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East Bay Capitalizes On Durant's 2nd-Half Mistakes

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By ADAM ADKINS

The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 13, 2008

Updated: 09/13/2008 12:55 am

GIBSONTON - Don't go calling Brian Thornton Nostradamus just yet, but the East Bay football coach pegged what would be the difference in his team's matchup Friday night against Durant long before the first snap ever took place.

Thornton said earlier in the week the game would come down to mistakes, and that's exactly what happened. And in the end, Thornton's Indians came out the beneficiary.

Two second-half turnovers by the Cougars paved the way for East Bay to take control of the game, and the Indians walked off E.G. Simmons Field with a 17-3 victory, giving them their first 2-0 start since 2002.

"It did come down to mistakes," Thornton said. "I told you mistakes and special teams play, and what scared me was we got beat in special teams play. But they made a couple more mistakes in the second half and we capitalized on them, and that did make the difference."

The mistakes went against East Bay in the first half. The Indians fumbled inside Durant's red zone on their first offensive series, and they had a field-goal attempt blocked on their second. That helped the Cougars (1-1) go into the half with a 3-0 lead, thanks to Connor Bass' 21-yard field goal at the 2:05 mark in the second quarter.

But the Indians wasted little time taking control after the break. They marched down the field on their opening possession, with sophomore quarterback Fred Porter (19 carries, 87 yards) capping an eight-play, 60-yard drive with a 13-yard touchdown run, which made it a 7-3 game. And after that, the Cougars seemed to fall apart.

Durant had a nice drive going on its ensuing possession and drove down inside the East Bay 30 before Ryan Rice (17 carries, 77 yards) lost the handle on the ball. By the time the play was dead, East Bay had possession at the Cougars 14, and two plays later the Indians were ahead 14-3 thanks to Andre Simpson's 11-yard scoring run.

The Cougars fumbled again on their next possession, which led to a Forrest Meredith 27-yard field goal and a 17-3 East Bay lead. Durant's final drive ended badly as well, with a penalty wiping out a 33-yard passing play on fourth-and-10. The Cougars turned it over on downs the following play.

"We shot ourselves in the foot," Durant coach Mike Gottman said. "You can't do that and win football games."

In the end, East Bay made the plays when they needed to.

"The second half I think this team made a step in the right direction. For us to step up and mature at halftime and to come back and control the second half like we did, I think that's a great credit to our progress," Thornton said. "The win buys us time. It buys us time to mature. Because this team, it's the type of team where we're going to get better and better. I really believe that."

Reporter Adam Adkins can be reached at (813) 657-4533 or aadkins@tampatrib.com.

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