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Godby Defense Too Much For Pasco

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By RICK HARMON

Tribune correspondent

Published: December 13, 2008

DADE CITY - After giving up 50 points to Madison County in Week 9, Tallahassee Godby's defense has become stingy. And nothing was more apparent after the Cougars defeated Pasco 28-14 Friday in a Class 3A state semifinal.

Godby (12-2) had only allowed 6 touchdowns in five games after that 50-33 loss to Madison County and only two in its previous three playoff games.

Against Pasco, the Cougars forced the Pirates (12-2) out of their usual running game and made quarterback D.J. Clower try to beat them with his arm. The Pirates were held to a net-23 yards rushing on 24 carries and Clower finished 8-for-20 for 111 yards passing.

I think both teams did a good job of getting each other out of what they did best," said Godby coach Shelton Crews. "Our goal is to be balanced. The past couple weeks we haven't done that."

Coming into the game, Godby had thrown 104 times and ran 54 times in three playoff games. Against Pasco, the Cougars rushed 36 times and passed 20 times.

"We tried to stop them from passing and make them run," said Pasco coach Tom McHugh. "Sometimes you get a little blood in your eyes. You live by the blitz and die by the blitz. We got caught once. The kids did what I told them to do. We changed things up in the second half a little bit. They did what they were told to do and it didn't work out for us."

Godby quarterback A.J. Graham was averaging 271.0 yards a game passing and the Pirates did take away
the long passes. But he still managed to complete 12 of 19 for 106 yards.

But Pasco couldn't stop Godby running back Lavorie Johnson. The junior rushed for 126 yards on 22 carries to give him 1,076 yards for the season. The Cougars finished with 171 rushing yards.

"I'm very proud of Lavorie," Crews said. "He went over 1,000 yards. Last week, he had one carry for 1 yard. He came in and stepped up really big."

Next for Godby will be Cocoa in Friday's Class 3A title game. Cocoa defeated Miami Pace 20-17.

"Our defense has played well. Our offense has played well and now we get to go play for the whole thing," Crews said.

Godby 0 14 0 14 – 28
Pasco 7 0 0 7 – 14

P – Dunn 25 pass from Clower (Allen kick)
G – Johnson 6 run (Mueller kick)
G – Downs 1 run (Mueller kick)
G – A. Graham 1 run (Mueller kick)
G – A. Graham 35 run (Mueller kick)
P – Ishmar 7 pass from Clower (Allen kick)

Correspondent Rick Harmon can be reached at tampabaystringer@gmail.com

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