 30 yards leading up to a Derek Wells 44-yard field goal to put Durant up 30-14.

Key players: Durant senior Crispian Atkins ran for 150 yards on 15 attempts and a touchdown. Derek Wells was 3-for-3 on field goals of 44, 33 and 30.

Key stat: The Cougar defense was very stingy and corralled Clemson commit Ray Ray McCloud III to 35 yards and one touchdown.

Final word:"I think we can be very good, we just got to get better from week to week; we did some good things tonight." Durant coach Mike Gottman

CLEARWATER — Tampa Catholic and Clearwater Central Catholic had two very different weeks leading up to Friday’s game.

The Crusaders found out they would be without three wide receivers, including highly regarded junior Nate Craig, for a prolonged period. The Marauders found out they were moved to the top spot in the Class 3A Associated Press poll, and they got brand-new yellow jerseys just before the game.

The result was predictable.

After a slow start, CCC rolled over Tampa Catholic 38-0 in a game that required a running clock midway through the third quarter. The Marauders outgained the Crusaders 407 to 148.

“Okay, we can wear the yellow jerseys again,” CCC coach John Davis told his team. “Even if you do look like a bunch of bananas.”

Tampa Catholic was without Craig, Bentlee Sanders and Darius Corbett due to injury. But very early on, it looked like that might not matter.

CCC botched a snap on its second play of the game, giving TC the ball on the Marauders’ 6-yard line. But Crusaders freshman quarterback Kevin Knox fumbled on the second play and CCC took over on its own 7.

The Marauders (2-0) settled down and started moving. C.J. Cotman ended a nine-play, 93-yard drive when he scored from 6 yards out. The drive was highlighted by a 41-yard pass from Jeff Smith to Jacobi Adderly.

On their next possession, Smith ran a quarterback keeper up the middle for a 50-yard touchdown to make it 13-0. 

In the second quarter, CCC scored two more touchdowns. The first came on a 19-yard run by Smith and the second on a 16-yard run by Cotman. The Crusaders had trouble getting anything going in the half, with 16 yards passing and 62 yards rushing. CCC had 290 total yards.

Smith did almost all of his damage in the first half. By the time he was yanked in the third quarter, he had 99 yards rushing and 154 passing.

“(Smith’s) pretty good,” Davis said. “I think he’s the best quarterback in the area. I wouldn’t trade him for anybody.”

Tampa Catholic (0-2) had a punt and two fumbles on their second-half possessions, and five total turnovers.

CCC ended its scoring with a 35-yard third-quarter run by Scott DePergola and a 36-yard field goal by Yanni Ramos.

“This is a rivalry game and they’ve been talking about how they beat us for a year,” DePergola said. “We’ve been waiting for this game all year.”

NAPLES — Calvary Christian traveled to Naples and made sure the St. John Neumann offense wouldn’t travel at all.
The Warriors held the Celtics to only 143 yards of offense in a 28-0 victory Friday night. St. John Neumann managed only four first downs the whole night.

Calvary Christian quarterback Jack Sheehan threw for 130 yards and one touchdown for the Warriors. Stephon Williams rushed for 95 yards and two scores. Wes Vollmer caught six passes for 88 yards.

Calvary Christian coach Todd Yoder again learned that defense is the strength of his team.

“We have a lot of big, strong physical guys,” Yoder said. “We did a good job of stuffing the run and running downhill. The key to our offense was how we mixed up the run and throwing the ball. We got physical with the other team, which is what we wanted to do. We had some penalties early that hurt us. It was hard, because we moved the ball well, yet shot ourselves in the foot a little bit.”

The Warriors had possession on the ball for all but two minutes of the first quarter. Then the Warriors went on a five minute, 70-yard touchdown drive, culminating with a score on Stephon Williams’ 2-yard run.

Calvary Christian then recovered an onside kick on the kickoff and moved on to its second touchdown. Jake Sheehan ran it in from 12 yards out and went ahead 14-0 with 3:13 left until halftime.

TAMPA — Playing in a nine-team district leaves little margin for error, which Hillsborough found out last year after dropping its first two games to Jefferson and Armwood and spending the rest of the season hoping one of them would lose.

Neither did.

This season, the only scoreboard the Terriers will need to worry about will be the one on the field they play on.

Thanks to a Herculean second-half effort from star quarterback Dwayne Lawson and its unsung defense, the Terriers knocked off Jefferson 33-24 Friday night at Chelo Huerta Field.

The Terriers (1-0) avenged a season-opening loss to the Dragons that effectively wrecked their season.

“That Jefferson game has been on us for 365 days,” said Hillsborough coach Earl Garcia. “It was killing us.”

Jefferson will now likely have to beat Armwood and hope Hillsborough loses another district game to have any playoff possibilities. The Terriers won despite losing standout receiver Anthony King to a knee injury, suffered on a kick return, in the first half and trailed 17-13 at halftime.

The Dragons (1-1) had a chance to put the Terriers in a deeper hole, grinding out a 17-play drive that took 7:23 off the clock to start the third quarter. But they had to settle for a field goal attempt, which sailed wide.

“We told our football team that the team that wanted to win it most would win,” Garcia said. “We were down eight at the half last year, and this time it was four. We told them it was our turn.”

Hillsborough took over the ball, and Lawson scrambled spectacularly for a 53-yard touchdown a few plays later to give the Terriers a short-lived advantage, because Antonio Nunn took the ensuing kickoff back 75 yards to restore Jefferson to a 24-20 lead.

But that was the Dragons’ last gasp, and Lawson was just getting started. He drove the Terriers 80 yards on their next possession, completing 7 of 10 passes to set up a Michael Duclos 10-yard touchdown run to put Hillsborough ahead 27-24 with 11 minutes left.

Then Hillsborough recovered the insides kick, and scored on a 14-play, 44-yard drive that ate up six minutes off the clock.

Lawson, a Miami commitment, used his legs to convert a fourth-and-4, and his arm to complete an 11-yard pass on fourth and goal to Xavier Byrd, who made a terrific diving catch in the end zone. The Terriers defense, led by Justin Moore, Armand Chalk and Azeez Al-Shaair, was stout in the second half.

While Lawson was completing 13 of 21 for 135 yards and combining with Duclos to rush for over 100 yards in the second half, Jefferson managed just 27 rushing yards and 22 passing. 

After its seven-minute drive to open the second half, the Dragons had the ball on offense for less than three minutes.

Lawson finished 23 for 36 passing for 244 yards, while rushing 18 times for 104 yards.

PALMETTO — Boring is an adjective that cannot be applied to Palmetto’s football team.

Unfortunately for the Tigers, a large dose of early season excitement has yet to lead to a win after the Tigers fell 34-31 to Lakewood.
This comes a week after Palmetto (0-2) lost by two in Venice, and similar to that game, in which the two teams combined for 90 points, Friday’s contest featured a bevy of fireworks.

But it also included a flurry of penalty flags chucked at Palmetto, including a pair of fourth-quarter personal-foul penalties that destroyed an offensive drive and fueled a Lakewood one that resulted in the game’s deciding touchdown.

One flag brought the ball from the Spartans 31 to their 46. And three plays later, hotly recruited quarterback Ryan Davis hit Joshua Page for a 24-yard touchdown to give Lakewood a 32-31 lead with 6:27 to go. Davis and Page hooked up on the ensuing two-point conversion.
Davis, who has nearly 30 Division I offers, rushed for 135 yards and a touchdown and threw for three more. The Spartans, who reached the Class 5A final four last year and are ranked 10th in their classification this season, totaled 441 yards of offense.

The Tigers did their share of scoring, too, thanks in part to Quincy Washington, who rushed for 130 yards and gave Palmetto a 31-26 lead when he returned a kickoff return 83 yards for a touchdown with 2:24 left in the third quarter.

EAST LAKE — There are a number of reasons East Lake has become Pinellas County’s dominant program, from a punishing running game to a stifling defense.

Perhaps the least known factor, though, is the Eagles’ ability to play lights out on special teams. Last season, East Lake blocked 12 punts or field goals, nearly all of them resulting in scores or a short field.

On Friday, the Eagles continued their knack for blocking kicks. Carson Lydon blocked one punt and tackled the punter before he could get off a punt on Largo’s first two series. The Eagles turned both of those big plays into points, jumping out to a big lead en route to a 42-0 victory in which a running clock was used in the second half because of the mercy rule.

It was fitting that Lydon played the biggest role in those game-changing plays. The senior linebacker, who moved here from North Carolina before the start of last season, had his breakout game against the Packers a year ago when he recorded 10 tackles, a sack and an interception. Lydon came through again Friday. Not only did he have two blocked punts, but he also had a sack and scored on an 11-yard run.

“There’s something about playing this team (Largo) that makes me want to step it up and turn on another switch,” Lydon said. “I just want to go all out.”

Lydon’s first blocked punt came on the opening possession. He scooped it up and returned it for a score, but it was called back on a penalty. No matter. Dylan Renaker scored on a 20-yard run on the Eagles’ first play from scrimmage to go up 7-0. On the second blocked punt, Lydon converged with Regis Steighner on the tackle. Cedric Frierson had a 6-yard touchdown run to make it 14-0.

The Packers were flummoxed after that. Twice in the first half, they went for it on fourth down rather than punt. Each time, they failed to convert. East Lake kept piling on the points as quarterback Jake Hudson hit Bryce Miller on a 6-yard touchdown pass and Lydon had his scoring run to make it 28-0 at the half.

“Those two blocked absolutely were huge,” Eagles coach Bob Hudson said. “The past two years we’ve blocked quite a lot of kicks. We work on it as much as anyone.”

By the second half, the route was on. Frierson had another touchdown run and Ammillious Bennett rounded out the scoring with a touchdown run on the final play of regulation.   In the third quarter, the Eagles had rolled to a 35-0 lead, signaling a running clock. It was the 11th time in the last 12 regular season games the Eagles have had a running clock on their opponent.

“The score, 42-0, I wouldn’t have bet on that happening,” Bob Hudson said. “There’s something about this game where the guys strap it on a bit tighter and get after it.”

Stars of the game 

Carson Lydon, East Lake: The senior linebacker had two blocked punts, a sack and scored on an 11-yard touchdown run.

Jake Hudson, East Lake: He was efficient, completing six of eight passes for 60 yards and a touchdown.

Each week, our HomeTeam staffers nominate male and female Hot Shot athletes from each of the counties we cover. Then we turn the voting over to readers. These nominations span Saturday, Aug. 30 through Friday, Sept. 5 The winners get a T-shirt and bragging rights over every other school in the area. Read up on all of our nominees then vote until noon Monday.

Girls

Julia Angelo, volleyball, Palm Harbor University: In a 3-1 win over Seminole on Thursday, the sophomore outside hitter had 13 kills, 21 digs, two aces and four blocks. She also had 25 digs and 15 kills in a straight set win over Sarasota Riverview on Tuesday.

Ali Bronson, volleyball, Hernando:  The sophomore outside hitter had 11 kills, nine service aces and 20 digs in the Leopards' 3-1 win against Central on Thursday. Bronson has led Hernando to a 3-0 district start, totaling 42 kills, 13 aces and 48 digs.

Morgan Perotti, swimming, Palm Harbor University: The senior was a champion in the 100 fly, and was on the winning 200 medley and 400 free relay teams in last week's dual victory over Countryside. 

Aisling Sheehan, volleyball, Carrollwood Day: The senior outside hitter had 14 kills and three blocks in a 3-0 win against Shorecrest on Tuesday, then added 15 more kills in the Patriots' 3-0 win against Brooks DeBartolo on Thursday. Sheehan, who had a team-high 261 kills last season, has led Carrollwood Day to a 3-0 start. 

Sarah Sprague, volleyball, Sunlake: The senior outside hitter had a team-high 17 kills in the Seahawks’ 3-0 win against Gulf on Thursday. Sprauge leads Sunlake, now 5-1, with 77 kills, 12 aces and 25 digs. 

Victoria Trueheart, volleyball, Tampa Bay HEAT: The senior outside hitter had 14 kills and just one error in a 3-0 win against  Academy at the Lakes on Tuesday. She added two aces, a block and a team-high 12 digs. Trueheart leads the Tampa Bay HEAT (2-2, 1-0) with 53 kills, 30 more than the next best player. 

Boys

Anderson Combs, swimming, Hudson: The sophomore took first in the 50 free and 100 free, and swam anchor leg on the winning 200 medley relay to help the Cobras beat River Ridge 87-50 in a dual meet. 

Malik Davis, football, Jesuit: The sophomore running back rushed for 174 yards on 22 carries and three touchdowns, two of those coming in double overtime of the win at Lakewood Ranch.

Cooper Hoffman, swimming, Countryside: The senior finished first in the 100 and 200 free, and anchored the winning 200 and 400 free relay teams to help the Cougars beat Palm Harbor University, snapping the Hurricanes' nine-year win streak in dual meets.

Dwayne Lawson, football, Hillsborough: Well, we asked if anyone could contain him and the answer Friday was no. The senior merely passed for 226 yards and two touchdowns, then ran for another 100 and two scores in the win over district rival Jefferson. 

Daniel Wright, football, Springstead: The senior gained 135 yards and scored three touchdowns in Springstead's 27-0 win over Weeki Wachee. He had TD runs of 35, 4 and 3 yards.

Carson Lydon, football, East Lake: The senior linebacker blocked two punts, recorded a sack and scored on an 11-yard run in the Eagles’ 42-0 win over Largo.

TAMPA — Plant defended its girls title with 254 points and the Berkeley Prep boys scored 256 to win after an eight-year absence in Saturday’s City Relays at the Bobby Hicks Pool.

Plant’s boys also tied defending champion Jesuit’s 236 as runnerup in the 24-team field. And Berkeley Prep’s girls were third at 208.

“I think we were more relaxed this year and that might have helped,” Plant coach Gil Gonzalez said of his team’s repeat. “This year, everything fell into place.”

Plant and Newsome each won two girls relays. Plant’s victories came in the 200 freestyle and 400 free while Newsome had firsts in the 500 free crescendo and 400 medley.

Freshman Morgan Tankersley was among the Panthers’ top swimmers, noted Gonzalez, adding, “Morgan’s the real deal and it just made it easier to spread out.”

Berkeley Prep returned to the City Relays, in part, due to pressure from the team’s swimmers.

“The kids wanted to come back. They’ve been begging me to come back,” coach Kevin Rosepapa said. “It’s always rewarding to come here. Plus, we’ve had some great swims.”

Berkeley Prep’s boys racked up four victories.

While the swimmers were out to win, the camaraderie of an all-relay event was not lost on such competitors as Plant’s Tylor Heath.

“It’s a great time for team bonding,” he said.

Newsome, which took fourth in the girls relays, won the Spirit Award.

ST. PETERSBURG — Saturday at North Shore Pool, Palm Harbor University’s girls swim team was cheering vociferously from the deck.

Not so uncommon, right? Well, they were rooting on the final swimmer of Pinellas Park High’s 200-yard freestyle team who was a fair distance behind the pack.

That’s what makes the Total Team Challenge relays special. Unity of team and community is more important than results.

“There’s only one meet like this,” St. Petersburg senior Charli Baden said. “We’re here to be very spirited, dress up in costumes, have a good time and cheer.”

Northeast junior captain Ian White added, “We’ve been here since 6:30 a.m. (the meet started at 9) and we keep going until we’re hoarse.”

Well-practiced chants, synchronized splashing and impromptu multi-school in-water conga lines create a cacophony of sound that judges have to grade.

The genesis of the event came in 1990. Northeast and Winter Park spent a thunder delay cheering to each other in the gym and a lightbulb appeared over Northeast head coach Bill Burrows.

“We decided the kids needed a team-unified beginning to their season, something that was low-pressure where they could have a good time competing. The focus is on spirit and sportsmanship, and that’s intentional.”

The kids embraced the concept and looked to win. Signs, props and outfits based on school nicknames appeared — Viking horns, sharks and such.

“The most unusual one I saw was a salmon costume that a swim team borrowed from their football team mascot,” said White, who saw his wish of a 3A spirit championship come true, Northeast’s first in 20-plus years.

Shorecrest (1A), Lakewood (2A), St. Petersburg (4A) and Palm Harbor (overall) were the other spirit winners among the 21 schools.

“It’s tough to have the favorite part of my season so early,” PHU senior Morgan Perrotti said, “but it’s a great kickoff to a great season. It’s a lot of fun.”

Perrotti joined Caroline Ward and Julia Gawlik to set a 200 fly meet record (1:51.28) and lead the Hurricanes to the girls title. Tampa Prep’s 100 medley relay of Caroline Brown, Savannah Scott, seventh-grader Ava Carter and Hannah Fredlake set a meet mark of 51.96 as part of its second-place finish.

Charlotte took the boys crown with PHU and Tampa Prep following close behind.

4 teams that are better than we thought

Hillsborough: We didn’t think the Terriers were bad. But the way the Terriers played defense in the second half against Jefferson, and the play of quarterback Dwayne Lawson, has inspired us. The Terriers’ frenetic and aggressive no-huddle offense is going to be a big problem for teams this year.

Sunlake: Apparently losing their offensive line and a ton of defensive starters isn’t enough to slow down the Seahawks. After beating Pasco last week and manhandling River Ridge on Friday, this is clearly the team to beat on the North Suncoast this year.

Indian Rocks Christian: Now, we already thought they were good enough to contend for a state title, but the Golden Eagles are beating teams so thoroughly even we can’t believe it.

Brandon: The Eagles beat Blake in the opener and fell in overtime to Bloomingdale this week. The offense isn’t putting up pretty numbers, but its defense is shaping up as one of grittiest around.

4 players who are better than we thought

1. Daniel Davis, Tarpon Springs: Yeah, we knew all about Davis before the season started, but not so sure we thought he could rush for 142 yards and catch passes for another 152 and average 29 yards every time he touched the ball, like he did Friday.

2. Malik Davis, Jesuit: Even sharing a backfield with Kevin Newman isn’t slowing Davis down. The sophomore ran for 174 yards and a couple of overtime touchdowns in a win over Lakewood Ranch on Friday night.

3. Rudy Dawson, Hillsborough: Dawson had 13 catches and two runs, and six of his 15 touches produced first downs. He was all over the field on offense Friday night. With Anthony King out with a possible torn ACL, Dawson could end up with huge numbers this season.

4. Trenton Soto, Fivay: In his last three games (two this season, final game of last season) the Falcon wide receiver has 14 catches, 369 yards and eight touchdowns. 

4 mind-bending performances

1. Tyrie Adams, Dixie Hollins: Whoever picked this guy to lead Pinellas County in passing might be a genius. Oh wait, that was me. We’ll have to do some research, but that 505-yard passing performance Friday night might be a county record.

2. Garrett Young, Cambridge Christian: After accounting for six touchdowns last week, the senior quarterback had seven (five passing, two rushing) this week. Well, Garrett, now you’re just showing off.

3. Jaylen Pickett, Zephyrhills: Good last week. Great this week. A career-high 261 yards for the senior athlete, and he’s just getting started.

4. Dixie Hollins and Northeast: Defense? We don’t need no stinking defense. The teams combined for 109 points.

4 random thoughts

1. CCC quarterback Jeff Smith looks like a different guy this year. Faster, smoother and more confident. I think he might be the best quarterback in Tampa Bay right now.

2. East Lake is so good. It has had a running clock because of the mercy rule (ahead by 35 points in the second half) in 11 of its last 12 regular-season games, including Friday’s 42-0 win over Largo. It was the Packers’ most lopsided loss since a 47-2 defeat against Lakewood in 1999. The average score for East Lake in those 12 games: 47-5.

3. If I may borrow a line from the Joker in the original Batman movie, East Bay sure likes to dance with the devil in the pale moonlight. Friday’s 7-6 win over Riverview was the the third time in its past four victories, dating to last season, that Easy Bay won by a single point.

4. The most surprising losses Friday night, in order: Pinellas Park (to Gibbs), Sickles (to Durant), and Pasco (to Fiv…) oh wait a minute, that wasn’t a loss, was it? Still...we’re surprised.

SMQ Team of the Week: Durant

On the first play Friday night, Sickles quarterback Isaac Holder hit Trey Fullwood for an 80-yard touchdown. It was the start, oddly enough, of a fantastic night for the Durant defense.

The opening play aside, the Cougars swarmed the vaunted Sickles running game, holding Ray Ray McCloud III to 39 yards on 15 carries and shocking the Gryphons, who are ranked No. 2 in the HomeTeam 25, by a 30-20 score.

“I mean, 34 (McCloud III) and 1 (Holder) were two very, very talented guys that we had to really, really pay attention to,” Durant coach Mike Gottman said. “I had no idea we would shut them down like we did. I think our kids were excited about the challenge. They just rose to the occasion.”

Durant played most of the night in its base defense and rarely blitzed. But a few adjustments after last week’s loss to Armwood, and some solid outings by freshman inside linebacker Tanner Jurnigan, safety Quenton Williams and defensive tackle Dustin Miller helped Durant become the first Tampa Bay team to hold McCloud under 100 yards since Jefferson in 2012, 15 games ago.

It was McCloud’s lowest rushing total since his freshman season.

“He’s pretty special,’’ Gottman said. ”I was kind of amazed.”

Durant got a career-high 150 yards rushing from Crispian Atkins, and quarterback Erick Davis threw for 89 yards and rushed for 134. Gottman also said kicker Derek Wells was key. The senior kicked three field goals (33, 30 and 44 yards) and put every kickoff except one in the end zone.

SMQ Player of the Week: D.J. Johnson, Gibbs 

Gibbs coach Rick Kravitz raved about the speed of  D.J. Johnson during the spring and preseason. On a team full of athletes, Kravitz believed Johnson was the fastest and most athletic of all. That proved true Friday night in Gibbs’ 22-14 upset win over Pinellas Park. Johnson was a fill-in for Tyrell Hubbard-Smith, who missed practices due to illness and did not start at quarterback. Johnson threw for 108 yards and scored a touchdown. 

Coach of the Week: Steve Lewis, Seffner Christian

Roughly 950 miles from West Point, Va., where Steve Lewis picked up the first win of his career coaching Essex High School, the coach picked up No. 150 Friday night. A longtime local fixture, Lewis has coached locally at now defunct Temple Heights Christian, Cambridge Christian and helped start the programs at Strawberry Crest and Seffner Christian. He might have one of his best teams this year. The Crusaders are 2-0 after a 35-10 win against St. Stephen’s. Seffner Christian had nearly 150 yards in penalties but Marcus Richardson rushed for more than 200 yards, and quarterback Jacob Couch added 123 through the air to deliver the milestone win to this 43-year veteran.

Chasing history

Lakewood quarterback Ryan Davis threw for 167 yards in a 34-31 win over Palmetto. He now has 4,954 yards passing in his high school career, which includes two years at Northeast. East Lake’s Pete DiNovo is the Pinellas County passing yards leader with 6,733. That means Davis needs 1,780 passing in the next eight games (or fewer if the Spartans make the playoffs) to surpass DiNovo, an average of 222.5 per game. 

Freshman: 343 yards (Northeast)

Sophomore: 2,120 yards (Northeast)

Junior: 2,158 yards (Lakewood)

Senior: 333 yards

Next up: at St. Petersburg

Clearwater Central Catholic senior outiside hitter Sara Brown has committed to play sand volleyball at Louisiana State. Brown has been on the varsity roster since her freshman year. Last season, she had 162 kills and 269 digs in helping the Marauders reach the Class 3A state semifinals.

Brown joins fellow senior Katie Moore as a Division I signee. Moore is committed to playing volleyball at Wake Forest.

LSU started its sand volleyball program last season.

Seminole senior middle hitter Samantha Schlesman has committed to Rollins College. Schlesman has been the Warhawks top hitter for the past two seasons. Last season she led the team with 228 kills. She has 51 kills in five matches this season.

Schlesman was a Times first team All County selection and a first team member of the PCAC team as a junior. She is in her second year as captain of the Warhawks.

Clearwater Central Catholic proved it may be one of the best teams in the area on Saturday by winning the East Lake Invitational. Andrew Heric won medalist honors by shooting a 2-over, 74 at Lansbrook. He was one shot better than Howie George of Trinity Catholic and two shots ahead of teammate Martin Fennemore.

The Marauders won the overall tournament with a team score of 312, six shots ahead of host East Lake. Countryside was third with a score of 327.

Chase Baum of Palm Harbor University, Ryan Hicks of Countryside and Sean Murray of East Lake each shot 77s to tie for fourth.

Sickles’ Brian Turner has been suspended from coaching football for two weeks following his ejection from a junior varsity game last week.

Turner was not on the sideline for Friday’s 30-20 varsity loss to Durant, having been ejected the previous night from the JV game.

Based on Policy 30 in the Florida High School Athletic Association rulebook, Turner is ineligible for a minimum of two weeks, from Sept. 4-18. He also must complete a six-hour “fundamentals of coaching” course, which carries a fee of $50, before he is reinstated. Sickles was also fined $200.

Turner will miss this week’s home game against Newsome. Calls to Turner seeking comment were not returned.

According to the incident report filed by the West Coast Officials Association to the Florida High School Athletic Association, Turner — who was not coaching the JV team but was there watching — went at least “6 yards from the sideline onto the field of play” to protest a holding call in the second quarter. Asked to return to the sideline by the refs, Turner “said that the referee did not know what he was doing” and needed to learn the rules.

Turner was asked multiple times to leave the field of play, and JV coaches and assistants also tried to get him off the field. 

When he continued to argue the call, a flag was thrown for a sideline warning, and Turner responded by telling the referee that “he was the head coach and he would make sure we never officiated again and continued to argue…,” drawing another flag for unsportsmanlike conduct. 

After more “of the same behavior” resulted in another unsportsmanlike flag, Turner was officially ejected from the game. He refused to leave, however, until the Sickles principal made him.

“The coach was given every opportunity to leave calmly so that play could resume,’’ the report concluded. “He seemed intent on ridiculing the officiating crew.”

Casey Engel picked five games right in the first week of HomeTeam Pick 'Em. Only two people had a worse record. People looked at Engel when he walked into stores and restaurants all week, pointing with one hand and covering their giggles and snickers with the other.

But Engel can stop wearing disguises in public.

Tied with three others with a 14-2 record this week, Engel broke the tie by predicting the Plant-Robinson game would produce 61 points. The actual total was 64.

That made Engel a champion, edging out JasonG and Thunderlips the Ultimate Male.

"Wow. I did a little more research than usual,'' Engel said via direct message on Twitter. And by research, Engel surely means reading the Tampa Bay Times newspaper every day and visiting the always informative and info-packed HomeTeam website often.

I'm guessing Pick 'Em was kind of easy this week: 16 of 70 players finished 13-3, including last week's champion Bo Puckett and hard-charging JK, and another 19 went 12-4. So better than half the field was 12-4 or better. Heck, even perennial losers like Matt Baker and Kelly Parsons got 13 right.

Matt Baker, really? Come on.

Overall, Cowboy went 13-3 and is now in first place overall at 24-8, followed by JasonG, Yoda Master and JK at 23-5.

As for the defending champion, he's puttering along at 19-13, and may already be too far back. Taking some big gambles as is my trademark and eschewing the safe route so many other cowards clearly traveled down can hurt, but at least I have my pride. Speaking of folks who are losing pride with each passing week: Ahmad Jackson and Bocephus (10-6 last week), Skurd (nine for the second straight week) and Tyler Kaminski, who was 5-11 the first week and didn't play this week.

Just saying.

For complete results, CLICK ME.

1. (1) Armwood (2-0)

2. (4) East Lake (2-0)

3. (3) Plant (1-1)

 4. (5) Clearwater Central Catholic (2-0)

5. (8) Tampa Bay Tech (1-0)

6. (9) Countryside (2-0)

7. (2) Sickles (1-1)

 8. (13) Hillsborough (1-0)

9. (7) Pinellas Park (1-1)

10. (12) Bloomingdale (2-0)

11. (14) Lakewood (1-1)

12. (11) Jefferson (1-1)

13. (12) Plant City (1-0)

14. (6) Largo (1-1)

15. (15)  Jesuit (2-0)

16. (16) Berkeley Prep (2-0)

17. (17) Sunlake (2-0)

18. (19) Indian Rocks Christian (2-0)

19. (23) Land O’Lakes (1-1)

20. (24) Lennard (2-0)

21. (18) Pasco (1-1)

22. (NR) Zephyrhills (2-0)

23. (25) Tarpon Springs (2-0)

24. (20) Alonso (1-1)

T25. (NR) St. Petersburg (2-0)

T25. (NR) Durant (1-1)

Also considered: Gaither, Mitchell, Spoto, Calvary Christian, Cambridge Christian, River Ridge

While there was a bit of a shakeup in the rankings this week, the teams at the top remain the same. Clearwater Central Catholic is still the team to beat, but after a 6-0 start and Academy of the Holy Names tournament win — against the best competition in Hillsborough County — Tampa Prep is nipping at the Marauders’ heels. Throw a hot Bloomingdale team into the mix, and the early outlook is good for Tampa Bay teams vying for the top prize. 

1. Clearwater Central Catholic (1-0)

2. Tampa Prep (6-0)

3. Bloomingdale (7-1)

4. Calvary Christian (4-0)

5. River Ridge (4-0)

6. Sunlake (5-0)

7. Fivay (3-0)

8. Palm Harbor University (4-0)

9. Carrollwood Day (3-0)

10. Seminole (2-1)

11. Bishop McLaughlin (2-0)

12. Plant (0-1)

13. Academy of the Holy Names (4-3)

14. Steinbrenner (4-4)

15. Berkeley Prep (2-3)

16. Newsome (3-0)

17. St. Petersburg (1-1)

18. Mitchell (2-1)

19. Wharton (2-1)

20. Indian Rocks Christian (3-3)

21. Hernando (3-1)

22. Tampa Catholic (3-1)

23. Pasco (4-2)

24. Weeki Wachee (4-2)

25. Wiregrass Ranch (2-2)

In the conversation: East Lake (2-0), King (2-1), Durant (2-2), Northside Christian (2-1)