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Land O' Lakes fighting for playoffs

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By RICK HARMON

Tribune correspondent

Published: October 31, 2009

LAND O' LAKES - Heading into Friday's games, there were a number of playoff possibilities for Class 3A-District 7.

But following Land O' Lakes' 42-14 win against Sunlake and Pasco's 17-3 victory against Mitchell, the playoff picture is now crystal clear.

Pasco is the district champion regardless of what the Pirates do against Sunlake this week and will host the winner of the 3A-8 battle for runner-up between Spoto and Lakewood on Nov. 20 in the region quarterfinals. And the winner of Friday's Land O' Lakes at Mitchell game will be the 3A-7 runner-up and travel to 3A-8 champ Jefferson.

The Gators' road to the Mitchell showdown wasn't exactly an easy one, despite what the final score indicated.

Land O' Lakes (7-1, 5-1 3A-7) scored two touchdowns in the final 1:21 of the first half to take a 14-0 lead as Gators quarterback Stephen Weatherford rushed for a 12-yard touchdown and then connected with Will Irwin on a 74-yard score after Sunlake (3-5, 3-3) turned the ball over on downs at the Gators 26 with 4 seconds left in the half.

The Gators tried an onside kick to start the second half and just missed recovering it. It was the break the Seahawks needed. On the second play following the kick, Sunlake quarterback Jacob Jackson found Jamal Jones open for a 55-yard score to cut the Gators lead to 14-7.

"They got us. We thought we got the onside kick. We probably should have got it," Land O' Lakes coach Matt Kitchie said. "Our kid just fell down an inch short. This is a game of inches and then they caught us on one. The great thing about the kids at Land O' Lakes is they bounce back well. I was extremely excited to see our kids handle themselves well being our schools are just down the road so things can get a little heated and I'm glad it ended on a positive."

Weatherford had a hand in all of the Gators' touchdowns as the junior threw four TD passes and rushed for two others. He finished 18-of-27 for 325 yards passing and gained 84 yards on 10 carries rushing. His last three touchdown passes were to Alex Robinson, who finished the game with 10 catches for 175 yards. Irwin had five catches for 133 yards.

"We came out (in the second half) a little more focused," Kitchie said. "We really tried to curb our senseless penalties. We really wanted to play a disciplined game and do things the right way. The thing about or offense is it's a spread offense but that doesn't mean we have four wide receivers out there. We have six guys out there, including the quarterback, who can carry the ball and share the load and do things for us. Our kids play selflessly and we spread the ball around. Each week it's somebody different that does something great."

When Weatherford connected with Robinson on a 29-yard score with 3:21 remaining in the third quarter to give the Gators a 28-14 lead, Sunlake had to take some chances to try to get back in the game.

"The game was a lot closer than the score indicated," Sunlake coach Bill Browning said. "They scored a couple late ones on us when we gambled a little bit and gave them field position but this game was closer than it looks. I'm very proud of the way our kids played. We tried to mix it up with different looks but they're a talented bunch. For us to come out and play a talented bunch like them … we gave them a scare. We were in the ballgame for a long time with them."

It would have been easy for Land O' Lakes to overlook their cross-town rivals knowing Mitchell and a playoff spot was waiting. But Kitchie did a good job reminding his players what was at hand.

"Our theme for the year has been 'one' – one play at a time, one game at a time, one day at a time," he said. "We just talk about each day as it comes. Sounds like Bill Belichick (New England Patriots coach) – I'm a coach, I steal from everybody. We have to play each opponent. (Sunlake) almost got us. We go into halftime and it's only 14-0 and then we come out in the second half and it's 14-7. It got to be a close game and I'm just glad we came out on the other side."

And Kitchie knows it's going to take a perfect game to defeat the Mustangs (8-1, 5-1).

"Mitchell's going to be tough," he said. "They played Pasco, a tough team (Friday), and we're hoping we can get one out of those guys. They are a very good team. Any time you play a quality opponent like that, it gets you going a little bit. I just hope we can offer our 'A' game and beat the Mitchell Mustangs. I don't want to say we need to step up our defense – we only gave up 14 points – but Mitchell has that kid named (Ricky) Trinidad who's pretty darn good. We have to be able to tackle."

The Gators probably will face Mitchell without starting defensive end Gary Myrick, who was ejected for a personal foul.

"We had a kid ejected and he's a big loss and that's something that's not going to be tolerated," Kitchie said. "I'm sure he'll miss some games for it – as well he should."

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