TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Bucs Control Own Playoff Destiny

ADVERTISEMENT

By CRISTINA LEDRA, The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 28, 2007

NEW PORT RICHEY - Gulf coach Jay Fulmer wishes his team always played the way it did Friday night in an upset win over Zephyrhills.

But the Buccaneers have pulled it together enough times to put them in a position to get into the playoffs with a win against Pasco on Friday and that's really what matters.

'For the first time this week I felt like their minds were right,' Fulmer said. 'I didn't know if we were going to win or not. I just had a great feeling all week that they were focused and I knew we could make a game of it.'

From the get-go Gulf pounced on every Zephyrhills mistake, and there were plenty, and by the end of the first quarter had a 21-0 lead.

'I know it sounds crazy but that was our plan,' Fulmer said. 'We talked about it all week. Let's get up 21. If we get up 21 we're going to force them to do things they don't want to do and that's really what Hudson did to us last week.

'They forced us into a passing game. We didn't do it on our own free will and in that situation things just don't go as smoothly as when you want to throw the ball. When you don't want to do it, then you make mistakes.'

Both marquee players that were expected to tear up the field didn't really do so Friday.

Gulf running back David Williams was held to 40 yards going into the fourth quarter and Zephyrhills running back Chris Henry was held to 39 yards rushing.

Everybody had to do their job and every one did their job on offense and defense. We just made plays and that's what football is. You have to make big plays in crucial situations and that's what we did.

That left the game up to everyone else and in response Gulf sophomore quarterback Madison Burr had three touchdowns - two passing and rushing - and the Gulf defense had five total turnovers.

'Zephyrhills is a good team,' Williams said. 'They came in here with a good record. It's tough to play on the road but they had been playing pretty good and in district play we knew we had to step our game up. Our defense showed up tonight. We've just got to keep rolling it. It's all about offense and defense.'

Up next is Pasco and if Gulf wins, the Bucs are in the playoffs. If Zephyrhills wins against Hudson, the Bucs will win the district.

'We're not taking Pasco lightly,' Fulmer said. 'I watched that game with them and Zephyrhills. They're two very evenly matched teams, they have good football players, a lot of speed and I'm sure they're going to commit just like everyone else to stopping David so we're going to have to do other things to move the ball.'
Fulmer said the Bucs showed promise at some points this season but showed their youth more often.

Mistakes plagued them up until Friday night when everything came together.

'Everything, it just seems, that could go wrong for this football team has gone wrong,' Fulmer said. 'We know we have good football players. They're just young, good football players and we know we can play. We showed so many signs against Ridgewood, even in some of the losses like against Mitchell. It was 41-13 but saw bursts there where we thought we capable of playing we just didn't know if we could play 48 minutes well.'

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT