CCC gets the win and respect.
Eric Clark
CCC was 3 points away from beating Palm Harbor University High’s district rival in East Lake early in the season in a game plagued with turnovers and penalties. The Marauders would not let history repeat itself in this battle with another 8A classification team keeping focus and pulling out a convincing 20-7 victory, “We were more focused all week,” CCC leading rusher Justin Goodloe (12 carries for 84yards) stated, “We wanted this win bad and now we want the district title.” PHOTOS HERE
The senior leader made it clear what their goals were for this season. CCC stuck to the ground game only attempting 8 passes and one coming on a flea flicker from Justin Goodloe on the second play from scrimmage. The pass slipped through the receiver’s hands and CCC was forced to punt.
After a quarter and half of a defensive struggle CCC Jr. Running back Michael Stevenson (4 carries 60 yards and 2 TD’s) opened up the scoring by breaking off tackle and racing to the end zone for a 52 yard touchdown to put CCC up 7-0.
Palm Harbor Sr. Running back Ryan Myers (19 carries 119 yards) who had his 4th 100 yard rushing performance on the season took Palm Harbor deep into Marauder territory after the touchdown with a 40 yard counter that was working for Palm Harbor all night. Two plays later on a similar play the ball was jarred loose from Myers by Stevenson and CCC recovered to end the half with the lead 7-0.
The 2nd half started much of the way the 1st half ended. Justin Goodloe got the momentum going with a 43 yard run on the 2nd series. CCC was attempting a 37 yard field goal but an offsides penalty gave CCC the 1st and Stevenson punched it in from 4 yards out 3 plays later. CCC went up 13-0 early in the half.
PHUH’s next drive would be a combination of Ryan Myers and Billy Pavlock finding lanes and getting yards. The drive was capped off by a 1 yard QB sneak to draw the score to 13-7. After this, Palm Harbor was never able to sustain a drive while CCC would start the 4th with a clock killing 7 minute drive capped off by a 3 yard touchdown run by Full Back Blair Vaughn. CCC stopped Palm Harbor on the ensuing drive to seal the win 20-7 CCC. HILITES HERE