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Cobras' Offense Arrives

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By BART O'CONNELL Tribune correspondent

Published: September 30, 2007

HUDSON - Not wanting any credit taken away from his players or coaches, Hudson's Mark Nash used the fourth quarter to make his case for a win that could eventually be considered a milestone for his young squad.

'I can see the headlines now,' Nash said sarcastically to some sideline reporters. 'Hudson beats Mitchell because Tate Humphrey was out.'

Actually, Nash didn't have to scrape an asterisk off the 36-27 victory. His offense did it for him.

Even if the Mustangs had their starting quarterback, still nursing a right high ankle sprain, they would have had trouble out-scoring the Cobras (2-2), who had 471 yards of offense.

The victory was by far the biggest for sophomore quarterback Zack Wynn and senior fullback Sean Scott in their Hudson careers. Wynn entered the game with 262 yards passing and one touchdown in Hudson's first three games, but managed to eclipse both numbers in a career performance.

His final line: 17-of-27, 284 yards, four touchdowns.

'All week in practice, we worked on our passing game,' Wynn said. 'In the Pasco game, we starting passing late in the fourth quarter and it worked. Coach saw it, and we opened it up.

Nash said the decision to throw more wasn't completely scripted, but it had a lot to do with Mitchell's defense, which now runs the same 46 scheme that Hudson has used for four years.

'I was flattered by the fact that they went to our defense, but if there's anybody in this county that knows that defense, it's our offensive coordinator Rob Mahler,' Nash said. 'We were shocked they were running the 46, and Mitchell coach Scott Schmitz didn't make any bones about it.'

Scott also piled up more than 200 yards of total offense, with 150 yards rushing, 65 receiving and two scores. In addition, Wynn found Tony Germano (six catches, 84 yards) and Dylan Jordan (four catches, 74 yards) for scores.

Of course, the absence of Humphrey did have a huge impact on what Mitchell did offensively. The normally balanced attack was far more run-oriented on Friday, with junior Sterling Ross rushing for 148 yards and three touchdowns.

'He's arguably the best football player in the county,' Schmitz said of Humphrey. 'When you lose a kid like that, you lose a lot.'

Even as the game ended, there was some uncertainty about why Humphrey didn't play. Rumors were spreading fast at Cobra Stadium, and Humphrey did his best to refute them, saying the ankle was the only reason why.
Schmitz said it was 'mostly injury-related', but wouldn't elaborate further except to say that Humphrey was ruled out on Thursday and would return this week.

'Hudson played well, they played hard, their coaches had a good game plan,' he said. 'They out-played us, out-coached us, probably out-coached us more than they out-played us.'

Bart O'Connell can be reached at boconnell@pop. tampatrib.com.

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