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Cougars Defense Gears Up For Sailors

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By DAREK SHARP, The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 3, 2007

PLANT CITY - The treacherous trek through District 6A-6 starts next week for Durant High, but at least it will do so in a friendly environment. The Cougars will be at home for Friday's meeting with Sarasota High.

Durant gets to host both Sarasota teams this year, with Sarasota Riverview coming for a game Oct. 19.

'It's going to be a great high school football environment Friday,' said Durant head coach Mike Gottman.

Friday's game should go a long way in projecting what chance the Cougars have at making the playoffs.

If any team might be considered a slight favorite to win the district, it would be Sarasota. But Riverview and Sarasota Riverview won't be easy opponents, either.

What the Sailors possess that the other opponents don't is a great quarterback. Casey Kelly will present Durant's defense with a challenge from the passing standpoint.

Sarasota has a tough schedule that began with the Sailors nearly overcoming a 27-0 deficit at Booker, losing 30-27. The Sailors then beat North Port and Venice before taking on highly-ranked Kissimmee Osceola, falling 42-24.

Kelly threw for 191 yards in the first half in the loss. His favorite target, the dangerous Robin Rothenbach, had 12 catches for 177 yards in the game.

The members of the Durant secondary - Marvin Dexter, Ruben Garcia, Vincent Governor, John Hicks and Jeremiah Thomas - must prepare for a busy night.

'And our pass rush has to be strong, too,' Gottman said.

Dexter recently was cleared to play after getting a concussion Sept. 14 against Newsome.

Durant wouldn't mind if Kelly provides the winning play Friday - but that would be Durant's Evan Kelly, who has one of the Cougars' clutch plays of the year to his credit. He made a field goal with no time remaining to beat East Bay 24-21.

If the Cougars lose, they could still make the postseason with wins against Sarasota Riverview and Riverview. But Gottman knows neither of those will be easy. Sarasota Riverview dropped its first five games but the schedule is incredibly tough, including games against Kathleen, Booker and Miami Pace.

'I'll tell the kids to throw out the record when it comes to them,' Gottman said. 'And Riverview has been up and down. They looked shaky, and lost to East Bay, but then they go out and beat Plant City 31-0, and we lost to Plant City. ... but then again we beat East Bay.'

Reporter Darek Sharp can be reached at dsharp@tampa trib.com.

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