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Defense Boosts Bloomingdale

By ADAM ADKINS

The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 27, 2008

VALRICO - The Bloomingdale Bulls are 3-1. No, that is not a joke.

As improbable as it may sound, Bloomingdale, which has never had a winning season, is two games above .500 four weeks into the season following Friday night's 7-0 victory over Plant City at Charley Harris Stadium.

Junior fullback Anthony Amos scored on a 4-yard touchdown run on the Bulls' first possession of the game, and Bloomingdale's defense made it stand, limiting the Raiders (2-2) to 135 yards of offense while forcing four turnovers.

The win was Bloomingdale's second consecutive victory on the field, following a road victory over King last week. Those wins are coupled with a forfeit victory the Bulls were awarded this week when Spoto was found to have used an ineligible player during a Week 2 matchup, putting Hillsborough County's most downtrodden program in some unfamiliar territory.

"Besides the people on this team, the coaches, maybe some of the parents and a few of the students at our school," senior quarterback Anthony Beko said, "no one else believes in us."

Perhaps they should after the way Bloomingdale played in winning its Class 5A-District 7 opener, a game in which it didn't take long for the Bulls to set the tone.

Bloomingdale senior safety Grant Gray intercepted Plant City quarterback Clint Stearns (7-of-20, 72 yards, two interceptions) on the third play of the game and returned it to the Raiders' 31 to give the Bulls great field position. Beko (16 carries, 30 yards) then engineered a seven-play drive that was capped by a short plunge by Amos (14 carries, 55 yards) at the 6:40 mark in the first quarter.

Bloomingdale's defense then forced turnovers on Plant City's next two possessions and another on the Raiders' opening possession of the second half. Plant City's final two possessions both stalled at midfield, and the Bulls ran the final 3:23 off the clock on their final possession, with Beko's 16-yard run on third-and-short with just more than a minute remaining sealing the win.

"I preach attitude, attitude, attitude," first-year Bloomingdale coach Jason Stokes said. "The body is going to follow the mind. The whole time we've just been trying to get the kids more competitive, just start thirsting for blood and going after people instead of being everybody's doormat. ... These kids just have to believe in themselves."