TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Highlands Today

Blue Streaks Trample Tigers

Jasmina Meyer/Highlands Today

Sebring's Daniel Burnett runs with the ball during a game against the Martin County Tigers on Friday in Sebring.

ADVERTISEMENT

By MARK PINSON Highlands Today

The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 7, 2008

SEBRING - Photos Available For Purchase

JC Howard returned the opening kickoff 91 yards for a touchdown and tailback Daniel Burnett rushed 24 times for 134 yards and a score to lead Sebring to a 24-3 in over Martin County on Friday night at Firemen's Field.

The Blue Streaks offensive and defensive lines dominated the action to key the season-opening win over the Tigers.

"Our offensive line came together and worked as a group," Sebring senor lineman Dewey Sebring said. "Some of the Martin County players were talking a lot of smack, but we had a good push and just physically dominated them.

"We pride ourselves on being physical and this offense is only going to get better."

Martin County, which is a fairly young squad, won the coin toss, but elected to receive the second-half kickoff.

The decision backfired, as Howard caught the kickoff, made a couple of tacklers miss at the 20 and then raced up the right sideline for the score.

The point after by Buck Schroeder gave the Blue Streaks a 7-0 lead just 15 seconds into the first quarter.

"We're a very young team and we knew coming in that we would have to play a near-perfect game to beat Sebring," said Martin County coach Chuck Kenyon. "We didn't do that and to give them a quick seven points put us in an early hole.

"We shot ourselves in the foot all night and that's going to happen when you're young and you make the little mistakes."

After Howard's heroics, the defense forced the Tigers to punt and the Blue Streaks took possession at the Martin County 46.

Sebring sophomore quarterback Matt Grubb guided his team down the field and hooked up with wide receiver Kevin Welborn on a 4-yard touchdown pass in the right corner of the end zone to cap a seven-play scoring drive.

"We started off strong and put some points on the board," said Sebring coach Jared Hamlin. "Martin County is a young team and we were able to take advantage of a couple of mistakes and get on top early.

"Our offensive line came off the ball well and we ran the ball hard, but we relaxed after we got the lead and we can't afford to do that."

The Blue Streaks took a 14-0 lead into the half, but Martin County took the second-half kickoff and marched 50 yards in 12 plays.

The drive stalled, but Erik Strack came on to boot a 41-yard field goal to trim the Tigers deficit to 14-3 with 6:21 remaining in the period.

Sebring answered with a 27-yard field goal by Schroeder, and Burnett's 1-yard scoring run with seven minutes remaining sealed the win.

"I love my offensive line," said Burnett. "They were blocking great and opening some big holes and I just ran through them.

"It was sweet to get in the end zone because I love to score and I owe it all to the guys up front."

The win gives the Blue Streaks a lot of momentum heading into Friday night's road game at Pasco.

"I'm pleased with our effort," said Hamlin. "It's not the physical issues any more, it's the mental ones that we have to overcome.

"We're blessed that we won tonight, but we have improve in all areas of the game if we want to reach our potential."

Sebring 24, Martin County 3

SCORING SUMMARY

First quarter

Seb - Howard 91 yd kickoff return (Schroeder kick) 11:45

Seb- Grubb 4 yd pass to Welborn (Schroeder kick) 6:46

Third quarter

Mart- 41 yd field goal by Strack 6:21

Fourth quarter

Seb- 27 yd field goal by Schroeder 10:40

Seb - Burnett 1 yd run (Schroeder kick) 7:39

STATS

RUSHING; Seb; Burnett 24-134-1, Grubb 5-7. Martin; Spencer 12-97, Rivera 9-39, Kelly 7-32.

PASSING: Sebring; Grubb 5-9-42,. Martin; Larson 2-10-21, Duhart 2-7-11.

RECEIVING: Sebring; Welborn 2-12-1, Johnstone 1-18, Clarke 1-5, Sanders 1-7.

Mark Pinson can be reached at 863-386-5837 or mpinson@highlandstoday.com

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT