LUTZ- A sloppy start and a lightning delay were not enough to stop the Warriors (1-1) from a second half comeback to beat the Spoto Spartans (2-1) , 21-14 Friday night.
“We never gave up,” said senior quarterback Quentin Poteralski. “We overcame our mistakes earlier in the game and had always known we would win.”
The Steinbrenner offense started the game off rather poorly as they only ran a total of three plays in the first quarter due to three early turnovers by junior running back Jayquese Dantley. The Warriors were beginning to find their offensive spark in the closing minutes of the second quarter when Poteralski threw a 41 yard pass to junior wide receiver Justin Moffatt. In the second half, the paced picked up as Dantley and Poteralski led their offense as they combined for over 125 yards of total offense. The performance that changed the atmosphere of the game was by senior wide receiver Cody Burgess who had two key receptions totaling for 69 yards. One of those receptions came as a 20 yard touchdown reception near the end of the third quarter. Dantley rushed for two short touchdowns, putting up the first and last points.
“We started off sluggish, but came back strong,” said senior wide receiver Cody Burgess. “We were more disciplined then them and it showed in the second half with our actions throughout the rest of the game
Although the offense was the spark for the comeback victory, the win would have not been possible without the help of a very dominant defense. The Warrior defense made a plethora of key plays Friday night, including a key stop in the fourth quarter on fourth and two when the Warriors had stopped the Spartans one inch behind the first down marker to give Steinbrenner the ball back with less than three minutes left in the game. The Warrior secondary stopped the passing and forced the Spartans to run for most of the second half in addition. This in return caused the Spartans to play rather poorly only totaling just under 60 total yards of offense in the second half.
The Warriors now go into next week to face their bitter district rival Sickles (2-1) at home in one of the most important games of the year.
Dillon Schmidt/Staff Writer
