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Gators Miss Chances

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By EDDIE DANIELS, The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 23, 2007

SPRING HILL - Lets just say this was a Staples commercial and tucked inside the pocket of Land O' Lakes coach John Benedetto's navy blue mesh shorts was the red 'Easy' button.

The coach, in his 31{+s}{+t} season, likely would have been pawing at the gadget Friday night.

The Gators pitched a 14-0 shutout Friday night of Springstead, but the signs of inconsistency on offense made for a head coach with mixed emotions following the game.

'We had a lot of opportunities and didn't take advantage of most of them,' said Benedetto, who admittedly was happy about the win. 'I'm just not real happy the way we played offense. We dropped a few passes, we just didn't close our splits down when we were supposed to. We're just not doing the things offensively that are making me happy right now.'
Springstead gave the Gators plenty of chances. The first Eagles punt, a 21-yard effort, gave Land O' Lakes the ball at the Gators 44. On that drive, a touchdown pass was wiped out by a penalty and a 40-yard field goal attempt from the Springstead 23 was blocked.

On the ensuing Springstead possession, Ely Payne picked off the third-and-6 pass, giving Land O' Lakes the possession at the Gators 43. Stephen Weatherford was picked off on his first pass attempt on the next play.

The Eagles couldn't capitalize, going three-and-out, producing another poor punt. This time the ball flailed to the Eagles 38 - a 25-yard kick.

Land O' Lakes scored seven plays later on a Stephen Wood 1-yard run with 5:27 left in the second quarter. Land O' Lakes scored again on its next possession, a 23-yard pass from Weatherford to Nick Castellano.

After rolling up 12 first downs in the first half, the Gators tallied three in the final two quarters and in addition to that ineffectiveness, the squad went from being penalized twice in the first half for 20 yards, to being hit with six flags for 45 yards in the last half.

'We have to get better because our season isn't going to get any easier, it's going to get tougher,' Benedetto said. 'I think that we're playing well enough to win ballgames, we're just not playing great. And so I don't think we've had that great game yet, which, OK, we've won three out of four, which is OK, but I'm still not happy because I think we can be a much better football team.'

Benedetto traces the lack of consistency to injuries and having to put players in positions they aren't used to playing.

The shifting has forced Payne, the starting quarterback, to play free safety in the last three games and when he goes in on defense, Stephen Weatherford comes in at quarterback. James Ridley, who played tight end in past seasons, has been used at flanker, which moved Castellano from receiver to tight end.

Ben Hipps, a quarterback, has not taken a snap all season at that position. Instead, he's one of the Gators' leading rushers at running back.

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