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Dragons Power To Big Victory

By KATHERINE SMITH

ksmith@tampatrib.com

Published: October 11, 2008

Updated: 10/11/2008 02:37 am

TAMPA - Jefferson all but assured itself a spot in the playoffs with a 50-7 victory against Leto on Friday night.

The Dragons, however, have their sights set on a bigger prize - a Class 4A-District 10 title, something Plant has claimed the past three seasons.

"I think it's attainable," Jefferson coach Mike Fenton said. "Plant's had our number the past few years. We certainly have a chance to win that game."

Jefferson took care of one district opponent, Leto, and has Blake (0-6) on Oct. 24 and the 4-1 Panthers on Nov. 7.

Rebounding from their 41-0 loss to Armwood last week, the Dragons opened district play with a dominating performance. Jefferson's offense put up 434 yards on Leto and scored on seven of eight possessions.

"We kind of had a bad taste in our mouth from last week," Fenton said. "We worked hard this week, and they knew this was the first step to get to the playoffs. We worked on spreading the ball around this week."

Sophomore quarterback Quentin Williams led the Dragons with 265 passing yards and three touchdowns. He also ran for a score.

Jefferson opened the game with a 10-play, 80-yard scoring drive that was capped by a 5-yard touchdown run by senior tailback Mark Winters.

Winters, who led the Dragons with 84 rushing yards, accounted for 40 yards on the opening drive.

"I've been waiting for us to click all this year, and we did tonight," Williams said.

Leto struggled to get anything going offensively, mainly because of penalties. The Falcons picked up as many first downs in the first half, five, as they did penalties.

Jefferson's defense also had a hand in Leto's struggles, limiting the Falcons to 74 first-half yards and 127 total yards.

Leto picked up its only first down of the second half when Fred Timmons dashed for 38 yards and the Falcons' only touchdown.

A week after rushing for 326 yards and three touchdowns, Hillsborough County's leading rusher, Jeremy Deering, was held to 47 rushing yards. A 24-yard run by Deering on the Falcons' first possession was negated by one of their seven penalties.

"That's been a trend since I've been here," Leto coach Hugh Dehnert said. "We can't get rid of the penalties. It always hurts us."