By STEVE JACKSON
The formerly unbeaten East Bay Indians fell to a 7-1 season record last Friday. Coach Mike Gottman’s top-ranked South Shore gridiron squad Indians trailed 7-0 in the first quarter. From then on it was a physical chess match won in Tampa 14-0 by the Berkeley Prep High squad, which is now 4-3.
Two other South Shore gridiron teams earned wins last Friday while two more had bye-weeks. The Riverview High Sharks cruised past Strawberry Crest 40-14 in Dover to go 5-3 on the season. Also chalking up a big victory, the Spoto Spartans waltzed past Brandon on homecoming 27-8. (See separate article and photos on Spoto in this week’s newspaper.) Lennard and Sumner did not play last week.
Riverview winds up its regular season on the road. The Sharks play at 7-2 Durant Oct. 28 in a District 8 contest. Unless Riverview makes the playoffs, its last game is at 4-4 Steinbrenner Nov. 4. Spoto is trying to reach break-even for the season over its last two games. This Friday 0-8 Lennard visits 3-5 Spoto. On Nov. 4, the Spartans have a slam-dunk game against winless Freedom in Tampa. The Lennard Longhorns pack up their equipment after ending at home Nov. 4 versus 5-3 Armwood. This week also sees Sumner High visit Lithia to tangle with 4-4 Newsome High. The Stingrays, now 6-2, end the regular season Nov. 4 at home with 5-3 Middleton.
The East Bay shutout loss to Berkeley Prep should not prevent the Indians from the state playoffs. East Bay looks to bounce back against 3-6 Bloomingdale Bulls on the Oct. 28 short trip to Valrico. A weaker 2-6 King High team comes to Big Bend Road for the regular season finale Nov. 4.
The Indians travelled to Berkeley Prep last Friday and were shell-shocked. The Buccaneers are a small, private school. The Indians thought they just had to throw their jerseys out on the field to win. However, Berkeley did not permit East Bay to generate much of a ground attack and held the Indians to 96 yards on Nathan Carter’s eight of 15 passing for 96 yards. East Bay could only manage 95 yards rushing: 36 by junior Jaelin Sneed, 31 by senior Vincent Ketchup and 29 by senior QB Carter. The Indians did not get a whiff of the end zone all night.
Meanwhile the Riverview Sharks piled up 230 yards rushing and tacked on an impressive 167 on a perfect, efficient six for six passing night to outclass the Strawberry Crest Chargers in Dover. Stetson-bound senior Harrison Hensley sparked the Sharks. Hensley hit all four passes for a total of 80 yards and a score. Hensley also led the Sharks running game with 116 yards on 10 carries. He had chunk-run gains of 34 yards for one touchdown and scored two more. Rico Shoats, a junior, aided with one for one passing for 42 yards and a TD while amassing 75 yards on 14 rush attempts, including one for a score.
