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Land O' Lakes Takes District Opener

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By EDDIE DANIELS, The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 22, 2007

SPRING HILL - John Benedetto's voice was monotone.

The first few questions the Land O' Lakes football coach answered were short quips with a tinge of disappointment. When asked how many points his football team left on the field he fired back: 'A lot.'

Despite leaving points off the board, the Gators pitched a 14-0 shutout of Spring Hill Springstead in its Class 4A-District 8 opener.

'I'm happy we won the game, don't be mistaken about that,' Benedetto said. 'I just feel as though we should have played better offensively. ... We've had to move people into positions they're not used to playing and that's been the problem that we've had all year offensively.'

The Land O' Lakes (3-1, 1-0) opening drive sputtered on the 10th play when the Gators were forced to punt at the Springstead 39.

On the second drive, starting quarterback Ely Payne hit Nick Castellano in the end zone on a 23-yard pass, but an illegal shift on Land O' Lakes and a pass interference penalty on the Eagles negated the play. Four plays later, Alex Spock's 40-yard field goal attempt was blocked by Springstead linebacker Jake Earp.

Land O' Lakes scored on its second possession in the second quarter when Stephen Wood blew through Eagles defenders for a 1-yard touchdown with 5:27 left in the half. Wood finished with 57 rushing yards, just behind teammate Ben Hipps' 58.

The next score came 2:11 later after the Gators defense forced Springstead (2-2, 0-1) to punt for a third time.

Taking over at the Springstead 25, the Gators' backup quarterback, freshman Stephen Weatherford, took the snap, rolled right and dodged several defenders before unleashing the ball to Castellano in the back of the end zone.

Weatherford, who completed six of his first eight passes, finished 7-for-15 for 65 yards, one score and an interception. Payne, who was 3-for-10 for 41 yards and an interception, collected his third interception at safety in as many games. The Land O' Lakes defense recorded three interceptions against Springstead's rotating passers, James Mahla and Ben Noury.

The Eagles offense was an issue the entire night. In the first half, the unit mustered five first downs, punted three times, was intercepted once, ventured into Land O' Lakes territory once and produced a missed 30-yard field goal try.

L-Castellano 23 pass from Weatherford (Spock kick)

Reporter Eddie Daniels can be reached at (813) 948-4214 or edaniels@tampatrib.com.

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