TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

East Lake 9, St. Petersburg 7, FINAL

ADVERTISEMENT

The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 7, 2007

East Lake's fullbacks carried the second-half load in its tight victory against St. Petersburg. But standout senior Micah Powell was not one of them.

In the second quarter, Powell had soreness in his shoulder after going down hard on his 49-yard touchdown run, which was negated by an offensive holding call. Powell's night was limited afterward, as he saw only four more carries late in the fourth quarter. He would finish with 27 yards on 10 carries.

'Micah was tender and did not have full range of motion. We haven't even played our first district game yet, so we kept him back,' East Lake coach Bob Hudson said.

Eagles fullbacks Billy Byrne and Erin Murray would see significant playing time in Powell's place, rushing for a combined 86 yards on 13 carries. They wore down a stingy Green Devils' defense that could not capitalize on frequent offensive miscues by the Eagles.

St. Petersburg could only convert one of the three Eagles turnovers to points: a 1-yard quarterback keeper touchdown by Robert Lemon. A late game-clinching fourth-quarter touchdown pass from Lemon to Danny Terrell was called back on a penalty, ending the Green Devils' best chance to win the game.

But it was Drew Petzoldts' 29-yard field goal late in the first half that would be the margin of victory. His score added to the early first-quarter touchdown from Blake Robles to Brian Lesniak, on a 37-yard pass.

'We have been in a lull the past two weeks and lost some confidence. This win was big. Now we have to put more points on the board,' Hudson said.

Matthew Parke

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT