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Tampa Catholic Comes Through For Late Victory

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By JARRETT GUTHRIE, Tribune correspondent

Published: October 20, 2007

MULBERRY - The Tampa Catholic football team struggled offensively for much of the first half Friday night and according to Coach Bob Henriquez, the team was waiting for a mistake from its opponent. With TC down by six points, that mistake came in the form of a fumble by Mulberry late in the fourth quarter.

On the ensuing drive, the Crusaders faced fourth-and-9 from the 19-yard line without starting quarterback Christian Green, who left the play before with cramps. With its quarterback sidelined, Tampa Catholic looked to wide receiver Eric Gerken to make something happen..

The senior came through, first on a 14-yard completion to Matt Mudano and second a 10-yard scramble by Gerken, diving toward the left side corner of the goal line for the deciding touchdown. Kicker Matt McLaughlin's PAT sealed the 17-16 win.

'We came out completely emotionally bankrupt and had nothing in our tank after the big game against Jacksonville Trinity Christian last week,' Henriquez said. 'We played very poor on both sides of the ball in the first half but hung in there and waited for them to make a mistake.'

Gerken said he knew he needed to score any way he could.

'I had that desire,' Gerken said. 'I knew I needed to get in because we needed this win and nothing was going to stop me besides a brick wall.'

Both teams struggled offensively early in the game. The Crusaders' second possession ended in an interception by Mulberry's Steven Willis. However, the Panthers returned the favor with an interception on the next possession deep by P.J. Briedy.

It wasn't until deep into the second quarter when the offenses started to pick up. Mulberry struck first after taking over on its own 20 after a failed Tampa Catholic field goal attempt. On Mulberry's 32, halfback Jerrell Carr took a handoff from Tony Brown and ran toward the left sideline and tossed the ball across his body to the middle of the field, hitting Brown, who took the ball to the Crusaders 20. The Panthers took advantage, scoring on a 20-yard run up the middle by Jamar Sanchious to take a 7-0 lead.

The Crusaders responded with a 62-yard kickoff return by Jeremy Wilkes, giving Tampa Catholic the ball deep in Panthers territory. Tampa Catholic's Drew Zink scored from the 1, capping a four-play drive.

Mulberry drove 62 yards on its next drive with Justin Marovich kicking a 35-yard field goal as the second quarter ended.

Tampa Catholic struggled with 12 penalties for 110 yards, including a drive killer in the third quarter that featured two block-in-the-back penalties bringing back plays of 61 and 27 yards. The Crusaders did come away with a field goal by McLaughlin to tie the game.

The Panthers struck first in the fourth quarter on a 27-yard fake field goal attempt run by Jerrell Carr, but the Panthers were unsuccessful when faking the PAT, which would turn out to be costly.

'This was one of the best shows of guts of any team that I've ever been associated with, Henriquez said.

TC-Zink 1 run (McLaughlin kick)

M-Marovich 35 field goal

TC-McLaughlin 40 field goal

M-Carr 27 run (run failed)

TC-Gerken 10 run (McLaughlin kick)

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