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Sunlake Gets A Win

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 31, 2008

Erasing all the memories of its winless, painful first season, Sunlake shocked River Ridge 19-10 at Seahawk Stadium on Sept. 5 for the first victory in program history.

"Everybody was excited, especially considering what we went through last year," said Seahawks coach Bill Browning. "We knew we were better than last year, but this team beat us 50-0 and the big question in everyone's mind was how much better."

Sunlake (1-0) put many of those questions to rest after marching 80 yards on its opening drive, culminating in a Ryan Horan-to-Eli Escobar touchdown pass.

After a River Ridge field goal by Jack Paris made it 7-3 at halftime, Royal Knights running back Stavros Arianas scored from 1 yard out in the third quarter to make it 10-7 River Ridge.

But Escobar answered with a 50-yard run to give Sunlake the lead for good. River Ridge (0-1) was forced to take a safety after getting backed up on its own 1-yard line late in the fourth quarter, and Sunlake kicked a field goal for the game's final points.

In addition to Escobar's effort, Browning also credited backs Mike Shaver and Joe Connolly for running the ball well throughout the second half.

"I just think they outplayed us," River Ridge coach Tim Stevens said. "We make some mistakes, and we didn't adjust to their Wing-T offense the way we should've. Penalties hurt us, broken plays hurt us, but they executed well."

ARLINE ARRESTED

Former Ridgewood High football star Byronell Arline was arrested on a cocaine possession charge by the New Port Richey Police Department at 12:19 a.m. on Sept. 25. He was released that morning on $5,000 bail.

Arline, 18, who landed a scholarship to play football at Dodge City (Kansas) Community College, returned to Florida in July after a two-week stint at Dodge City.

That scholarship was the culmination of a record-setting high school season and career for the running back. In 2007, Arline's senior season, he ran for 2,188 yards and 35 touchdowns, eclipsing records set in 2001 by former Wesley Chapel star Tyrone Tomlin.

He ended his career with 5,189 rushing yards, which broke the mark set in 2000 by former Land O' Lakes back Godfrey Pestana.

BAISLEY GETS TO THE SHOW

A Sacramento River Cats meeting took a sharp turn from routine to shocking.

As the Oakland Athletics Triple-A baseball affiliate prepared for the opening game of the five-game Pacific Coast League championship series, the coach announced they would be without their third baseman - Land O' Lakes grad Jeff Baisley. He was headed to Detroit to play with the big team.

"It kind of caught me off guard. There had been a few guys called up and I figured if they were going to do it, it would be at the end of the playoffs - our coach was talking and I really wasn't paying attention," Baisley admitted. "I heard that and it caught really me off guard."

Baisley hopped a 6 a.m. (Pacific Coast Time) flight to Detroit and headed to Comerica Park for Game 2 of Oakland's three-game series with the Tigers.

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