Pensacola News Journal from Pensacola, Florida • 37

Saturday, December 21.1985 Pensacola News Journal 3D Escambia uses ball control to thwart Southeast attack 4 1 h7 4 St. ft 1 '7V i fx 4 ESCAMBIAfrom ID "We didn't play a slouch by any means," Thomas said. "They executed the veer on that first drive the way it is supposed to be executed. But Coach Lanford eliminated all our stunts and we went back to our basic split defen.se. Our kids are real confident with that." Southeast had not yielded more than 13 points in any of their pre vious 13 games, but the Gators stuck them with 21 in the first half alone.

Gator senior offensive tackle Tommy Stiglet, a first year player, manhandled Southeast defensive tackle Doyce Jackson, the state's top defensive recruit, and along with the rest of the Gator offensive line opened the holes which allowed Escambia to control the tempo of the game. "I was real nervous before the game," Stiglet said. "1 thought he was a lot better than he really was. They said he was Central Florida's number one player of the year but he wasn't that good. "He told me several times, 'good block' and then one time he told me to get off of him because he as feeling hurt." Southeast won the opening toss and declined the option until the second half.

However, the Gators elected to kickoff a decision which proved to be invaluable. Seminole tailback Ed Brown fielded the kickoff at the one-yard line and returned it to the 25 before losing a grip on the ball. Escambia defensive back Curtis Yates came up with the fumble and the Gators were in business on the Seminole 2o. Three plays later, quarterback Johnny Nichols hit Allen Moore in the corner of the end zone from If) yards out and the Gators took the lead, ti-0, with 9:24 left in the first quarter. Alan Ward's extra-point kick posted a 7-0 lead.

Southeast set up shop at its own 20 with a touchback on the ensuing kickoff. And immediately the Sem-inoles' option attack began to give Escambia problems. ple on our team who can run the ball better than Emmitt Smith. "It feels great (to win a second state championship). All the hard work paid off.

That's what v.e worked for all year." Four minutes later, the Gators were in the end zone again. This time on a two-yard run by Smith. The score was set up four plays earlier when Moore intercepted Seminole quarterback George Brown 1 13 carries, f2 yards) at the Gator 39 and returned it 50 yards to the Southeast 11. Ward attempted a 5f-yard field goal with three seconds left in the half, but the kick fell short and the Gators took their 14-point advantage into the lockerroom. Although Escambia managed just six more points in the second half on field goals of 45 and 44 yards by Ward the final two quarters belonged to the Gators.

Escambia ran 33 second-hall plays, compared to Southeast's 19. More importantly, the Gators managed to keep the ball out of the Seminoles' hands lor all but eight minutes. "I told them at halftime that the defense was having some problems so let's keep the ball away from them (Southeast)," Escambia offensive coordinator Jimmy Nichols said. "They went right out there and did it. I also told them 1 wanted 31 points up there and we didn't quite make it, but I'll take the 27." The Gators did reach the Southeast one-yard line with (v.55 left in the game following a 17-play drive which lasted eight minutes, but freshman running back Eric Smith, Emmitt Smith's younger brother, was stopped short of the goalline.

That proved to be the only play of merit which the Seminoles pulled off in the half. Ward's final field goal came with 2:23 left to play. Esc SE First downs 14 13 Rushes-yards 35 190 Passing yards 32 14 Passes 3-5-0 2-10-2 Punts-avg. 1-26 0 4-40 0 Fumbles-lost 20 1-1 Penalties-yards 6-55 3 20 Escambia 14 7 3 3 27 Bradenton Southeast .7 0 0 0 7 Moore 19 pass from Nichols (Ward kick) SE Ed Brown 10 run (Warren kick) Smith 1 run (Ward kick) Smith 2 run (Ward kick) FG Ward 46 FG Ward 44 Emmitt Smith: Despite an injury, the junior running back picked up 157 yards and scored two touchdowns on 35 carries. er by Brown.

Tom Warren added the extra point and the score was tied 7-7 with remaining in the first quarter. That proved to be the only serious Seminole scoring threat. Escambia took the kickoff and marched 58 yards, including runs of 16 and 24 yards by Emmitt Smith and Reggie Johnson, respectively, to take a 14-7 lead with a lew seconds left in the period. Smith, who gained 157 yards on 35 carries despite playing with an injury, scored on a one-yard dive and Ward added the point-alter. Johnson picked up 4(5 yards on eight carries.

"I've been hurt for about five weeks now with a badly bruised thigh," Smith said. "We had been treating it during the week so 1 was able to run a lot better tonight." Smith was not, impressed by the stop-Emmitt-Smith campaigns that the people in the Southeast community had conducted through the week. "When you stop the offense, you've stopped everything," Smith said. "It ain't just stop Emmitt Smith, because we have other peo "rl vV 5 tt1 4 I -4 i i 3- 4 With 11 plays, including a 25-yard run by tailback Brown (11 carries, 59 yards), the Seminoles struck paydirt on a 10-yard scamp- Gary McCrackenNews Journal Escambia running back Emmitl Smith looks for running room against Southeast Friday night in the Class AAAA state championship game at Bradenton. Southeast might have lost game, but its pride is still intact "We felt we did a good job of stopping the plays we thought could be the big ones," Delazzer said.

"But we got fooled on some other things." Southeast, which won 11 straight games after losing in its second game to Sarasota, finished the season 12-2 including a 21-7 victory over AAAAA champion and bitter rival Manatee. "There won't be any tears in this locker room," said running hack Stanley Boyd. "There can't be. We made it to State and we made it a lot farther than anyohe thought we would. That's all we can ask for." senior's dream of bringing a state title to a school historically noted not for its football success but for being in the same town as AAAAA powerhouse Manatee.

Brown's quick feet may have been taken away by the Gators' defense he gained just 10 yards in the second half and completed 2-of-10 passes on the night but his pride remained intact after the Seminoles' 27-7 loss to Escambia. "Except for a couple of errors we made, we could have been right in the game," he said. "Coach (Paul Maechtle) told us not to hang our heads, and he's right. "No Southeast team has ever gotten By Donnie Wilkie Gannett Florida TODAY BRADENTON The T-shirt underneath running back Stanley Boyd's shoulder pads read "Southeast: 1985 Class AAAA State Champions." The scoreboard, however, told another story. This was the Bradenton Southeast locker room, all right.

But there was no state championship Friday night. And surprisingly no tears. "We know we played a great team," said Seminole quarterback George Brown after Escambia ended the 5-foot, 7-inch tbis far. We should be proud of ourselves." The Seminoles who fumbled the opening kickoff and spotted Escambia a 7-0 lead did not seriously threaten after runs of 1 and 3 yards by Emmitt Smith staked the Gators to a 21-7 lead. But they never quit, holding Escambia to a pair of Alan Ward field goals (47 and 44 yards) in the second half.

And Southeast's vaunted "Bushwhacker" defense kept Smith from breaking a long run. Only twice did the state's all-time leading rusher gain more than 9 yards on a carry. His longest was a 16-yard jaunt, just one play after Southeast's Ed Brown tied the score 7-7 with a 10-yard scamper late in the first quarter. "He had to work to get his yards," said Maechtle of Smith. "But he's easily the best running back we've seen.

We made some mistakes that allowed him to do some things we didn't think he could do like get to the comer. "No one had done that to us all season." Southeast defensive coordinator Faust Delazzer blamed himself for that. "We scouted (Smith) and felt that he had gained most of his yardage inside not outside," he said. "We conveyed that message to our ends and they concentrated on stopping the inside game. Manatee followed Titans' playoff script, jumped out to 29-0 lead Don't quit! That's all that went through my mind when they were rolling up those points.

We went back out to try and regain some respect. Even if we got beat 64 to nothing we were going to say we gave it the best we Coach Don Sharpe MANATEE from ID "Don't quit! That's all that went through my mind when they were rolling up those points," said Sharpe. "We went back out to try and regain some respect. Even if got beat 64 to nothing we were going to say we gave it the best we had." And while Manatee was chanting "We're No. 1 at halftime" Woodham put up a warning flag of its own to begin the second half.

The Titans recovered a beautifully executed onside kick to begin the half and four plays later, Caesar Jones, who was the Titans strong inside running force (14 carries, 93 yards) bulled across from the one-yard line. Jason Hawkins soared over the top for a two-point conversion and Woodham had cut the deficit to 28-8. Woodham forced Manatee to punt, its only punt of the ball game, on the next possession and on a fourth down and one from the Woodham 48 Jones burst through for 43 yards and a first down inside the Manatee 10. Two plays later, Ronald Taite's second effort got the Titans on the baord again. Suddenly it was 28-14 and 6:55 remained in the third quarter.

"It surprised us," said Manatee sophomore defensive end Zach Samuel, who Sharpe called "one heck of a defensive player." "We thought we had the game won, had taken the fight out of them, but coach told us we had to tighten up." And Gaskin pulled the strings into a noose around the Titans' neck when he busted off right end for a 58-yard run to the Woodham 16. Three plays later quarterback Carl May sneaked over from the one and the lead was once again 21 points (35-14). "That 58-yard run did a lot," said Sharpe. "Not very many things seemed to go our way tonight. I guess it's what you might call the law of averages catching up with us." What went wrong? Four Titan turnovers.

Two of Woodham's final score came on a nicely executed double pass from Reifsnider to Sasser, who had dropped back to receive the lateral. Sasser fired a strike to Sherman Saulsberry, who leaped between Homes and Scott Fulford to catch the ball just beyond midfield, cut back across the field to complete the 76-yard touchdown play. The lead had been cut to 13 points (35-22) and 8:32 remained, but Manatee then drove 79 yards, eating up nearly 52 minutes of the game clock before Clark scored on a two-yard run. Taylor's interception just added insult to injury. "The only people that never lose are the people who never played the game," said Sharpe.

But for one night, Dec. 20, 1985, the Hurricane from Manatee was the one that had the better of it. ft 4 them might never have happened, however, had the Titans been able to contain the howling Hurricane. They couldn't and were forced to play catch-up. Trailing 14-0, Woodham went up top and Bill Reifsnider connected with sophomore wide out Lance Sasser inside the Manatee 25-yard line.

But Faron Homes took the ball away from Sasser and returned it to the Woodham 44-yard line. Five plays and a 22-yard Gaskin run later, Clark scored from the five. 21-0. "That No. 21 is the best defensive back we've faced all season," said Sharpe about Homes.

"Bill (Reifsnider) made a great pass, but the kid just made an even greater defensive play on Sasser." Then a bad pitch on the option was recoverd by Manatee linebacker Anthony Cucci at the Manatee 48. Four plays later, the big play a 39-yard pass completion to tight end Trey Walker, Gaskin scored from the 10. The score: 28-0 and Woodham was licking its wounds. "Woodham has a great program and showed a lot of character coming out and putting 22 points on the board," said Manatee defensive coordinator Mike Knowles. "But we were super high for this one and came out with great intensity and we got a couple of big breaks in the first half." i tmm fit i.

it i Thomas A Price Manatee defensive back Faron Homes (left) breaks up a pass intended for Woodham's Sherman Saulsberry late in the Class AAAAA championship game at Bradenton. Big plays by Manatee beat Woodham Woodham 13 41-216 121 6-12-2 3-2 Manatee 19 48-280 111 5-7-0 2-1 1-10 First downs Rushes-yards Possing yards Passes Punts-avg. Fumbles-lost 2-20 Penalties-yards 822 IS SO Woodham 0 0 14 Bradenton Manatee 14 14 7 "Had I made the proper call, who knows what might have happened." What happened was Woodham had to punt and, nine plays later. Manatee (12-2) was off to the races and an eventual state championship. The smiles returned, but the hurt remained.

the call and bust it for a 12-yard gain and a first down. Then I confused them and Caesar (Jones) gets stacked up, Yince (Dickens) gains nothing on second down. "In a ball control offense you cannot afford to gain less than three yards on first down. Instead of second and five or six it was what, second and nine? BIGfrom ID ham (11-3) to undertake. "Two mistakes on my part led to all that," said Coach Don Sharpe.

"I sent in signals which were not understood and they confused our players. "The second play of the football game, now. The first play we read Gaskin 15 run (Elton kick) Clark 5 run (Elton kick) Clark 5 run (Eltonkick) Gaskin 10 run (Elton kick) Jones 1 run (Hawkins run) Taite 4 run (run failed) May 1 run (Elton kick) Soulsberry 76 pass from Sasser (Reifsnider run) Clark 2 run (Gaskin run) Taylor 65 interception return (Elton kick).