No revenge for Thaddeus

MIAMI - 'Canes squeezed past the Duke Blue Devils 24-14 on Saturday and some 'Cane fans may think their team overlooked the Devils...and they would be wrong.

This Duke team has talent, and they have a quarterback who was focused on proving he belonged in the Orange Bowl. Hialeah Lakes native, Thaddeus Lewis did a admirable job for the Devils, completing over 55% of his passes for 241 yards and two touchdown passes. Those numbers are even more impressive considering he was running for his life all game, Lewis was sacked nine times and forced to throw on the run countless other times.

Miami came to play, they ran into a team with more talent than the average person knows about, so 'Cane fans don't worry about your teams performance. This was a weekend of upsets, and the 'Canes did a good job of winning their first ACC game under Randy Shannon. A little perspective on the games, Boston College beat UMass by the exact same score on Saturday.

Kyle Wright continued to mature and improve on Saturday, Wright completed threw only four incomplete passes and was able to carry the ball for 26 yards rushing. Yes he threw two picks, but one of those was the fault of Leonard Hankerson running an out route five yards too long.

Graig Cooper, was electric every time he touched the ball, he ended up with over 125 yards of total offense and one touchdown. Most of Coopers production came on the ground (101 yards) and on big players (3 plays of over 25 yards).

Defensively the team made life near impossible for Lewis, who as sacked 9 times. Calais Campbell lead the way with two and a half, Vegas Franklin was also impressive collecting two sacks of his own.

The 'Canes have another ACC game this week against former coach Butch Davis and the North Carolina Tar Heels. Preview coming Thursday!

Hey Porter...Make Sure you Know Your Role

Davie - Today at camp we learned that "several" defensive starters will be seeing time on special teams. That is not a big surprise considering their play has been "special"(they have been "special" like "Corky" was special).

The surprising thing was Joey Porter saying the special teamers needed to "know their role and do their job", and that's coming from a man who has nine tackles in three games.

You know what Joey why don't you know your role and do your job, in case you didn't know your role is supposed to be a Pro Bowler and your job is to make plays. When you get paid 20 million guaranteed that's what you need to do.

I have know idea why the Dolphins wasted their money on a washed up former Pittsburgh Steeler's linebacker. Lets look at the other linebackers who the Steelers have let go at exactly the right time. Greg Llyod, after playing only 11 games combined in his last two years with the Steelers Llyod went to the Carolina Panthers. With the Panthers he played one year had 63 tackles and one sack, then retired. Think the Dolphins could get that lucky and have Porter retire, oh and guess who was the Head Coach in Carolina when Lloyd was signed none other than Dom Capers.

Another former Steeler,Kevin Greene, was signed by Capers in 1996 and Greene actually played well making the Pro Bowl. Greene then left the team for one year, then returned for another Pro Bowl season under Capers. But Greene, unlike Porter, was a Pro Bowl player before he came to Pittsburgh and Greene only spent two years in this system. I would chalk Greene success up as a talented player succeeding everywhere he went, unlike Porter.

Chad Brown left the Steelers after registering 13 sacks in 1996, since that time Brown has never had another double digit sack total, in fact he only reached eight sacks one time and has only four 100-plus tackle seasons in the last 10 years. Brown left the Steelers in his prime, whereas Porter is well past his.

Porter has only known Pittsburgh's system, which by the way is set up for the Outside Linebacker to accumulate alot of sacks. With that in mind, you might be surprised to learn that Porter had only two double-digit sack years in his time with the Steelers.

Capers thinks he knows how to help former Steeler linebackers succeed. Maybe it's because Capers on the Steelers staff for two years, but one minor success story(Greene) doesn't prove anything. Isn't more likely that a player that who played at a Pro Bowl level,out of the system for most of his career, is just a great player and it had nothing to do with Capers.

Wouldn't the Dolphins have been better off signing someone like Cato June, who has as many tackles (9) as Porter and one more interception, and was alot cheaper.

Noteworthy:

--Zach Thomas practiced in pads, but he is not hitting and won't until Sunday, he also has a new helmet, most likely to help prevent further concussions.

--Channing Crowder will play on special teams.

--Jon Beck was wearing a # 8 Raiders scout team jersey.

Cubs Day 1:

Cubs Day 1:

As I walked up to the stadium, the thought "I immediately regret this decision" came to mind. Why am I covering the Cubs, when I can be in the stands getting drunk and hitting on some Midwestern hotties?

I reason with myself, “How many times will I get the chance to cover the Chicago Cubs?”

Top of the third, FYI, I’m too angry to blog right now, the crappy Marlins have somehow gone up on my Cubbies 4-0 and I going to strangle a Marlins fan……if I could find one.

Bottom of the fifth, I am still too pissed off to write, the crappy Marlins are beating the Cubs 4-0 and Michael Wuertz is warming up the bullpen, this could get ugly. The Cubs have only one hit off a pitcher with an earned run average over five.

One thing I do like, there are a lot more Cub fans in the stands than Marlins fans, but I am annoyed that some old Cub fan is with some hot younger Cub girl, this upsets me very much. If I was at this game as a fan, I would have definitely tried to hit on her….and fought with her dad/boyfriend.

Top of the eighth, Craig Monroe goes deep to left, bringing the Cubs within two, heading into the bottom of the inning….here’s hoping the Marlins do what they usually do and lose.

And that didn’t happen, so now I’m off to an angry Lou Piniella.

Good news, I wasn’t killed by Piniella, actually he was pretty entertaining.

Summery of locker room:

Lee- We don’t need to win games, we need to win series. When asked if it was Willis or the umpires who were tougher, Lee said “no comment.”

Lilly- I can’t allow myself to give up big innings.

Ramirez- I don’t want to talk about the umpires.

Piniella- I couldn’t tell if the were balls or strikes, I can only see up or down not left to right, but a lot of the players came back to the dugout complaining.

The Day After Tommorw

I took an extra day in posting my evaluation of the Dolphins 31-28 loss to the Jets. Because I couldn't figure out if the Phins offense was that good or was the Jets defense that bad.

Offense: "B"- If you take Ronnie Brown out of the equation then the grade is closer to a "C". Trent Green was average, 318 yards and one touchdown, his one pick was another awful decision by a veteran quarterback who was brought in not to make those mistakes.

Chris Chambers continued his early season success, catching six passes for 101 yards, but he is still without a touchdown.

But, back to Brown's performance, his best...since the last time the Dolphins played the Jets. So as long as Brown plays every game against the Jets he'll be worth the number two pick in the draft.

Defense: "I"- I normally won't give an incomplete but in the Dolphins case, it seems appropriate. Without Zach Thomas on the field the defense seemed confused and were often out of position. Now, I think Thomas as a player is overrated, most of tackles are are of the gang variety, but his leadership for this team is priceless.

Special Teams: "Awful"- Can't give the turd that they left on the field an actual grade. The 'Phins allowed a 98 touchdown return from a back up kick returner. Then the coaching staff neutered the Special Teams from the rest of the first half.

Overall: "C" The teams overall performance was average, Brown's great day was offset by poor defense and special teams play.

Graig Cooper

After the game, I was able to ask Graig Cooper a few questions, here is a transcription of the Q & A:

JR-How important was it to get the running game going tonight?

Cooper- It was real big, one thing we've been hurtin our defense with three and outs. We've just been working hard, offensive line, the receivers, everybody been working hard to help this defense out. It's been kinda hurtin us a little bit (poor running), so we just did what we had to do today...that's it.

JR-The offense had some interesting goaline formations today, how did that help?

Cooper- We've been waiting to pull that out, we've been running that since the spring. So we just opened it up tonight, that's what we did.

JR- You had an up and down game tonight, describe your emotions during the game?

Cooper- I make mistakes, but one thing I do about my mistakes I don't let them get in my head, I just bounce back. That's how I was taught, if you make a mistake bounce back, don't let it get you down. I made a couple of mistakes tonight, so I gonna have to work on that in practice.

JR- Your not all negative, you did have some positives, can you tell us about those?

Cooper- I had some positives, but that all came from my teammates, I couldn't do it by myself, if you want to know how they helped me go ask someone who blocked for me. On that first touchdown, Lance Leggett did his job and stayed on his block. On that screen play the offensive line got down field and blocked for me, so if you want to talk about my scores you should ask my offensive line and receivers.

Who Knew

So I picked the wrong team, I forgot that Dennis Franchione is known for not being able to handle the pressure of being a top ranked team. But more importantly I forgot how good the 'Canes can be, but can you blame me. The 'Canes have looked between average and awful for most of the past two years. When Coach Randy Shannon was asked about how his team has looked, he said "We've only played four games this year, and last year was last year."

I forgot that Kyle Wright was a top recruit coming out of high school, a guy who can go throw for 275 yards and two touchdowns. Who knew that Sam Shields would catch everything that was thrown to him for a grand total of 6 catches for 117 yards.

Javaris James had a very poor yards per carry, but he was the back who wore out the clock and Aggie defenders and James scored a late touchdown to put down the Aggies.

Graig Cooper is amazing, although he did fumble twice, he had two touchdowns on Thursday and they both used different skills. The first Cooper took a direct snap and used his speed to get around Aggie defenders for a 7 yard touchdown run. On his other score Cooper took a short pass 12 yards to the house, bowling over defenders on his way. Cooper is the present and future of UM football.

Miami still needs to focus on closing out games, there is no reason why this defense should allow 17 fourth quarter points. Don't think that Coach Shannon won't remind his players all week about the importance of closing out games.

I need another mouthpiece

Dolphins linebacker Zach Thomas is getting tested for concussion like symptoms. If you recall he missed Wednesdays practice with a "migraine" headache, we now know that the migraine was a symptom of his concussion. Apperently the team knew of the injury since the end of Sundays game.

Joey Porter said that Zach got his concussion on the first play of the game and was asking for a new mouthpiece, an apparent sign of a concussion, all game long. My question is if Porter knew that asking for a new mouthpiece was a sign of a concussion why didn't the coaches?

Thomas's status for Sundays game will be determined tomorrow, not by Zach or Cam, but by the teams Dr.'s.

McGee does it all

Texas A & M has put up 38, 47 and 54 points this season, granted it was against the likes of Montana State, Fresno State and UL Monroe. With that being said what have the Hurricanes done against Marshall or FIU and don't forget the 51 that Oklahoma (a top five team) put on the "U".

Put this in perspective A & M's starting QB, Stephen McGee has almost run for as many yards that Wright has thrown for and has rushed for as many touchdowns. McGee is a talent at quarterback who has 428 passing yards and 263 rushing yard putting him as the team leader in both of categories.

A & M does have holes their defense, they gave up 45 points to a WAC team (Fresno St.), which is not only an apt description it's also their conference.

I will leave you with the name Javorski Lane, all 263 pounds of him, has seven rushing touchdowns in 3 games. It will make for some interesting goal line situations.

Phins put the "F" in effort

"You guys are going to try and tear us apart" that was Channing Crowder's comment after the game, when questioned about the offense.

No, Channing we are not trying to tear you apart because there is nothing to tear apart, your defense gave up 37 points, the special teams allowed a 49 yard punt return and the offense turned the ball over five times. You see Channing everyone played bad and nobody should be feeling good about themselves.

Offense: Five turnovers, all by Trent Green, ruined any chance the Dolphins had. A terrible running game, 61 total yards on 21 carries for a 2.9 yards per carry average, forced Green to throw 40 passes.

The passing game was just as atrocious, Green's completed only 57 percent of his passes, threw four interception (could of had two more) and fumbled a snap. The only respectable stats, 287 yards passing and two touchdowns, are easily dismissed when you factor in a prevent defense and a lucky touchdown pass to Derek Hagan. I don't want to dismiss Hagan's effort to corral that prayer,which was great, it's the pass that was awful.

Defence: The Dolphins defense are who I thought they were, a toxic mix of old and inexperience with a dash of not very good. Their star players Zach Thomas and Jason Taylor still play at a high level, but they cannot carry a team like they used to. Joey Porter is making the Steelers look like geniuses, Jason Allen proves his bust label every week and their corners Will Allen and Travis Daniels are either too old (Allen) or too young (Daniels).Crowder is the only sure fire future Pro Bowler on this team, Thomas and Taylor may have some left, but two years from now Crowder is the only guy.

Special Teams: A 49 yard return by Patrick Crayton could have been negated if the Dolphins could have remembered a snap count. Ted Ginn can't figure out when to call for a fair catch and when to take the ball out of the end zone.

Overall: Anything positive was destroyed by a second half collapse. Dolphins get an "F"

Soulja Boys

I would say Kudos to the players in the UM vs FIU game, but you really shouldn't congratulate someone for not fighting. The game went off relatively incident free, there were a few late hits but that's to be expected in any rivalry game.

The offence is anemic, a steady diet of Javaris James and Graig Cooper mixed in with the occasional throw by Kyle Wright. James racked up 92 yards and Cooper gained 48 on the ground. The passing game was highlighted by a 80 bomb to Lance Leggett, who ran a fly pattern right past the FIU defender. The play was the longest since 2005, when Sinorice Moss took a 3 yard curl and turned it into a 92 yard touchdown.

Wright looked average, and I heard plenty of "same ol' Wright" when he threw each of his picks. Wright is an enigma, one minute he looks like a pro prospect, the next he's Chris Rix. One of Wright's pick was a case of overconfidence, the other was making the wrong type of pass, Wright tried to go thru defender instead of over.

Randy Shannon said this is going to be a "play action offence" and that's what we saw on Saturday. Unless this team, makes a giant jump on offence and a brings their "A" game defense, the 'Canes are going to struggle against A & M.

The 'Canes offense struggles to match the production of F.A.U., the Owls put up 42 on a Big 10 school and the 'Canes can't drop 30 on a Sun-Belt school. The 'Canes O-Line lacked discipline on Saturday, Chris Rutledge couldn't figure out a snap count and their Tight Ends are non-existent in the passing game. Leggett and Darnell Jenkins had big games, but they have a penchant for dropping balls in big games and James needs to find a way how to break off some big runs.

One disappointment, though not really a surprise was the display by the Hurricanes fans, again they showed that they can't act with class. I always suspected that alot of 'Cane fans embrace the "Thug U" image of the team, and Saturday didn't do anything to sway my opinion. 'Cane fans were fighting with FIU fans and getting beat by security when they attempted to jump onto the field.

I will say that they (fans) probably provided the most entertaining moment of the day, during commercial breaks the would sing along with Soulja Boys' "Crank that Superman." To top it off we saw Sebastian doing the dance that goes along with the song.

Prediction for Saturday Texas A & M 24- UM 14, I want to pick UM, because if they wanted to upset a team it would be A & M, but it's not going to happen. How the mighty have fallen that UM over A & M would be an upset.

Chatman watch is over

Finally, we can all sleep well, Jesse Chatman will play on Sunday against the Cowboys. Shows how much happened today at practice if Chatman is the biggest story of the day.

Coach Cam Cameron is ready to play and tired of answering questions about Belichick, stating that "you guys are starting to reach for questions today."

Chatman, apparently prayed to God to be healthy for Sundays game, when asked if he prayed for a 100 yard performance, he laughed and said why not 2,000 yards.

Jay Feely seemed pretty upset that Belichick didn't get a harsher punishment, stating that the team took the brunt of the punishment. He wonder how Wade Wilson gets 5 games for tyring to cure impotence and Belichick gets nothing for cheating.

Sunday's Prediction: Cowboys 30- Dolphins 14

You Can't Handle the truth

Slow day at camp, only real news of note is that Jesse Chatman missed another practice. Coach Cam Cameron left open the possibility of Chatman playing. Cameron said that he has no set date for a player to practice by to be eligible to play.

Third Round Pick Lorenzo Booker may get some time as a special team gunner, awesome spot for a third round pick.

Questions lingered about stealing signs, but ended quickly after the same answers from yesterday were the only one's muttered.

The best thing today was Trent Green comparing a meeting between Roger Goodell and Bill Belichick to the climatic courtroom scene in "A Few Good Men." Green had Goodell in Tom Cruise's role and Belichick as Jack Nicholson screaming "you need me to cheat, you want me to cheat."

Goodell: "I want the truth!"

Belichick: "You can't handle the truth!"

Funny funny stuff out of Dolphins practice.

Sign Language

The main theme's at todays practice were: players reaction to the New England videotaping scandal, the addition of Donovin Darius and Lamont Thompson and Joey Porter giving his opinion.

Most of the players and coaches didn't seem concerned with teams stealing signs, Jason Taylor went as far to say "you can tell them what we run, it comes down to executing your defense."

I say "most" because Porter took the opportunity to cast doubt on the Pats playoff victories of his former team, the Pittsburgh Steelers. "They went from bad to very good, that makes you wonder,"Porter said. I like Porter, but I think J.T. said it best "they don't need to cheat, their so frickin good."

Also it's not like teams don't steal signs anyways, the Pats just archived it, Channing Crowder even gave an example of knowing what play is coming and stopping it for no gain.

Coach Cam Cameron plead ignorance to ever being on a team that stole signals, but acknowledge that he's not "naive" and he's sure it goes on with other teams.

Most of the team seemed happy with the addition of Darius and Thompson, but you can't really expect anything else. I like Cameron's plan of bringing in two veteran safety's to guard against injury and/or ineffective play in the secondary, which has been a staple of this defense for some time.

News and Notes

RB Jesse Chatman didn't practice--Sore Ankle--

"Kyle Wright is our starter.....for now."

I first want to say, in a town full of players and coaches that don't always address adversity with class, Randy Shannon sets the example on how to act in the face of adversity.

Last weeks 51-13 loss to Oklahoma was humiliating for the University and on Tuesday Shannon followed the same routine as always. He walks in, waited for the media to get settled and helps the writers place their recorders on the podium (in some cases he even starts recording for them).


Today, Shannon had alot to address, a change at QB, moving Randy Phillips to Safety, Kevin Everett's injury and the impending rematch with FIU.

Change at QB: Coach Shannon announced today the Kyle Wright will be the starting QB for their upcoming game at FIU and hopefully going forward. Although Shannon stated that he didn't want a "round robin" at the position, Shannon said "for now" multiple times when talking about Wright. I don't see a "round robin" at QB I see a full turn-style with Kirby Freeman, Wright and if the don't red shirt him, Robert Marve.

Randy Phillips:- This move is prompted by injuries to Lavon Ponder and Glen Sharpe and by Phillips ineffectiveness at CB.

FIU rematch:- Hearing Shannon speak about discipline since he has taken over convinces me that there will be no repeat of last years monstrosity. Players like DeMarcus Van Dyke and Graig (pronounced Craig) Cooper confirmed my belief by saying that they have no interest in finding out what punishment Shannon would hand out if they did fight. Furthermore Shannon has been taking precautions, since he's taken over, to prevent his players from reacting to cheap shots by having the scout team take shots at the starters during practice.

Kevin Everett- Shannon handled this situation with class and compassion, stating that Everett is a member of the UM family and they all care for them. Wright expressed genuine concern for Everett, you could also sense a true friendship with Everett.

Prediction: UM 42 FIU 9, Wright will open up the passing game to the tune of 200 yards and Cooper and Javaris James will combine for over 180.

Park Vista 36 John I Leonard 7

The visiting Lancers of John Leonard were pushed all over the field by the home Cobras who ran for 312 yards in their 36-7 victory on Friday night.

The Cobras took their opening drive 71 yards, capped by a 10 yard sweep into far corner of the end zone by running back Jake Owen. On their next series the Cobras continued their momentum, scoring on a 10 yard option run from quarterback Eddie Sullivan.

After their two scores in the first quarter the Cobras were careless in the ball throughout the second quarters. Sullivan threw two wobbly passes that were both picked off by Jarius Marlow. On the next series, running back Johnny Celicourt fumbled away another scoring opportunity.

In the second half the Cobras used their obvious size advantage and ran the ball right down the throats of the Lancers. On their opening drive of the third quarter the Cobras drove 70 yards, all of it on the ground, minus a 23 yard pass to Matt Welsh. Jeremy Norfus was the workhorse on the drive running for 43 punishing yards, including a five yard TD run.

Down 21-0 heading into the fourth, Lancers quarterback Jake Boyd threw 10 passes on a 68 yard touchdown drive. After a trick play, right out of Varsity Blues almost resulted in a turnover, Boyd lobed a beautiful touch pass to the corner of the end zone to Jordan Magaw for the Lancers first and only score.

Leading 21-7, the Cobras remained relentless on the ground against the Lancers. Celicourt proved to be the lightning to the thunderous running style of Norfus, rushing for 52 yards, on one drive, including a seven yard touchdown run to give the Cobras a insurmountable 28-7 lead. The Cobras defense forced a turnover on downs, giving the ball back to their offense and Sullivan scampered for a 17 yard touchdown run. With the game completely out of hand, the Cobras defense forced Boyd to throw the ball away in the end zone for a safety.

J.L.H.S. 0 0 0 7
P.V.H.S 14 0 7 15

1Q- Owen 6 yard run (XP Opdam)
1Q- Sullivan 10 yard run (XP Opdam)

3Q- Norfus 5 yard run (XP Opdam)

4Q-Magaw 11 yard pass from Boyd (XP Boyd)
4Q- Celicourt 8 yard run (XP Opdam)
4Q-Sullivan 17 yard run (run attempt failed)



P.V.H.S. J.L.H.S.
First Downs: 20 13
Rush Yards: 312 16- -16
Pass Yards: 65 210
Comp-Att-Int: 4-9-2 19-32-0
Punts: 0
Fumbles-Lost: 2-1 3-1
Penalties-Yards: 3-20 5-35

Key Individual Statistics
Passing Jake Boyd 19-32-210 yards
Rushing Jeremy Norfus 16 carries 106 yards 1 TD
Receiving Jordan Magaw 6 catches 99 1 TD

News and Notes

Injured Hurricane freshman Robert Mavre and Jermaine McKenzie returned to practice Tuesday. Both were injured in a off season car accident, Mavre is recovering from a broken wrist and McKenzie is recovering from a broken vertebrae in is neck.

Sam Shields is moving quickly back up the 'Canes depth chart, initially he was listed as the number three receiver for Saturdays game, but Shields is making progress and may be number two by this weekends game.

If your a 'Canes fan you need to read this

Confident 'Canes

Say this about the "U", whatever confidence or swagger they may have lost last year with Larry Coker at the helm, is back under the leadership of Randy Shannon.

"Don't get me wrong were confident...were not cocky now, we are confident", my thoughts exactly, but it was Coach Shannon who said that last week and it rings true for this week.

An example of the confidence of the 'Canes, comes from O-lineman Derrick Morse who said "when we win at Oklahoma....I didn't come to Miami to lose." Randy Phillips echoed Morse's comments "These games are why I came to the U," One 'Cane who did not sound confident was QB Kirby Freeman, he seemed a little to focused on his mistakes last week and didn't have the same air of confidence he had before the season.


Coach Shannon said this team needs Freeman to manage the team and get the ball to it's play makers, my question is what play makers. Cooper and James are studs at running back but OU's run defense is a little better than Marshall's. The 'Canes wide reciever core dropped many balls last Saturday and when they weren't dropping passes, Freeman was overthrowing them.

Prediction: If the the 'Canes passing game struggled against Marshall's weak pass defense, then they are going to be disastrous against OU, I'm predicting two picks from Freeman. The running game is talented, but so is OU's defense, so the James, Cooper compo will gain 135 yards on Sat. The "D" is amazing and will continue to make plays but the 'Canes will lose to the Sooners 24-10.

Cooper and James carry 'Canes

‘Canes started the game sluggish but picked up steam with every yard their talented running back tandem gained. The pair of Javarris James and Greg Cooper combined for 215 yards and two rushing touchdowns in the ‘Canes 31 to 3 drubbing of the Heard.



Cooper and James seem to have a genuine friendship, unlike the faux one between QB’s, and their friendship drives a competition that will drive the “U” to a solid season. Best example of this competition, one play after James busted a 52 yard run that was called back for holding; Cooper took the same play 56 yards. After the game, James said he was happy for Cooper and upset he didn’t get a touchdown. The “U” has one of the best one-two punches at running back this year and Shannon was smart to ride them for 26 carries today.



Starting QB Kirby Freeman, on the other hand, looked average at best. He threw only one pick, but had another ball bounce off the hands of a Heard defender and threw a few other questionable passes. My prediction he will be the major reason why the ‘Canes won’t upset OU next week.

The defense was OK early, then as the game progressed they developed into the dominate force that everyone thought they would be. The defense combined for 5.5 sacks and four interceptions. Calais Campbell had an amazing one handed interception, that showed off his athletic ability and knowledge of the game, earlier Tevaris Gooden had a fingertip pick off the grass.

West Boca Stampedes to Victory

The West Boca Bulls stampeded all over the Spanish River Sharks 53-0 on Friday night. Quarterback Robert Powell was the star for the visiting Bulls, rushing for two touchdowns and throwing for three more.

The tone for the game was set on the third play of the Bulls opening drive. Powell saved what could have been a disastrous play, when he picked up a fumbled handoff and emerged untouched from a pile of Spanish River defenders and scampered into the corner of the end zone for a 15 yard touchdown run. On the next series, Powell showed his escape ability again, eluding multiple Sharks on his way to a 28 yard touchdown run along the near sideline. Although West Boca Coach Willie Dorado wasn’t thrilled with the scrambles, stating that “it was not good execution by our team.”

The offensive onslaught continued in the second quarter when, after a 35 yard run by Paris Pee, Joseph Trebitz powered his way three yards into the end zone. Next possession for the Bulls resulted in a 16 yard touchdown pass from Powell to Jeff Hutchinson. A 23 yard pass from Powell to Nathan Nord set up a Pee three yard touchdown run to end the half.

The second half ended the same way the first ended, with the Bulls scoring another touch down. Powell threw his second touchdown pass of the game, a 22 yard bullet to Nord. On the Bulls next drive a quick change of direction allowed Michael Bernard to run for 43 yards, setting up a five yard touchdown pass from Powell to Nord. With the clock running out, Marquis Jones made his last carry of the game count, running 32 yards for another Bulls touchdown.

A relentless effort from running back Brett Swider, who touched the ball 28 times in the game, typified the effort that Sharks Coach Perry Schneider is looking for. After the game Schneider said “we tried, a lot of these guys don’t know what it takes to get the job done.”