Tarpon Springs senior athlete Daniel Davis made big plays on both sides the ball in the Spongers come-from-behind win over Clearwater, 28-13. With Clearwater leading 13-7 late in first half, Davis went up between defenders and pulled down an outstanding catch then made a move up the home sidelines for a 60-yard touchdown to give Tarpon Springs a 14-13 lead. Early in the fourth quarter, Davis on defense would go up high again in front of a Clearwater wide receiver on the visitor’s sideline and intercept the ball then cut across the field to the home sidelines to go 70-yard for his second long touchdown putting the Spongers up 21-13 early in the fourth quarter. Davis also had 6 carries for 61 rush yards and 3 catches for 80 yards on his way for over 220 total all-purpose yards.
Spongers senior quarterback Brandon Casler went 13-for-21, 172-yards including two touchdowns to Davis (60-Yarder) in 2nd quarter and to Yianni Mehas (24-Yarder) after a deflection late in fourth quarter. Senior running back Michael Ford was the workhorse and carried the ball 19 times for 72 yards including a 3-yard touchdown run in first quarter to put Tarpon Springs up 7-0 and had 3 catches for 26 yards.
Other standouts on Spongers Defense were senior Quenton Brightwell with 3 pass defended and junior Sergio Troncoso with 2 sacks.
Clearwater was in this game both athletically and physically and the game outcome may have been different without the Torpedoes 4 turnovers versus the Spongers zero turnovers for after the Torpedoes first drive fumble, Tarpon Springs would drive from mid-field for their first score, also in the first half Clearwater would be intercepted by Spongers sophomore Keivonte Warren in the end zone stopping a promising drive and the Spongers also had Davis’ Pick-6 in the fourth quarter.
Torpedoes junior quarterback Garrison Bryant was 17-for-33 with 321 yards including 2 touchdown passes in second quarter to junior Zach Lehman (75-yarder) and to senior Rasim Avmet (20-yarder); Bryant was intercepted 3 times. Lehman would end the night with 4 catches for 107 yards. Sophomore athlete Tupac Blanch had 7 carries for 50 yards and 3 catches for 18 yards and had a tackle-for-loss on defense.