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Tough D lifts Spoto

By NICK WILLIAMS

nwilliams@tampatrib.com

Published: September 5, 2009

Which football team has been the most surprising this year?

TAMPA - During his team's Kickoff Classic against Newsome, second-year Spoto head coach Dale Caparaso decided to try to eliminate blitz packages from the defense. That strategy was responsible for the Spartans' success in 2008.

The result wasn't what Caparaso expected.

"We weren't very good," he said.

Friday night against Wharton, Caparaso re-installed the blitz packages, and it proved to be a wise move. Spoto's defense limited the host Wildcats to 85 yards and returned a fumble for a touchdown in a 28-0 victory.

"We worked hard on getting the attitude back that we are going to attack," Caparaso said. "We didn't send a lot of kamikaze stuff today, with three of four linebackers. We sent two (linebackers) on every down and we got on their side of the football. That's what we do."

Spoto also had three sacks and knocked down three passes at the line of scrimmage.

Spoto's offense wasn't bad, either. The Spartans used a few tricks, including the Wildcat formation, to accumulate more than 300 yards. Senior quarterback James Brown rushed for 70 yards and threw for 50 more with a touchdown.

"We have different formations, so when we switched it on them, they were running around and we took advantage," Brown said.

"That's a neat toy," Caparaso said. "We were kind of forced into that."

Senior running back and backup quarterback Jamar Burns rushed for 93 yards, including a 53-yard score, and threw for 20 yards. Running back Charlie Waits added 57 yards on the ground, including a 4-yard touchdown in the third quarter to give Spoto a 21-0 lead.

Playing without starting running back Shane McEwen, who was out with a leg injury, the Wildcats failed to get into a rhythm on offense. Senior Kyle Wilcox led the offense with 24 yards rushing, but he missed the second half with a strained groin. Junior quarterback Ryan Hatter was limited to 35 yards on nine completions.

After the game, Caparaso told the team if it keeps executing the way it did Friday, he thinks Spoto can reach the state championship.

"We're on our way this year," Brown said.