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Mitchell Enjoys Rare Win Against Zephyrhills

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By BART O'CONNELL

Tribune correspondent

Published: September 13, 2008

NEW PORT RICHEY There is still much work to be done, many areas of improvement Mitchell can make.
But at least for one night, Mustangs coach Scott Schmitz was able to enjoy a rare, 11-9 win against Zephyrhills, a team that had won three consecutive close games in this series.
"They're all like that. It always is," Schmitz said. "And it always has been, even in [my] River Ridge days, with Zephyrhills. [Bulldogs coach] Tom Fisher gets as much or more out of his kids than anybody else in the county. But like I said, I'm really proud and really happy with my kids."
To quantify just how important Friday's win was for Mitchell (1-1), consider the brief story of junior quarterback Cody Van De Boe, who had as poor a game as a quarterback could have a week earlier, completing zero passes.
He endured a week of light-hearted joking from his teammates, then went out and made big plays against the Zephyrhills defense -- 117 yards and a touchdown pass to Rickey Trinidad. Most of the damage, and all of Mitchell's points, came in the final 55 seconds before halftime.
And after the game, Van De Boe did something that Mitchell's last quarterback and prolific passer, Tate Humphrey, could not in the final three years at the school: celebrate a victory over the Bulldogs.
"It really helped my confidence," Van De Boe said. "I'm not going to be over-confident next week. River Ridge – I'm not going to say that they are bad. I'm not going there. You can't under-estimate anybody."
Friday's victory was in many ways a typical showdown between these squads – filled with long passing plays by the offense and key turnovers by the defense. The difference was the Bulldogs, who had three turnovers (including an interception and fumble recovery by Mitchell's Hunter McIntosh) and 95 yards of penalties to negate almost all of their offensive successes.
In the past three meetings, their opportunistic defense had been the difference.
"Nobody can make that many mistakes and expect to beat anybody," Fisher said.
Zephyrhills (0-2) has major issues on its offensive and defensive lines, with three starters – Duke Morrison, Ty Morrell and Ben Cottrell – missing Friday's game due to injury. To complicate matters, starting tight end Cory Christensen left the game in the second half with an apparent knee injury, and his status is uncertain for next week.
Mitchell dominated the time-of-possession battle because Zephyrhills ran the ball for just 42 yards on 15 carries. As the Bulldogs tried to slow Mitchell's running game in the second half, they often used just two down-linemen on defense and had two linebackers playing at defensive end from a two-point stance.
The Bulldogs still did an excellent job on Trinidad, who had 22 yards rushing before taking an intentional safety in the waning seconds that dropped him into negative yardage. But Mitchell's fullbacks – Ryan Gallagher and James Hamilton, had 25 carries for 70 yards and consistently picked up three and four-yards at a time in the second half.
Considering all the great skill players the Bulldogs have – including quarterback Tyler Guy (10-of-19, 190 yards) and senior receivers Gage Hayes and Alex Sampson, who (combined eight receptions for 162 yards), the setbacks have seemed almost unfair.
"We're just going to have to establish the run somehow," Fisher said. "Our kids are going to have to step up. The season's young and hopefully we can bounce back."

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