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Gulf 35, Zephyrhills 13

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Cristina Ledra/The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 27, 2007

NEW PORT RICHEY - Earlier this week Gulf senior running back David Williams vowed to his teammates that he wasn't coming off the field unless he was pulled out against heavily favored Zephyrhills Friday night.

It was going to take nothing less than that for them to pull off the win.

As of Friday, no one can accuse Williams of not being a young man of his word.

Playing every down of the game, excluding Gulf's extra points, Williams not only broke Pasco County's single-season rushing record but delivered three touchdowns off 194 total yards, caught an interception and tackled the Zephyrhills holder on a badly snapped extra point to lead the Buccaneers to a 35-13 win over the Bulldogs.

'We always say we need our best 11 on defense so I had to step up for us to get the win,' Williams said.

Williams was having a more productive night defensively because Zephyrhills' defense was relentless on him. Five of his first seven carries were for zero yards.

'Zephyrhills can hit, I will say that,' Williams said. 'They were hitting me pretty good and it was taking its toll but the momentum we had and the crowd was just outrageous. But I had to put the icing on the cake so we could get the win.'

Before Williams had the chance to seal the game, Gulf's defense made Zephyrhills pay for two fumbles in Zephyrhills territory on the Bulldogs' first two possessions of the game.

The Bucs recovered both and turned them into touchdowns - a 31-yard pass from Madison Burr to Cody Kleiner and a 23-yard run from Williams - and went ahead 14-0 just four minutes into the game.

On its third possession, Gulf had another touchdown, a 16-yard run from Burr.

'We're not the team that can spot a team 21 points and come back from it,' Zephyrhills coach Tom Fisher said. 'We tried to come back but we made mistakes.'

Minutes later, Zephyrhills tried a fake punt on fourth down and the pass was dropped.

After the half, the Bulldogs' fumbling ways continued as they turned it over again at the Gulf 4-yard line on the first possession of the second half.

On Zephyrhills' next possession, running back Chris Henry finally broke free, running in for a 13-yard score.

That's when Williams downed the holder on a bad snap to keep the score 21-6.

The Bulldogs scored again on a 1-yard run by Tyler Guy to make it 21-13.

Williams, who had just 40 yards into the fourth quarter, ripped a 79-yard touchdown run at 10:43 of the fourth.

Gulf grabbed its first of two interceptions and three plays later, Williams broke off a 26-yard touchdown run for a 35-13 lead.

Gulf then recorded a sack to further frustrate the Bulldogs and on their next drive with 3:05 remaining Williams snuffed out Zephyrhills with an interception in the end zone.

G - Williams 28 pass from Burr (Cohen kick)
G - Burr 16 run (Cohen kick)
Z - Henry 13 run (Kick failed)
Z - Guy 1 run (Ferguson kick)
G - Williams 79 run (Cohen kick)
G - Williams 26 run (Cohen kick)

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