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Relaxed Benedetto Watches Rally

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By EDDIE DANIELS, The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 16, 2007

ZEPHYRHILLS - Think about this for a second.

You're a football coach. Your team is behind 9-7, there are only a handful of ticks on the clock more than one minute and you have a freshman running your offense at quarterback.

You are likely the most uptight soul in the stadium, right?

Not so, if you're Land O' Lakes coach John Benedetto.

He lived that scenario, watching freshman Stephen Weatherford march the team down the field, capping the drive with a 35-yard strike with :04.5 left in the game, giving Land O' Lakes a 14-9 victory against Zephyrhills in Bulldogs Stadium Friday night.

Although at a loss for words after shaking the hands of each Zephyrhills player and coach, Benedetto opened up and spoke the unbelievable.

'Well, you know, to be honest with you, I was kind of relaxed, I really was,' he said, minus the signature towel, which typically drapes his shoulder. 'I was more concerned with us taking the lead with :04.5 seconds left and hoping that we weren't going to kick the ball to Zephyrhills running back Chris Henry, and we did.'

That's what happens when you've coached for 31 seasons and called plays in 326 varsity football games.

Or maybe it was the fact the first half of the game was so bad for Land O' Lakes (2-1), that the typically stress-inducing final drive was a breeze.

In addition to playing sieve-like on the offensive and defensive lines for several plays, the Gators' offense drummed up 24 yards and two first downs in the first two quarters, while Zephyrhills defensive end Josh Perkins registered three sacks for minus-25 yards.

Surprisingly, the Zephyrhills offense only managed nine points out of the ordeal.

'You have to look at the coaching staff not really getting the team ready to play tonight,' Land O' Lakes coach John Benedetto said. 'Sometimes we really have problems with these kids. We won a big game against Wesley Chapel last week. They had a good time in practice this week.

'And no matter what we say, what we try to do ... we've had a lot of success over the years, so they feel real good about themselves and sometimes they feel as though they don't have to work and all they have to do is show up, but that's not the case. As you saw tonight, we were not ready to play football.'

The Gators' bleeding subsided in the third quarter when the Land O' Lakes defense shutout Zephyrhills, keeping the 9-0 deficit manageable.

Starting with the fourth Land O' Lakes possession, Benedetto began to rotate quarterbacks, inserting starter Ely Payne on defense at safety. That move paid off as Payne collected an interception to end a Zephyrhills drive that came to rest at the Gators 28 during the Bulldogs' opening drive of the third quarter.

On the second possession of the second half, the rotation ended as Weatherford remained at quarterback and Payne moved to receiver. Once Weatherford took over for good, he completed 10 of 15 passes for 123 yards and a score. In all he was 11 of 16 for 131 yards.

When asked how nervous he was on the final drive with a young quarterback in the game, receiver Nick Castellano, who caught a key fourth-and-15 pass on a double-pass play from Payne, which led to the final score, echoed the sentiments of his coach.

'Normally you would be nervous with a freshman quarterback,' Castellano said, 'but B.B. stepped up huge and he's a Weatherford, so we knew he'd get it done.'

Of course.

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