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November 7, 2009 DAYTONA BEACH - For over a week, the Mainland Buccaneers had to listen how new king was ready to take over the throne as the top team in the area. On Friday night the Bucs sent a clear message that they weren't ready to relinquish that crown anytime soon with a 21-14 win over previously unbeaten Deland in front of a capacity crowd at Municipal Stadium. Mainland used a strong defensive effort, holding Deland's sensational junior running back Pop Saunders to one of his lowest outputs of the season rushing for just 58 yards.How long they stay at the top is still under question but at least for another year Mainland proved yet again that the area's top team is the same as the previous nine seasons as the Buccaneers surprised Deland for a 21-14 win to capture the District Title. Throughout the year, the Mainland defense has struggled giving up the big plays. However, on Friday night it was the defense that was the difference for the Buccaneers. "I don't think we've played a more complete half of football then what we did against Deland in the second half. We had to make a few adjustments in assignments. I'm speechless because this is such a huge win for this team," explained Mainland WR/DB O.J. Ross. While Mainland adjusted and woke up in the second half, the opening half was basically an instance where the Buccaneers were just trying to hold on after Deland exploded out of the gate. The Bulldogs, as they have done all year got off to red hot start on the first possession of the game as senior RB Shontrelle Johnson took a quick handoff and bolted up the middle, eluded two Buccaneers tacklers, and outraced the Mainland secondary for a 36 yard touchdown run to make the score 7-0. The Buccaneers looked like they were up to the challenge of equaling that feat with an opening drive of their own after Mainland QB Quinn Bell hooked up with O.J. Ross on a 17-yard reception advancing the ball inside Deland territory. However, on the very next play, Bell would make on of his few mistakes on the evening, getting penalized for intentional ground. The loss of yards forced a 51 yard field goal from senior kicker Jonathan Linkenheiner, whose kick sailed no good to the left. That offensive scoring opportunity would be as close as Mainland would get to the end zone as Deland continued to pound on a tired Buccaneer defense in the first half. Despite leading 7-0, the Bulldogs also had plenty of wasted opportunities with the most notable coming with just three minutes left in the half as QB Nick Ciciarelli saw his attempted pass to Pop Saunders broken up in the end zone by Quinn Bell. That drive seemed to shift the momentum from that point as the Mainland defense sprinted with excitement to the locker room knowing it was only a matter of time before the Buccaneers offense awoke. The awakening wouldn't take long in the second half as on the second play from scrimmage, Quinn Bell facing a 3rd and 5, threw a sideline strike to O.J. Ross as Pop Saunders went for the aggressive interception, but that costly mistake was just that as Ross took the reception 60 yards for the tying score, and in a blink of an eye the Mainland Buccaneers tied the game at 7-7. That play seemed to suck the wind out of the Deland Bulldogs the rest of the match-up. From that point, the Buc defense dominated the rest of the half. Mainland pinned their ears back and used an aggressive, but speedy defense to stuff the explosive rushing attack of Deland. In the second half, the Mainland defense yielded just 60 yards on the ground. Bulldog running back Shontrelle Johnson led all rushers with 128 yards and one touchdown. But in the second half, Johnson could only muster 33 yards, a vast contrast from the opening half where he totaled well over 80 yards. Mainland head coach John Moronto attributes that success to a few adjustments. "We just had to close the gaps a little better in the second half and the kids just responded in making big stops. The thing is I think people forget that this defense is very young but make no mistake about it, they were unbelievable tonight against a strong offense," added Moronto. With the defense taking over the Mainland offense would do the rest, and get a few bounces the right way as FB Amari Williams was 'Johnny on the spot' after Marlin Lane exploded for a eigt yard run down to the Deland 2 yard line, before fumbling, but an alert Williams was there to scoop up the loose fumble for an easy go ahead touchdown. Despite the fumble Lane still led the Buccaneers in rushing with 72 yards. Then at the start of the fourth quarter, Mainland got another huge game changing play from Williams who hauled in an eight yard touchdown reception from Quinn Bell to extend the Buccaneers lead to 21-7. Following the score, the Bulldogs went into panic mode. Time was now an issue. Deland got away from their run oriented offense to a passing attack. With just four minutes left in the game, the Bulldogs eventually closed the gap to a one score game after QB Nick Ciciarelli scored on a five yard touchdown run. However, with the Bulldogs still trailing 21-14 Deland got one more shot with under a minute left, but Ciciarelli ran out of magic as Anthony Hamm sealed the game for the Buccaneers as he stripped Ciciarelli, and scooped up the fumble as the Buccaneers kept their stranglehold over Deland with a 21-14 win. "We know how tough of a team Deland is so to rally the way we did builds a lot of confidence in the coming weeks. There's no question we could play them again but we'll be ready," said Ross. You can't argue that Deland might get another shot at Mainland, but round one showed that the Bulldogs have a ways to go if they want to dethrone the champion. |
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