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Injuries Doom Cobras

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By EDDIE DANIELS, The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 18, 2007

HARMONY - From time to time Friday night, Hudson assistant Vince Felita would shout, "Don't give in!"

And for a good portion of the Cobras' Class 3A regional quarterfinal against Harmony, the squad displayed a fortitude.
Entering the game Cobras starting quarterback Zack Wynn was out due to a left ACL injury. The brace ordered earlier in the week had yet to arrive, leaving the sophomore in street clothes and a white Hudson jersey.

During the 28-6 loss, running back Sean Scott, who was to take direct snaps the entire night, injured his left knee on the first Hudson (7-4) series and re-injured himself on the second series, which took him out of the game.

"The last couple of weeks we've had some misfortunate injuries that have happened," Scott said. "All year Coach has been preaching to us about adversity. ..."

Then running back Dylan Luke chimed in: "We tried our best tonight I guess you can say."

When Scott went down in that second series, Luke became the featured back in a hybrid offense, brought about due to the injuries.

During the entire week leading into Friday night's contest, the Hudson coaching staff scrambled to put together an offense that gave them the best shot at winning.

They put their two tough linemen - Paul James and Travis Tindell - in the backfield as up-backs and rotated Luke, Anthony Germano and JoJo Cimino as the main back to take the direct snap after Scott couldn't return.

"Quite a few, quite a few," Hudson coach Mark Nash said when asked how many late nights did his staff have when concocting the new offense.

"I wasn't going to throw a freshman, JV quarterback Scott Kujak to the wolves, especially against a playoff team, so I didn't want to put it all on him," Nash said. "We put together the best thing we could put together to give us our best shot at being successful and we were a little bit here and there, but there's only so much you can do."

Despite the aggravation, Hudson did what it could.

After the Longhorns (9-2) jumped ahead 7-0 midway through the first quarter, the Cobras displayed a resiliency in its ensuing drive, getting into the end zone on an 18-yard Kujak-to-Germano pass with :38 left in the first quarter.

It wasn't until the final play of the second quarter when Harmony earned a decent advantage.

On third-and-2 from the Cobras 37, Kujak rolled right, attempting to get the ball up field with two seconds left on a trick play.

The ball was to go to one receiver and then pitched to another, but the pass was tipped and Harmony's O'neill Chambers intercepted the pass, returning it 40 yards for the score and the 14-6 halftime lead.

In the end, Hudson's offense, which had put up 30 or more points seven times, recorded its lowest offensive output of the season, topping its 26-7 season-opening loss to Ridgewood.

"We didn't quit," Nash said. "We went down swinging."

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