Armwood 34, Brandon 3

SEFFNER - There were three teams on the Lyle Flagg Field on Friday night.

The Brandon High football team showed up, and so did two different Armwood teams.

For half the game, Brandon hung around with their neighborhood rivals, partly because of the effort by the Eagles. Mostly, however, because of countless penalties and turnovers by the Hawks.

Armwood was able to overcome 11 penalties and four turnovers to secure a 34-3 victory and improve to 3-0. Brandon, which showed flashes of promise at times, fell to 1-2.

Armwood's 337 yards of offense, compared to Brandon's 102, would have been an even greater total had the Hawks not given up 88 yards in penalties. Two of their 11 penalties negated touchdowns.

'We played against two teams. We played against Armwood and we played against Brandon,' Armwood coach Sean Callahan said. 'We kept killing ourselves with penalties. We were very undisciplined tonight. We made a lot of mistakes and did not play Armwood football.'

Armwood spent most of the first quarter running down the middle, but a holding penalty negated an Eric Smith 13-yard touchdown and then Wesley Skiffington missed a 37-yard field goal wide left.

Brandon's defense made some adjustments in the second quarter, closing up holes in the middle, leaving Armwood nowhere to run. The Eagles held Armwood's offense to two three-and-outs in the quarter and also forced a turnover.

But Brandon was unable to capitalize on the fumble recovery. Armwood's offense outgained the Eagles 116 to 55 yards in the first half but didn't have any points to show for it.

'I feel like we totally dominated the game, but the score didn't show that in the first half,' Callahan said. 'At no time did we feel threatened by them.'

The only threat was to themselves. Callahan laid into his team at halftime, seemingly making a difference, though the penalties continued.

'We just had to get everybody on the same page,' said Armwood quarterback Mywan Jackson, who threw for 51 yards and rushed for 58. 'Some people were doing what they were supposed to, some people weren't. At halftime, coach got on us and we all just did our stuff.'

A different Armwood team showed up in the second half. The Hawks poured it on in the third quarter, scoring 27 points to take a commanding lead. After fumbling on their first play of the third quarter, Armwood's second series of the quarter went 89 yards and culminated with tailback Sherman Jessie's four-yard touchdown run.

That the Hawks were able to get into the end zone on the drive, despite four penalties, five including the two-point conversion try, was a testament to their determination.

Armwood's defense, playing without three of its key players because of injuries and a suspension, kept Hillsborough County leading scorer Samir Baker out of the end zone. Baker led the Eagles with 34 rushing yards.

Brandon0003-3Armwood00277-34 A-Jessie 4 run (Skiffington kick)

A-E.Smith 25 run (kick failed)

A-Jones 82 punt return (Skiffington kick)

A-Jackson 10 run (Skiffington kick)

B-Keefe 27 FG

A-McWilliams 23 run (Skiffington kick)

TEAM STATISTICS Bran.Arm.First downs 1016Rushing 26-2347-337Passing 8-21-795-11-51Total yards 102 388Interceptions by 10Sacks by 65Fumbles-lost 2-23-3Penalties-yards 4-1511-88