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Zephyrhills Defense Ready To Face Gulf's Williams

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By CRISTINA LEDRA, The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 26, 2007

ZEPHYRHILLS - Like most other teams, the Zephyrhills defense considers itself a work in progress but the defense is one of the main reasons the Bulldogs are 5-2, giving up an average of 15 points per game.

This week, the defense will have to contend with Gulf running back and Pasco County's leading rusher David Williams, one of its biggest tasks yet.

'I've been watching a lot of film on the Williams kid and he seems more of an agile runner than Zephyrhills running back Chris Henry,' senior defensive lineman Joseph Lyman said. 'He won't drop his shoulder, he'll just outrun you.'

That scouting report sounds awfully familiar.

Two weeks ago, the Bulldogs saw a similar runner in Miami Gulliver Prep's Darrian Mallary.

'He was like David,' Zephyrhills coach Tom Fisher said. 'He was a little bigger, but he ran the ball real well against us but we were able to keep him out of the end zone. That's our main objective. A back like that, you can stop him here and there but you're not going to stop him completely.'

The defense gained a lot from facing Mallary, who had two touchdowns, one on offense and one on special teams.

'That was my fault. I came too far upfield and he cut back too quick and I didn't make the play,' said Lyman of Mallary's offensive touchdown, adding with a laugh what he learned from that experience. 'Not to come too far upfield again.'

With as strong as the defense has been behind the can't-miss Henry, the players still want to see more.

'We're 100 percent ready for this game, but I think our defense is at about 80 percent of where it needs to be,' sophomore defensive lineman Alex Paniagua said.

That's a scary notion considering that since the first game of the season when the Bulldogs gave up 33 points to Mitchell, the defense has given up two touchdowns or less in five of six games.

Only Gulliver Prep had three touchdowns and one came on a fumbled punt.

Lyman and Paniagua said that at halftime of the fourth game of season against Wesley Chapel, some of the defensive personnel had been changed and that's when everything really started to click on defense.

The game right after that was the Pasco game in which the Pirates were held to less than 100 yards of offense.

'I think we stopped what is the one of the best offenses in the county in Pasco, held them to 90 yards and that's pretty good,' Lyman said. 'And Gulf they're big, they're fast and they'll run the ball down your throat.

'The more film I see on Gulf the tougher they look. They don't seem like the Gulf of last year or the year before when it was all about the quarterback. The line is huge. Or at least they look that way on film.'

Gulf's passing game has struggled behind a young quarterback while Williams is averaging more than 200 yards a game, so it's no secret where the ball is going to be most of the time.

'We're swarming on the ball more,' Paniagua said. 'Our running attack is strong and them running against us, we'll stop it. We'll find a way.'

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