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Armwood 27, Lake Region 6

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TBO.com

Published: November 17, 2007

SEFFNER - Armwood coach Sean Callahan had 161 reasons not to be happy Friday night. And if those didn't create enough of a headache, the Hawks tacked on three more for good measure.

Those numbers reflected the penalty yards (on 17 infractions) and turnovers, respectively, for Armwood during its 27-6 win over Eagle Lake Lake Region. And while the Hawks walked off Lyle Flagg Field with a win in their Class 4A regional quarterfinal, they know a repeat performance won't get it done next week against Hillsborough, which is coming in with a full head of steam after a dominating 42-7 victory at Auburndale.

"We walk out with a loss; Hillsborough beats us if we play like this," Callahan said. "We're still making the same mistakes, and it's frustrating. Penalties, turnovers ... those are the things we've got to eliminate. We're not going to be a complete ball team until we stop turning the ball over and stop committing all these significant penalties."

As frustrating as some aspects of the game might have been, not everything went badly for the Hawks (11-0).

Senior running back Eric Smith, slowed the final few games of the regular season with a foot injury, bounced back with a breakout game, rushing for 138 yards on 11 carries. The bulk of Smith's damage came in the second half, when he reeled off five runs of 14 yards or longer, including the game-sealing 15-yard touchdown run that put the Hawks up 27-6 with 7:29 remaining.

The Hawks also welcomed back standout junior linebacker Petey Smith, Eric's brother, who hadn't played since Week 5 of the season after undergoing abdominal surgery. The Smith-led defense played well for the most part, allowing just one score, which was aided by a special teams turnover after the ball hit a Hawks player in the back on a punt return. The Hawks recorded three sacks, forced a turnover and limited the Thunder offense to 61 total yards.

"The majority of the game we held them down," Petey Smith said. "So we feel pretty good about that."

But the Hawks are far from satisfied. That much at least was hammered home by the players with a collective 'No sir' when Callahan asked as much during the postgame meeting on the field.

The Hawks know they need to correct the sloppy play displayed Friday before next week's rematch with the Terriers, a game the Hawks won 17-0 at home in Week 8. And they promise to do as much.

"It's definitely going to be corrected next week in practice," Eric Smith said. "It's definitely going to get correct because we can't be going in to play Hillsborough playing sloppy like this.

"We haven't come together, united all together yet. But once that happens, I don't think anybody in the nation can stop us."

A-Eastman 1 run (Skiffington kick)

A-Jackson 2 run (kick failed)

LR-Richardson 9 pass from Hopkins (kick failed)

A-E. Smith 15 run (Skiffington kick)

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