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Bulldogs Shake Up Top 5

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By BART O'CONNELL Tribune correspondent

Published: September 9, 2007

ZEPHYRHILLS - With questions surrounding his team, its collective experience and most importantly, how resilient it would be facing adversity, Zephyrhills coach Tom Fisher got some answers Friday night - sort of.

The Bulldogs did rely on one of their few returning seniors - running back Chris Henry - for 255 yards of total offense and four touchdowns. But the difference in Friday's 35-33 upset win against Mitchell at Bulldog Stadium may have been how the underclassmen made key plays against Mustangs senior quarterback Tate Humphrey to set up scores.

Sophomore defensive end Josh Geiger took advantage of a sack and forced fumble by junior Alex Sampson of Humphrey to score a defensive touchdown, capping a 21-point second quarter that erased a 12-point deficit.

Then, after Mitchell regained the lead and took it into the fourth quarter, junior linebacker Joey Maldonado swatted a Humphrey pass, and the ball fell into the hands of Sampson for an interception that set up Henry's final touchdown one play later.

'I don't know,' said Fisher, with a rare laugh, when asked how his team kept its composure down 12-0 in the second quarter. 'It's something that the older kids ain't used to that, and the younger kids didn't know what was hitting them, so they didn't know any better.'
Zephyrhills did overcome a few mistakes, losing a fumble to start the second half and avoiding disaster in the waning seconds after a bad punt snap gave Mitchell a chance to win. But those miscues are correctable, Fisher said, and he'd much rather take the victory.

Meanwhile, Mitchell's frustrations continue against Zephyrhills. The Mustangs outgained the Bulldogs 429-239 in total yardage, but lost their second game in a row at Bulldog Stadium. The total margin of defeat in those games is just three points.

Mitchell failed on two 36-yard field goal attempts, one extra point and one two-point conversion that could've changed the outcome, but Coach Scott Schmitz provided a more straightforward answer.

'The whole situation - we got beat 35-33, we came here and we let a football team outplay us. And that's unacceptable in my book,' he said. 'We got outplayed by the Zephyrhills football team. Period. That's the story.'

Humphrey, despite his 6-yard scoring run in the second quarter, got off to a sluggish start. At one point he had 17 carries for 36 yards. But he finished with 106 yards rushing, 243 passing and four touchdowns. Senior wide receivers Jesse Dustin (eight catches, 124 yards) and Yaz Grabowski (eight catches, 89 yards, one touchdown) were his most frequent targets.

Nonetheless, Fisher felt like his defense did a good job against Humphrey, who is arguably the most clutch and explosive player in the county.

'I think we got him frustrated early,' he said. 'When you get a team frustrated, especially their leader, you've got something going.'

Bart O'Connell can be reached at boconnell@pop.tampa-

trib.com.

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