COMPLETE STORY: Frostproof's Thomas Scores 4 TDs In Rout Of AP

FROSTPROOF - Back to Earth.
After a week of incredible emotion and accolades, the Avon Park Red Devils were upstaged by Frostproof's star running back Carlton Thomas, who rushed for 219 yards and four touchdowns, as the Class 2B Bulldogs steamrolled to a 35-0 win at Faris Brannen Stadium on Friday.

Thomas, a certain Division 1 prospect with colleges such as Notre Dame, Georgia and Iowa taking a hard look, didn't take long to get on a roll. And once he did, there was no stopping him.

On his second touch of the game, the 5-foot-7 fireball broke three tackles and raced down the right sideline for an 86-yard touchdown to give the Bulldogs a 7-0 lead.

But the Avon Park defense did a great job of holding Thomas in check for most of the first half, dropping him for behind the line of scrimmage twice or minimal gains.

The Red Devils offense, which has been anemic this season, looked to be back on track, marching down the field 58-yards on the opening drive on solid running by the trio of junior quarterback Virgil Cooper, tailback Teddy Allen and Alvin Hinson. The wheels of the train were halted at the Bulldog 14-yard line after Cooper's pass on fourth down to Shevas Hicks fell incomplete and the ball went back to Frostproof on downs.

Avon Park orchestrated another long drive - a 16-play, 42 yards - that included a fake punt that Cooper ran for a first down to keep the drive alive, but the Bulldogs intercepted the ball with seconds before halftime to stymie the Red Devils.

The talk in the locker room at the half could not have been fun for the Avon Park players, as Red Devil head coach Earnest Perkins, who was honored as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers Coach of the Week on Thursday, was as fiery on the sidelines before the second-half kick-off as he has been in recent memory.

"I told them at halftime that the coaches are always going to love them," Perkins said. "But it is up to them to dig deep and make plays on the field. The coaches can't be out on the field with them."

Those words didn't have the magical powers that they intended to have, as Thomas took the ball on the opening play of the second half 55 yards for the score.

Things went from bad to worse for Avon Park, as a fumble on the ensuing kick-off gave Frostproof the ball on the Red Devils 23-yard line. Four plays later, Thomas found the end zone for a third time, taking a pitch on the option by quarterback Donald Brown for a nine-yard touchdown and a 21-0 lead.
Cooper saw a change in his team after Thomas' second touchdown of the half and tried to rally his team.

"I really felt like we had it," Cooper said. "We were playing well in the first half and only gave up that one big play. But I think that fumble on the kickoff [in the second half] took any momentum we had built up away.
"This team really needs more role players and people willing to make plays. We can't give up when things are not going our way."

The 5-foot-9, 172-pound junior put his team on his back and did everything humanly possible to will his team into the end zone, but couldn't find the promised land. The Red Devils stalled deep in Bulldog territory for a third time, after Cooper was swarmed at the line of scrimmage on fourth down to turn the ball back to the host team.

Cooper finished the game with 66 yards on 18 carries, while Allen was the top rusher for the Red Devils with 15 carries for 69 yards, but was carried off the field, along with Hinson, due to an ankle injury. The status of both players for next week is unclear.

With the score 28-0, Thomas would score his fourth touchdown through the air, on a perfect pass by Brown for a 31-yard score and the final margin of victory.

"We knew this was going to be a hard fought game," Thomas said. "[Avon Park] really disrupted our rhythm in the first half, but we stayed focused and were able to come out on top."

Avon Park drops to 1-3 on the season, while the Bulldogs improve to 3-1. The Red Devils have a week to regroup before hosting Class 3A-District 12 foe Braden River for homecoming next Friday.

"We are still in a good position," Perkins said. "But we have five days to prepare for next week and we need to do some soul searching and step up as a team."

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