SPORTS
By Kyle [email protected]
The Gaither football teamrode into Lakeland on Dec. 2with an opportunity to cap-ture the first regionalchampionship in the pro-gram’s 27 years, but thevaunted Dreadnaughts deniedthe chance at history.
Lakeland (13-0) came outon top of the Class 7A region-al finals 42-14,but just makingit to the doorstep of the statefinal four already made the2011 campaign one of theCowboys’ (9-4) most success-ful seasons ever.
“I’m very proud to be aCowboy,” said first-yearGaither coach Jason Stokes.“Ilove these kids and I love mystaff.We just didn’t get it donetoday. It hurts. It hurts a lot togo through that with these kids and youhate for the seniors to have their time play-ing football here ended.
“I tell you what I’m happy for what wedid,”Stokes continued.“No one expected usto get this far,and I’m proud of my boys andmy staff, and I’m not going to hang myhead.”
The Cowboys were playing in their firstregional finals since 2000 and only their sec-ond ever. The squad’s nine wins are alsomore than the eight victories the programrecorded during the previous three yearscombined.
“I’m so happy for us,”said Gaither widereceiver Carlo Perello.“I’m a senior and Ididn’t want to go out this way,but we’re stillall so happy. I bet nobody in the county ex-pected us to get to this game on this day. I’mhonored to have played with these boys.”
In contrast, Lakeland has made the post-season every year since 1993, has reachedthe regional finals each of the last four sea-sons and is fighting for the seventh statetitle in program history.
“We weren’t ready for the show yet,”Stokes said.“We weren’t ready for the bigshow.That kind of sums it up. … When Isaw the big show, I don’t mean the distrac-tions going on out here. I mean that teamwas just way bigger, faster andstronger than us.That’s really whatit was and we got beat up in thetrenches.”
Those distractions made forquite an atmosphere at BryantStadium, what with its 45-footJumbotron, cannons announcingevery Dreadnaughts’ score androw after row of stands packedwith fans circling the field. TheCowboys did not seem over-whelmed by the over-the-topnature of playing under the lightsin Lakeland,but they just couldn’tmatch up with the Dreadnaughts’speed.
Lakeland also felt like it could
exact some level of vengeance against theCowboys, as Hillsborough County schoolshave ended the Dreadnaughts’ season inthree of the last four years.
“Tampa football has really come upstrong over there the last four or five years,”said Lakeland coach Bill Castle.“(Gaither) isa good-coached football team, they showyou a lot of different looks on defense, andthey’ve had a great year themselves.”
The Dreadnaughts jumped out 14-0 inthe first quarter and carried a 21-7 lead intohalftime.Any chance of a comeback was ex-
tinguished by nineGaither fumbles, sixcoming on the center-quarterback exchange.
The Cowboys gaveup the ball on only oneof those fumbles, butthe lost downs hurttheir chances to put to-gether any consistentdrives.
“You can’t move theball with only two downsa series,” Stokes said. “Itseemed that every timewe got momentum,therewas a bad snap.”
The first of thosefumbles was the mostcostly for Gaither.Sophomore quarterbackAlex McGough attempted a pitch, but helost control of the ball and Lakelandpounced on the miscue on the Cowboys’5-yard line.The Dreadnaughts found the end
zone three plays later forthe game’s first points.
The turnover came oneplay after Gaither sopho-more defensive back AmaniOruwariye picked offLakeland quarterbackRaheeme Dumas. TheCowboys forced two moreturnovers in the contest, in-cluding a fumble recoveredfor a touchdown by juniorlinebacker Logan Marshallin the second quarter tomake the score 14-7.
Gaither tried virtuallyevery different defensivealignment to slow down
the Dreadnaughts’ running game, but thePolk County squad managed to rack up 251yards rushing in the contest.
On offense, the Cowboys were limited to124 total yards thanks in part to 10 sacks.McGough appeared to suffer a lower bodyinjury on one of the sacks on Gaither’s sec-ond possession of the third quarter.
McGough was knocked out of the gamelater in the same drive after taking a hit tothe head on a quarterback keeper. He wasdiagnosed with a concussion on the field.The Wesley Chapel High transfer finishedthe game 5-of-10 passing for 36 yards.
Running back Shug Oyegunle movedunder center and went 1-of-3 passing for 78yards and one interception.The junior ledthe Cowboys to their only offensive touch-down on a seven-play drive capped by a4-yard scoring run by Oyegunle punched inwith 2:40 remaining in the game — theirlast possession for the season.
Lakeland ends Gaither’s playoff run
By Kyle [email protected]
Gaither senior wide receiver CarloPerello remembers the first few practicesduring last spring.
They were the first with new coachJason Stokes, and it didn’t take long forPerello to learn he was the right man to leadthe Cowboys’ football program into the fu-ture.
“He went all out for us this year,”Perellosaid.“We all appreciate what he’s done forus this year and we all love him. I wish he
was here three years ago and we’d havebeen a whole different team.”
Perello was one of 25 seniors onGaither’s roster Stokes had to win over inorder to get the squad a playoff berth forthe first time since 2008.
“It’s hard to win over seniors being afirst-year coach, but they deserve all thecredit for buying into what we were doing,”Stokes said.“They were hungry to win.Theywere tired of the past and wanted some-thing fresh.They didn’t fight me.As far asthe discipline and the commitment, theygave their all for me and their teammates
and themselves.”Perello has seen Gaither at its lowest.His
first year on the varsity squad was 2009, ayear when the Cowboys went 1-9 and wereoutscored 334-66.
Gaither went 3-7 last year and lost two ofits first three games this season before win-ning eight of its last 10 contests to finish theseason.
The improvement allowed the Cowboys,who finished last in their district the previ-ous two seasons, to play in the month ofDecember for only the second time in theprogram’s 27-year history.
“We started off slow,but as we started towin we realized we were a great team,”Perello said.“We started believing in our-selves.We all bought into the new offenseand the changes made and we all wanted tobe here.”
Stokes was sad to see Perello and theother seniors’high school careers ended ona 42-14 loss to Lakeland in the Class 7A re-gional finals, but said they helped lay thegroundwork for something building innorthern Hillsborough County.
“We’re going to take this momentumand just roll into the offseason,” Stokessaid.“Get into the weight room and allour offseason things we have going on.I’m excited about next year’s team al-ready.”
How far the Cowboys have come
CnewsPubs.com / 813-909-2800 C O M M U N I T Y N E W S P U B L I C A T I O N S December 7, 2011 17
Dominic Neglio, left, and Matt Williams lead Gaither ontothe field at Lakeland before the Class 7A regional finals onDec. 2. (Photos by Glenn Gefers of www.photosby3g.com)
Gaither sophomore quarterback Alex McGough was diagnosed with a concussion sufferedon this hit in the third quarter against the Dreadnaughts.
“I bet nobody in thecounty expected usto get to this gameon this day. I’mhonored to haveplayed with these boys.”—Gaither senior wide receiver Carlo Perello
Cowboys junior H-back Jamari Cord turns the corner on aLakeland defender.
Junior Shug Oyegunle was forced to move toquarterback after Gaither starter Alex McGoughwas knocked out of the regional finals.
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