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Pasco Comes Through With Special Play

By EDDIE DANIELS

The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 20, 2008

Updated: 09/20/2008 12:54 am

WESLEY CHAPEL - For more than a season, Tom McHugh has attempted to drive home how important special-teams play can be.

Jarrod Carmody gave the Pasco High football coach the sledgehammer he needed when Carmody blocked a potential tying extra point in the fourth quarter to give the Pirates a 21-20 victory against Wesley Chapel.

"I've been telling these guys for two years, 'Ronde Barber is on the kickoff team for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, he's an All-Pro,'" McHugh said. "Special teams are important.

"They blocked one of ours ... we blocked one of theirs, and that's what cost them."

That fourth-quarter point-after block was the culmination of a back-and-forth football game.

Wesley Chapel (1-2) scored first on its second possession in the first quarter. On that drive, Wildcats quarterback Geoff DeGroot hit Hunter Joyer on the right side for a 29-yard gain. On the ensuing play, from the Pasco 32, Keenan Reynolds blew past the Pirates' defense for the score.

Three possessions later, Pasco quarterback D.J. Clower found an open Josh Johnson. After catching the pass on the left side of the formation, which would have been for a moderate gain, Johnson cut inside to his right - zipping past a defender - headed toward the goal line, spun to his left and dove into the end zone for the 36-yard score. Wesley Chapel blocked the extra point, keeping its 7-6 second-quarter advantage.

On its next possession, Jamall Haynes, who ended his night with 134 rushing yards, scored the first of his two touchdowns on a 7-yard run up the middle.

A 2-point conversion pass to Hakeeme Ishmar gave Pasco (3-0) a 14-7 lead with 36 seconds remaining in the first half.

"The blocking was good," said Haynes, who missed a portion of the second quarter with an arm injury. "Two of our offensive linemen got hurt in the second game of the season, but the second unit came in and stepped up for them, and since then, they've been blocking awesome."

Wesley Chapel defensive back Arron Duncan seemed to literally snatch Pasco's momentum in the third quarter when he yanked the ball out of Clifford Phillips' hands and ran 76 yards for the score with 4:32 left.

Pasco answered on its ensuing possession with a six-play drive that included five Haynes runs. He capped the drive with a 15-yard score for a 21-14 advantage.

With 8:49 remaining in the game, Wesley Chapel quarterback C.J. West scored from a yard out. On that extra point, Carmody broke through the center of the line for the block.

Tim Saylor sealed the victory with his interception at the 4:06 mark of the fourth.