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The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 10, 2008

Gaither Loses NT Ruiz To Broken Clavicle

As if the injury to starting tailback Jarvis Giles isn't hurting Gaither enough, the Cowboys will also be without starting nose tackle Walter Ruiz.

Ruiz suffered a broken clavicle in Gaither's loss to Chamberlain on Friday night. Coach Mark Kantor said the senior defensive lineman is done for the season. The Cowboys, already young on defense, are trying out a host of players at the spot, including junior Derek Bavol and sophomore Angel Alvarez.

"We're going up against a solid football team in Plant Friday night and it will be a challenge for our defense," Kantor said.

Kantor also said Giles remains questionable for the Plant game. The University of Tennessee commit has been sidelined with a severe hamstring strain, which he sustained in the Aug. 29 Kickoff Classic against Durant.

"We don't want to rush him back," Kantor said. "If he comes back too soon and injures it further, then his recovery time would be much longer."

WDAE PLANS: The Plant at Gaither matchup has been tabbed the Game of the Week by WDAE, 620 AM. Darek Sharp will call the action with Jason Floyd serving as the color analyst. The sideline reporting will be handled this week by Tyler Frazier, who will be filling in for regular sideline man Justin Pawlowski, who is part of the USF pregame and postgame broadcast team and will be at the Kansas-USF matchup Friday night at Raymond James Stadium.

UNDERAPPRECIATED BACKS: Friday night's Durant-East Bay game will feature two very good senior running backs in the Cougars' Ryan Rice and the Indians' Chaz Burrows, two players who also might be among the area's most underappreciated outside of their own locker rooms.

"I would say that," Durant coach Mike Gottman said.

Burrows and Rice both are coming off productive junior seasons - Rice rushed for more than 1,000 yards, while Burrows had more than 800 - but neither player had that eye-popping performance in 2007 that garners heavy attention. But, both backs started the 2008 season with a bang, turning in two of the biggest performances by Hillsborough County running backs in Week 1 while also leading their teams to victory.

Burrows rushed for 269 yards and three scores in a 51-25 win vs. Riverview, and Rice rushed for 165 yards and three scores in a 25-6 win vs. Plant City. Gottman and East Bay coach Brian Thornton are well aware of the other's top back, and both coaches said slowing down the opposition's running attack will be priority No..1.
However, they know that task is easier said than done.

"[Rice] is a very hard-nosed back," Thornton said. "He doesn't go down easy, he breaks a lot of tackles and he's very durable. He keeps coming at you. He's probably capable of carrying the ball 35 times. I've earned a lot of respect for him over the years."

"Chaz is a strong son of a gun. He can run low to the ground and he's quick. He can stop on a dime and make people miss. … He is a phenomenal football player," Gottman said. "We've got to come at him and hit him hard. It's got to be a long game for him, because my thing is if we don't stop him - I mean, hell, he had [269] yards last week - we've got to stop him and make the quarterback and halfbacks beat us. We've got our hands full."

VOLLEYBALL: Plant senior outside hitter Danielle Erb and Berkeley Prep senior libero Christina Theofilos just missed the cut for the Prepvolleyball.com Top 250, a list of the top recruits in the nation. They were among 50 honorable mentions.

Both Erb and Theofilos were Tribune All-Hillsborough County first-team selections last year.

MOBILE FOOTBALL SCORES: To get live high school football scores updated after every quarter and scores sent to your mobile phone go to TBO.com. Keyword: Prep Sports.

Katherine Smith, Nick Williams, Adam Adkins

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