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Football: Pasco Previews Week 8

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 17, 2007

Zephyrhills (4-2, 2-0) at Wiregrass Ranch (0-6, 0-1)
COACHES: Tom Fisher (Zephyrhills), Ricky Thomas (Wiregrass Ranch)
LAST WEEK: Gulliver Prep 20, Zephyrhills 7; Wiregrass Ranch, bye
LAST MEETING: First varsity meeting
NEED TO KNOW: This is the first time Coaches Fisher and Thomas have squared off since 2002, Thomas' last of seven seasons at Pasco. Thomas has a 4-3 edge in the head-to-head meetings. … Zephyrhills has to avoid the temptation of looking ahead to the next two weeks, when they play at Gulf and host Hudson in games that could decide Class 3A, District 8. … RB Chris Henry needs 235 rushing yards for 1,000 this year, and could threaten it if he duplicates what he did against another 3A-8 first-year school, Sunlake - 214 yards on 15 carries. That was his last game with more than 100 yards. … The Bulls will have to cut down the running lanes, keeping Henry quiet and not allowing him to run all over its defense. The second objective is to get pressure on Bulldogs QB Tyler Guy. Wiregrass took the open week and this week to work on its offensive line and the running game. If the Bulls can offer a balanced squad on offense and a sound defense, they may give Zephyrhills an interesting game.

Brooksville Central (4-2, 1-1) at Land O' Lakes (5-1, 2-0)
COACHES: Cliff Lohey (Tarpon Springs), John Benedetto (Land O' Lakes)
LAST WEEK: Land O' Lakes 39, Tarpon Springs 20; Central 32, Springstead 10
LAST MEETING: Land O' Lakes 45, Central 6 (2002)
NEED TO KNOW: Land O' Lakes must be disciplined on defense because of Central's misdirection-style offense. A defense must stick to its assignments and if not, busted plays make for big gains. In two consecutive weeks, the Central offense has put up 73 points, while it has given up 17. … Central is led by quarterback Chase Walker, RB Duane Marks and receivers Chad Walker and Jeff Wright. … The Gators are fresh from a bye week and coach John Benedetto is hoping he didn't take it too light on the squad after a couple of bad practices. … Gators will have lineman Cameron Smith back after he received about eight stitches last week on his face before the Tarpon Springs game, while Shawn Kirby (shoulder) is likely lost for the season.

Ridgewood (6-0, 2-0) At Tarpon Springs (4-2, 0-1)
COACHES: Chris Taylor (Ridgewood), George Kotis (Tarpon Springs)
LAST WEEK: Ridgewood 42, Mitchell 13; Tarpon Springs 22, Dunedin 21
LAST MEETING: Tarpon Springs 20, Ridgewood 17 (2006)
NEED TO KNOW: Tarpon Springs has had an up and down season winning its first three games then dropping two, including a 39-20 loss to Land O' Lakes, before pulling an upset win on a last-second field goal against Dunedin last week. Expect this game to be intense as Ridgewood will stop at nothing to avenge last year's 3-point loss on a last-second field goal and the Spongers will do anything to avoid being 0-2 in the district. Also, the Rams will have a strangle hold on the district if they beat the Spongers and improve to 3-0 with Land O' Lakes and Springstead remaining on the district schedule. … Ridgewood's defense was the story in last week's win over Mitchell and appears to have worked its way up to a level almost even with the offense. The Rams' trio of linebackers Arron Jackson, Ben Perry and Tim Rearden anchor a unit that has become explosive after a couple of shaky performances against Gulf and during the first half against River Ridge.

Wesley Chapel (4-3, 0-1) At Gaither (5-2, 1-0)
COACHES: John Castelamare (Wesley Chapel), Mark Kantor (Gaither)
LAST WEEK: Wesley Chapel 42, Sunlake 6; Gaither 17, Alonso 0
LAST MEETING: Gaither 42, Wesley Chapel 21 (2006)
NEED TO KNOW: Gaither's offense centers around 5-foot-11, 178-pound RB Jarvis Giles. Giles has been containable, however, and has been held to under 150 yards in a game four times this season. Last week against Alonso, Giles had 81 yards rushing and one touchdown but also had 44 yards receiving and another touchdown. Gaither's defense got off to a slow start giving up 41 and 48 points in the first two games of the season, respectively, but since then has allowed an average 10.2 points per game. … Wesley Chapel relied on its running game, with big performances from Ray Rouch (170 yards, 2 TDs) and Hunter Joyer (85 yards, 2 TDs) against Sunlake last week when QB Greg Jenkins was back from missing a game with a shoulder contusion and that would help the Wildcats out greatly if they could get that much production on the run against Gaither again in addition to having a healed Jenkins.

Cristina Ledra, Eddie Daniels, Bart O'Connell

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