And now, for something positive about Strawberry Crest football.
It’s been a while since I was able to tell you how good the Chargers looked in a game, whether they won or lost, but the drought is ending.
The team played a good game against Durant last week. Sure, the 27-14 final score suggests that the Cougars might have went to Dover and stomped a mud hole in Crest, but it doesn’t tell the whole story. It was very nearly a one-score game that, with 33 seconds left, could have had a different outcome if Crest were able to recover an onside kick. That’s a minimum of three plays.
The first and third quarters were forgettable, if you support Crest. Durant hung 12 points on the Chargers in the first quarter and opened and closed it with touchdowns. Typical Durant stuff, at least as far as 2015 is concerned. Durant then scored twice in the third quarter, making it a 27-7 game.
But Crest showed what it can do in the even quarters. The Chargers played well for most of the second and fourth frames. It was, at one point, a 12-7 game before halftime, thanks to Chargers running back Bryce Blackmon.
The Tate Whatley-to-Chase Lawson connection was on point too. It was the best game I’ve ever seen Lawson play, at least while wearing a Strawberry Crest uniform. And it was the kind of performance that suggests Whatley’s weapons could be quite effective in the near future, with some development.
While we’re talking about Whatley: he’s not used as a true-blue running quarterback, but he’s athletic enough to extend plays if need be. He was forced to do it quite often against Durant, thanks to an effective pass rush. He was solid once he got away from a rusher.
The Durant secondary didn’t shut down whenever it saw Whatley evade a sack, but there were several times where it seemed to have trouble going off-script by allowing guys, such as Lawson, to make big catches and move the chains. As I’ve been saying, mobile quarterbacks can prosper in this district.
The defense played well throughout those two quarters, keeping Durant’s productive offense in check and creating opportunities to put points on the board. It was also the first time I’ve seen Carlton Potter get picked off, something that Junior Ogun was responsible for. It’s definitely a performance that the unit can build on.
Of course, the game was also full of some of the problems that have plagued the Chargers all season long. Chalk it up in part to Durant’s stout defense, but also to the fact that Crest’s offense wasn’t always able to execute big plays and that the defense proved susceptible to the Cougars’ short passing game.
The Chargers have a bye week to work out those kinks — which look fixable — and get ready to (hopefully) come away with an upset win Friday, Oct. 23, against East Bay.
As for Durant, need I say more than, “Redman Cup?” You can check out the Gridiron Report podcast online.
Contact Justin Kline at jkline@plantcityobserver.com.
