Who saw this season coming?
Who would have guessed that Durant, despite losing a large chunk of its starters to graduation, would be going into a game against Strawberry Crest with only one win?
Especially after the 2012 spring game, when the two schools played each other and the Cougars came on top — quite handily, too.
But, what a difference a year makes.
The score from last week’s game against Freedom looks close on paper, but that’s a little misleading. Strawberry Crest was in control from beginning to end, and they really put on a show in the first half.
Running back Chris Perez controlled the tempo of the game, picking up 101 yards on 27 carries and scoring a touchdown and a two-point conversion. Linebacker Matt Chaney finished with 11 total tackles, nine of which were solo, one safety and one blocked field goal. The Patriots managed to scoop that ball up and return it for a touchdown. However, all three of the Charger units — offense, defense, and special teams — played well.
Durant was long overdue for its first win, and last week, the Cougars finally got their offense and defense clicking. This is still a talented team, and few things in a season can turn a team’s motivation up to 11 like a big shutout win on Homecoming night.
But, as of this writing, it looks like the torch could be passed — the Chargers may be the best team in the Plant City outskirts.
CHANGE IN CHARGE
John Kelly took over the football team in 2012, just a year removed from a 2-8 record under coach Gerald Dickens. Kelly’s Chargers won four games that season, and some talents emerged: notably, guys such as Karel Hamilton, Tristan and Josh Hyde, and Alex Carswell.
Strawberry Crest is once again a four-win team, but this time, it’s only the seventh week of the season. With much of the same personnel as last year, this newfound success can be chalked up to a complete culture change.
“The kids last year — we gave them some confidence in themselves,” Kelly said. “We got them believing in themselves. We’re building forward into Year Two with a little bit of that confidence and realizing that, no matter who we play, we’re going to go out there and going to play to win. And we belong on the field with those teams.”
If this team didn’t have that confidence in the past, it has a little swagger in 2013. A quarterback injury could have spelled doom for many teams, but the Chargers don’t appear to have let starter Tristan Hyde’s season-ending ACL injury affect them. They stuck Austin Carswell under center in the Leon game, and, two weeks later, the new guy’s got two wins and seven passing touchdowns.
RECIPE FOR SUCCESS
Kelly’s confidence-boosting philosophy seems to be working, but he’ll say it’s not the only thing the team needed to improve upon to be successful. When he came to the program, he wanted to foster change both on and off the field.
And he brought some ideas with him.
“A little bit more accountability and holding kids to a higher standard in all aspects,” he said. “Not just on the football field, but off the field as well — in the classroom. Just trying to do all things right.”
He also created an acronym with four tenets by which the Chargers live: Teamwork, Integrity, Excellence and Service, or T.I.E.S. The team’s motto is, accordingly, “What T.I.E.S. Us Together.”
“We really try to believe in those four things as our core philosophy,” Kelly said.
The team’s attitude is calm yet focused. Even in last week’s win over Freedom, there wasn’t much showboating, while the Chargers took a big first-half lead. They just played efficiently, and they looked sure of themselves.
“They just didn’t have that confidence in the past,” Kelly says. “Not so much X’s and O’s but just believing in themselves and playing hard, playing until the final whistle — no matter what the situation is in the game.”
CLIMBING THE LADDER
Does Strawberry Crest have the best program on the outskirts of Plant City? That’s not for certain yet, but Friday night’s game will be a pretty good indicator.
Sure, Durant’s got a 1-4 record going into this matchup, including a loss to district rival Plant City. But, the Cougars can still make the playoffs, which would most likely mean knocking the Chargers out of postseason contention.
And, most importantly, that win last week against Gaither gave Durant a ton of momentum.
“It was just a game where we wanted to go out and play good, sound football,” Durant head coach Mike Gottman said. “We flew around and got the shutout, which was huge, offensively. I felt like we took a step forward, and to get that first win under our belt was huge for us.”
They finally figured out a way to get everybody firing on all cylinders. Take defensive end Dontriel Perry, who terrorized the Cowboys’ offense to the tune of four sacks. Take Kadarius Griffin and John Hendricks, who combined for more than 200 rushing yards. Gabe Brown and Mason Bridges made plays all night, and both players grabbed an interception.
Again, this is still a talented team even without all of last year’s seniors from the 11-1 season. Although the Cougars still have a rough schedule ahead of them, it looks like they may have just figured out how to play to their strengths in 2013.
“I know the caliber and quality of their program — it was only a matter of time before they got back on track,” Kelly said.
If the Cougars have truly returned to form, then the Chargers will need all the confidence they can get going into this one.
Contact Justin Kline at jkline@plantcityobserver.com.
OTHER AREA ACTION
Plant City at East Bay
Last Week: Plant City stunned Bloomingdale, 40-0, while East Bay dropped a close one to Wharton, 21-18.
Notes: Raise your hand if you saw this 40-0 shutout win coming. The Bulls couldn’t have gone into this game with much more momentum, but coach Wayne Ward’s Raiders did as they pleased all night. Meanwhile, East Bay’s ground game was working well, scoring all three of the Indians’ touchdowns, but a blocked field goal attempt got returned for a touchdown and Wharton rallied from a 14-0 deficit to win.
Last Week: Durant blanked Gaither, 26-0.
Notes: It wasn’t hard to see Durant coming out on top of this one, by virtue of playing one of the streakier teams in the Tampa Bay area on Homecoming night. The Cougar faithful finally got to go home happy. The defense held the Cowboys to under 200 yards of total offense, and also came up with two picks (one returned for a touchdown) and a safety.