The Durant Cougars are playoff bound and ready to take on a tough East Lake Eagles team.
The moment the Durant Cougars and their fans have been waiting for is here.
Durant, which spent much of the season playing the part of an underdog, will travel to Tarpon Springs Friday, Nov. 11, for the first round of the FHSAA playoffs. Once again, the Cougars are aware they’re not going into a matchup as the favorite: they drew the East Lake Eagles, one of the toughest teams in Pinellas County.
At Cougar Path, no corners have been cut. Those Eagles can play, and head coach Mike Gottman knows his team has to play its best football to win.
“We’ve got to try to make them do things that they don’t want to do,” Gottman says.
The Eagles own a 7-1 (4-0 district) record in a season shortened by foul weather. After opening the season with two narrow wins — 38-35 over Palm Harbor University and 22-19 over Lake Brantley — East Lake has mostly been blowing out opponents. In its last five wins, the team gave up just 17 total points, pitched three shutouts and averaged almost 38 points scored per game.
Gottman says stopping the run will be crucial to winning the game.
“They want to run the football, so we want to take that away from them,” he says. “They’ve got some good tailbacks that we’ve got to stop.”
Those tailbacks would be senior Xavier Jackson and junior Breon Hillmon. Jackson leads the team with 720 yards on 95 carries and six touchdowns. Hillmon has 223 yards and two touchdowns on 30 touches. Both average over seven yards per carry.
The Eagles are led by quarterback Tyler Rupe, who has thrown for 834 yards and 13 touchdowns against just three interceptions. His favorite target — East Lake’s “go-to guy,” according to Gottman — is wide receiver Bryce Miller, who has 31 receptions for 617 yards and 11 touchdowns.
Durant’s forté is its ground game, but it will help if quarterback Carlton Potter is on his A-game. In its win over East Lake Friday, Nov. 4, Clearwater quarterback Austin Day completed 10 of his 20 pass attempts for 271 yards and three touchdowns, though 214 of those yards and all three of those scores were caught by senior Jacquez Jones.
The Cougars have a solid No. 1 receiving option in Brandon Myers, who, after sitting out the second half of the Redman Cup game with a cramp, is back to feeling 100%. Myers is confident in his team’s chances, so long as everything covered in practice makes it onto East Lake’s field.
Against King Friday, Nov. 4, Gottman’s top priority was to keep the Cougars healthy, especially now that tight end Steven Witchoskey has healed up. The Cougars made it through the game with no health issues and, as an added bonus, dominated the Lions in a 48-3 win.
“I told the team, going into the game, ‘I don’t care about King, I care about us,’” Gottman says. “‘I want us to play well. I want us to do what we do.’”
Much of the Cougars’ success in 2016 came from its ability to avoid penalties and turnovers. Against East Lake, and any team with a dangerous offense, the team believes that sticking to its guns will help it overcome the Eagles and surprise people who have already written the team off.
“I think we’ve got to come out fast as a team and limit our penalties, then I think we’ll be good for a ‘W,’” Myers says.
Contact Justin Kline at jkline@plantcityobserver.com.
