By STEVE JACKSON
A big South Shore rivalry game is set for Spoto High this Friday evening at 7:30 p.m. when Lennard High visits for a clash between two early-season unbeaten football powerhouses. Both squads exhibited dominant wins to open the season 1-0 last week.
The Spoto Spartans, sparked by senior Z’orey Cotton’s spectacular offensive burst, thrashed Davenport on the road 38-19.
Lennard also opened on the road, trouncing Pasco County High in Dade City 42-7.
Indian cheer team gets ready to catch a cheerleader after launching her into the air on the sidelines of East Bay v. Strawberry Crest home opener.
Indian running back, senior Zarius Lemons, tries to escape the clutches of a Strawberry Crest defender.
The two South Shore teams are coming off mediocre records from last season and, although early, appear to be the class of the five South Shore 2024 football squads with a lot of football remaining in the season. Additionally, the head coach at Spoto, Keith Chattin, is in his third year at the helm for the Spartans after going 2-8 last season and 4-6 in 2022. Coach Chattin is a former head coach at Lennard. In Chattin’s first season at Ruskin in 2012, the Horns went 0-10. In 2013, Lennard eked out a 1-9 mark. Then in 2014, Lennard enjoyed its best season record in its football history at 8-3 under Coach Chattin. The veteran coach compiled a 7-4 record in 2015 before turning over Lennard head coaching to Matt Kitchie for seven years. Coach Kitchie’s best, and only, winning season at Lennard was 7-4 in 2019.
Flash forward to the present and Lennard’s second-year head coach is KD Belton. Coach Belton’s Horns are blessed with an outstanding junior quarterback, Jacob Mobley; a gifted wide receiver, junior London Green; and a strong defensive unit.
Lennard is strengthened with a number of talented transfers.
Last season, Lennard prevailed over Spoto 51-27 at Ruskin.
“We contained Cotton last year and plan to do so this time as well,” states an optimistic Coach Belton. Spoto leads the all-time series 10-4 between the two schools.
Spoto senior Z’orey Cotton racked up 314 yards of offense and five TDs in last Friday night’s win against Davenport.
Both squads have ample talent, but Cotton exhibited a special night in the Spartan’s win last Friday in Davenport. The 5 foot 9 inch, 170 pound running back/receiver ran wild, piling up 255 yards rushing with 3 scores and grabbing 3 passes for 59 yards with 2 scores, compiling five total touchdowns.
Spoto Coach Chattin said after the game that normally we are a spread team that throws it quite a bit but due to the heavy rain and sloppy field Friday night, we kept the ball on the ground and took the air out of the ball, so to speak.
Spoto junior quarterback Nathan Richardson added 10 carries for 48 yards and connected on 6 of 9 passes for 90 yards and three TDs. Backup running back Jaedyn Cartwright contributed six carries for 38 yards. The Spartans offensive line took the game over on the first drive and knew it could dominate the opponent throughout the night. “Offensive linemen Zakai Anthony, Khechaun Ward, William German, Kaiel Stewart and Elijah Vega are the reason we won Friday night,” said Coach Chattin.
The Spoto defense was led by sophomore linebacker Rome Freeman with 10 tackles, one TFL (tackle for loss) and one sack. Defensive back Chris Harris stole an interception.
In other grid action this Friday evening, Coach Mike Gottman takes his 0-1 East Bay Indians to 1-0 Hillsborough High in Tampa. The Indians are desperately searching to develop some winning offense as well as an efficient defense. East Bay, 0-1, was defeated by Strawberry Crest on Big Bend Road last Friday 24-14.
The Riverview Sharks also took a whipping last week. Sharks Head Coach Tony Rodriquez’ squad could not do much in Tampa versus Hillsborough High, coached by the venerable Earl Garcia Jr. The 1-0 Terriers throttled the 0-1 Sharks 26-0.
This Friday, Riverview travels again, this time to face the 0-1 Riverview-Sarasota High Rams, 47-14 losers to Naples High last week.
Francis Fedor Photos
East Bay captains, seniors (from L to R) Caleb Williams, Zarius Lemons, William Boyd, and Justin Cornish, get ready for the coin toss vs. Strawberry Crest on Aug. 8 in the home opener.
Sumner High, last season’s top South Shore football team, took the long trip to St. John’s, which turned into an even longer and more disappointing trip back to Sumner. The Stingrays, in what could be an omen for a lackluster season record-wise, succumbed to BartramTrail High 34-12. Head Coach George Selvie of Sumner, in his first full season, now has the unenviable task of hosting powerhouse 1-0 Armwood High this Friday.
Next week on Sept. 6, Lennard hosts 0-1 Blake High of Tampa. Spoto has another tough game next Friday at home with the visiting 1-0 Plant City High Raiders. East Bay stays on the road, trekking to 1-0 Newsome High in Lithia. Riverview has a home date with 1-0 Middleton High. Sumner makes the bus trip to Tampa to take on 1-0 Wharton High next Friday evening.