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Keepaway Keeps District Football Title In Dade City

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By EDDIE DANIELS | The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 8, 2008

DADE CITY - Friday night inside W.F. Edwards Stadium, Pasco's football team played a simple game of keepaway.

The Pirates offense needed to keep the ball, control the clock and not allow Gulf's stellar running back Adrian Golden to rip through the Pasco defense. The philosophy proved successful with the Pirates' 21-20 victory, which grabbed the second consecutive Class 3A-District 8 championship for the team as well as a Sunshine Athletic Conference title.

"Gulf beat every team they played this year by 30 points, except for Zephyrhills and this time," Pasco coach Tom McHugh said. "You have to keep the ball away from them if they're going to score 59 points, so the way to keep the ball away from them is to keep it. We worked all week long on what we were going to do.

"We don't have to score 100 points, all we have to do is keep it from them and I told [offensive coordinator Brad] Starling, this week we gotta score one more than them and that's how it ended up."

In order for that game of keepaway to be effective, the Pirates (8-1, 5-0) needed a brilliant running game and senior Jamall Haynes delivered.

The 5-foot-8, 175-pound back churned up 148 yards on 29 carries. Although Haynes didn't reach the end zone, of those runs, 13 went for 5 yards or more, allowing the offense to move the chains and kill the clock. More impressive is the fact he was stopped just once for negative yards — a minus 4-yard run on his final carry.

"Offense, we were killing the clock," said senior Josh Johnson. "We knew any given time they could score just as well as we could. So we were just making sure we held the ball the whole time."

Johnson was the benefactor of that run game on the Pirates' opening drive. The first four plays were runs and netted 25 yards. With the Gulf (8-1, 4-1) defense creeping forward expecting the run, Pirates quarterback D.J. Clower took three steps and unleashed an arching pass up the home sideline. Johnson ran under it, scoring from 43 yards out. Clower ended the night 5-for-9 for 110 yards and one rushing touchdown.

Pasco's ball-control offense gave Gulf just one offensive possession in the first quarter. On that drive, Golden had 11 yards rushing. He was held to 58 rushing yards in the first half. Nearly half of that yardage came on a 27-yard scoring sprint by the junior, who ended the night with 165 yards and three scores.

Golden's big-play ability came into play shortly after Pasco went ahead 21-7 in the third quarter. On the first-and-10 play from the Gulf 20, Golden received perfect blocking and outraced the Pirates defense for a touchdown.

As the game began to wind down, Gulf's final possession, which was kept alive thanks to big fourth-down receptions by Leon Orr and Will Burbridge, Golden struck again. From the Pasco 13, the running back powered through defenders for the score.

Gulf was set to attempt a 2-point conversion, but after Pasco called a timeout, Buccaneers coach Jay Fulmer changed his mind and sent his extra-point team on the field. The kick sailed left, assuring a Pirates victory.

"We really wanted to see what their reaction would be to our formation," Fulmer said. "We figured we'd get the timeout. We had a good play called; if they don't call a timeout, we've got a good play called. They called a timeout [and] you just go ahead and get your people on there. [D.J. Skelton] was 2-for-2 kicking extra points, you trust your kicker.

"That's just the way it goes. Pasco's got a great football team. They're quick and they're resilient and they fought hard. I think the two best football teams in the county wound up out here tonight and played football. My hats are off to those guys. They do a great job. I have never been more proud of my team than I am right now."

Gulf returns to the playoff for the second time in school history. Fulmer led the Bucs to their first appearance in 2006.

For Pasco, it's the continuation of the hard work and discipline infused by McHugh in his second season at the helm.

"The seniors, they didn't have very good luck up until two years ago," McHugh said. "We owed it to them. The underclassmen owed it to them and I owed it to them and they owed it to themselves."

Added Pasco defensive end Zack Faza: "I've never felt anything like this. We've been talking all week about how this is the biggest game of some of our entire lifetimes because some of us aren't going to college [to play football]. This is it. This is the game we will remember for the rest of our lives."

Reporter Eddie Daniels can be reached at (813) 948-4214.

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