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Tonight's Playoff Games

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 22, 2007

Class 5A-Region 2 Semifinals

Chamberlain at Gaither

WHERE: Cowboy Stadium, 16200 N. Dale Mabry Highway, Tampa

RECORDS: Chamberlain 8-3, Gaither 8-3

OUTLOOK: Chamberlain is coming off a 26-25 win against Wharton in the quarterfinals, in which it took a 43-yard field goal by Austin Pullaro late in the fourth quarter to clinch the victory. Gaither had a dominating performance against Sickles in its quarterfinal game, winning 37-3. Gaither's offense held a 297-70 advantage in total yards and was led by junior running back Jarvis Giles, who finished with 104 yards and two touchdowns on 11 carries, despite sitting out the second half. The two teams met earlier in the year, when Chamberlain defeated Gaither 41-17 in the season opener. The Chiefs led 34-0 going into the fourth quarter as junior quarterback Dontae Aycock led Chamberlain with three rushing touchdowns and two through the air. Giles scored two rushing touchdowns to put Gaither on the scoreboard. Aycock leads Chamberlain's offense with 660 passing yards and five touchdowns but surprisingly, is also the team's leading rusher with 960 yards and 18 touchdowns. Giles leads the Cowboys with 1,478 yards rushing and 20 touchdowns.

Lakeland at Kissimmee Osceola

WHERE: Osceola High, 420 S. Thacker Ave., Kissimmee, 34741

RECORDS: Lakeland 10-1, Kissimmee Osceola 11-0

OUTLOOK: Lakeland will be looking to even the score against Osceola, a team that snapped the Dreadnaughts' 53-game winning streak with a 25-21 victory to win the district championship. Osceola is coming off a 34-17 win against Plant City in the quarterfinals, led by senior running back Kwamaine Brown's three touchdown and 123 yards rushing. Osceola was able to gain 330 yards on the ground, but had 10 penalties for 75 yards. Lakeland defeated Brandon 31-17 in its quarterfinal game, led by T.K. Lamb, who had three touchdowns. Running back Jason Guzman has been the workhorse for the Dreadnaughts with 1,086 yards and six touchdowns. In the win against Lakeland, the Kowboys forced Lakeland to punt six times and also recovered a fumble.

Class 5A-3 Semifinal

Largo at Dunedin

WHERE: Dunedin Memorial Stadium, 1651 Pinehurst Road, Dunedin

RECORDS: Largo 11-0, Dunedin 7-4

OUTLOOK: This is a rematch of arguably the best game played in Pinellas County this season. On Sept. 28, both teams were like two evenly matched boxers trading punches until Largo's Brynn Harvey scored on a 5-yard run in double-overtime for a 37-31 win. The teams are similar in that both are run-oriented but have weapons to open the game up, much like what happened in the previous meeting. Largo is led by Harvey, who broke former teammate Dexter McCluster's (now a wide receiver at Ole Miss) Pinellas County regular-season rushing record this year. Dunedin has a budding star of its own in junior running back Adarius Bellamy, who holds the school rushing record after playing only two seasons. Bellamy scored two touchdowns in the previous meeting (29 and 10 yards) and ran for 248 yards with four touchdowns last week in a 31-17 Region-3 quarterfinal win against Gibbs. In the previous meeting, the Falcons limited Harvey's gains but were burned in the second half by Largo quarterback Leonard Johnson. Johnson had a 28-yard touchdown pass to Reginald McCray.

Class 4A-Region 3 Semifinals

Hillsborough at Armwood

WHERE: Lyle Flagg Field, 12000 U.S. Highway 92, Seffner

RECORDS: Hillsborough 9-2, Armwood 11-0

OUTLOOK: This will be the second meeting of the season between the Terriers and the Hawks. Armwood won the first meeting 17-0 on Oct. 18. Armwood hasn't suffered a second-round playoff defeat since 2002 against Lake Gibson, the last team to defeat the Hawks at home. Counting regular-season and playoff home games, Armwood has won 32 consecutive games. Senior RB Eric Smith rushed for 138 yards and a touchdown to lead the Hawks to a win last week against visiting Eagle Lake Lake Region. Hillsborough improved its road playoff record to 2-5 all-time under Coach Earl Garcia with last week's win at Auburndale, in which the Terriers racked up 371 yards of offense (292 on the ground) and got touchdowns from six different players. However, each of the road playoff wins have come in Polk County. The Terriers are 2-5 all-time against Hillsborough County opponents in the playoffs, and both of those wins came at home. Armwood knocked Hillsborough out of the postseason last year in a second-round playoff game.

Jefferson at Plant

WHERE: Dad's Stadium, 2415 S. Himes Ave., Tampa

RECORDS: Jefferson 5-6, Plant 10-1

OUTLOOK: Jefferson made several changes to its starting lineups before last week's victory against Boca Ciega. Wide receivers Darrell Young and Lester Lewis will pull double duty. Young will also play cornerback and Lewis will start at free safety. The changes are an effort to contain Plant's multitalented and seemingly unstoppable offense. Led by Hillsborough County's top quarterback, Aaron Murray, and receiver, Derek Winter, the Panthers averaged 42.5 points per game in the regular season and put up 49 points on Northeast last week. Murray needs one touchdown to tie former teammate Robert Marve's state record of 49 touchdowns in a season. Plant, the District 10 champions the past three years, has defeated Jefferson in three consecutive meetings dating to the 2005 season. In their regular-season game this year, Plant defeated the Dragons 54-21, putting up 541 yards of offense compared to Jefferson's 287.

Class 2A-Region 3 Final

Tampa Catholic at Clewiston

WHERE: Cane Field, 601 W. Osceola St., Clewiston, 33440

RECORDS: Tampa Catholic 9-2, Clewiston 5-6

OUTLOOK: This will be the third meeting in the postseason in as many years between the two teams and Tampa Catholic is looking for its first trip to the state semifinals. Tampa Catholic is 0-4 all-time in the postseason against Clewiston, which also has knocked the Crusaders out of the playoffs in each of their last three postseason appearances (2001, 2005, 2006). Tampa Catholic is 3-8 all-time in road playoff games, with the last win coming in 1998. Crusaders QB Christian Green rushed for two touchdowns and threw for another, and RB Henry McCloud added two rushing touchdowns as Tampa Catholic rolled to a 35-7 victory against Riviera Beach Inlet Grove last week. Clewiston, last year's Class 2A state runner-up, was one of only 10 teams statewide that made the playoffs despite a losing record, though the Tigers have won five of their past six games after starting the season 0-5. Each of the Tigers' losses came against playoff teams, which had a combined record of 50-10 during the regular season. Clewiston is led by RBs Colin Ricketts (933 rushing yards, 4 TDs) and Darris Hughes (856 rushing yards, 11 TDs). Ricketts and Hughes each rushed for more than 100 yards and each scored twice in the Tigers' 26-13 victory against Fort Myers Bishop Verot last week.

Class 2B-Region 3 Final

Clearwater Central Catholic

at Frostproof

WHERE: Frostproof High, 1000 N. Palm Ave., Frostproof

RECORDS: Clearwater Central Catholic 7-4, Frostproof 9-2

OUTLOOK: This is an rematch of Frostproof's Oct. 19 blowout 47-7 win. But the score could have been misleading. First, CCC was riddled with injuries, having eight starters out, including starting quarterback Brett Henderson and two of its top tacklers, defensive lineman Kyle Rettig and defensive back Anthony Cochran. Now, the visiting Marauders are somewhat healthy and Coach Mike Jalazo noted that the team is finally starting to jell as he had hoped, only it's November, not September. The second indication that this outcome could be different is how quickly Frostproof took CCC out of the previous game. After the host Bulldogs scored quickly on their first possession, the Frostproof defense quickly returned two turnovers on CCC's first two possessions for touchdowns. Before the Marauders' defense had broken a sweat, they trailed 20-0. "After the game, Frostproof coach Brad Metheny came up to me and said, 'We may have played our best game and you may have played your worst game,'" CCC coach Mike Jalazo said. If CCC's 23-0 win against previously undefeated Crescent City last week is any barometer, Metheny may be correct.

Class 1B-Region 3 Final

Bradenton Prep at Keswick Christian

WHERE: Keswick Christian High, 10101 54th Ave. N., St. Petersburg

RECORDS: Bradenton Prep 7-3, Keswick Christian 11-0

OUTLOOK: Yet another rematch, this one being Keswick Christian's closest game and lowest scoring game, a 21-0 Crusaders win at Bradenton on Oct. 19. This also was only the second game Keswick Christian had scored less than 30 points, the previous low-scoring game a 28-7 Crusaders win against Cambridge. At the time, Keswick Christian coach Rick Sanson fretted about how his offense was struggling. It isn't now. Aside from those two games, the Crusaders have been steamrolling opponents. Seven times Keswick Christian has scored 40 or more points, three times scoring more than 50. Keswick has a potent three-prong attack of quarterback Jared Stacy (1,282 yards passing, 20 touchdowns), running back Jared DiMaggio (1,166 yards, 16 touchdowns) and receiver Tarvan Jones (595 yards, 10 touchdowns). Jones is also a lethal return man with seven kick/punt returns for scores. The Crusaders may need to kick up their defense a notch. Although opponents scored double-digits on Keswick Christian only twice in the regular season, Lakeland Victory Christian put up 27 points against the Crusaders, the most points they have given up in a game this year.

Adam Adkins, Katherine Smith, Nick Williams, Lee Diekemper

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