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Countryside Explodes In Win Over Dunedin

COUGARS 49, FALCONS 34

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By Eric Horchy | The Suncoast News

Published: September 27, 2008

CLEARWATER - Countryside High hit its home field Friday night for a battle with Class 5A, District 9 rival Dunedin like a team with something to prove.

The game had been hyped as one of the area's most anticipated matchups all week, with the majority of interested parties predicting a Dunedin victory.

All of the build up proved to be worthy, but the generally agreed upon prognostication became equally worthless.

Countryside (3-1, 1-0) sprung on Dunedin (3-1, 0-1) with a flurry of offensive and defensive punches that staggered the Falcons immediately. Once Dunedin regained their bearings about three minutes into the second quarter, they found themselves already in a daunting 21-0 hole that would eventually end in a 49-34 defeat.

"Everybody thought they were going to beat us," Countryside running back Dawrence Roberts said after the big win. "And as you can see [motioning toward the scoreboard] it's a different story."

Roberts played perhaps the major role in the Cougars' offensive attack that piled up 392 yards of total offense and seven touchdowns. He personally accounted for 164 of those yards on 21 carries and two of the end zone trips.

"Oh, it feels great," he said of the win over rival Dunedin. "I wasn't even thinking about the yards, I wasn't thinking about the touchdowns, I was just thinking about helping my team out and helping us win."

The Cougars scored on their first three offensive possessions to quickly set the game's tone and put Dunedin on their heels.

After taking the 7-0 lead with quarterback Jimbo Chmelik's 21-yard strike to Jalen Goodloe, Dunedin tailback Adaris Bellamy fumbled the ball right back during the Falcons' first play on the following drive.

Chmelik and Roberts marched the Cougars 70 yards to score again in the first quarter, capping the drive with Richard Shockley's 7-yard touchdown rush.

Chmelik posted an efficient 10-for-13 night passing with 117 yards and two touchdowns while orchestrating the Cougar attack.

Before regaining possession once again in the first period, the Countryside defense had the Bellamy and the Falcons thoroughly contained. The Dunedin attack was rather one dimensional in the first half, with quarterback Ryan Singer only throwing one pass.

The Cougars would go up 21-0 early in the second via running back Terry Johnson's first of two rushing touchdowns. It was a 1-yard plunge to end a seven-play, 45-yard drive.

That was the first of four straight touchdown drives the teams would trade back and forth before the half, but Dunedin was regaining its confidence. Before the break, Bellamy punched in a 1-yard run on a shotgun direct snap play that he needed to snatch over his right shoulder before slingshoting himself through the line with :09 left.

Score at the half: Countryside 28, Dunedin 20.

The Falcons forced a Cougar three-and-out to start the third quarter and promptly scored again on just two Bellamy runs of 6 and 15 yards.

Bellamy finished with an impressive 23-carry, 178-yard night along with his two touchdowns. Although the explosive tailback put up shining numbers, the Cougars succeeded in only allowing one game-breaking play of 20 yards or more to Bellamy.

Dunedin had the chance to tie the ballgame after Bellamy's score, but a 2-point conversion run attempt failed, leaving the score 28-26.

The Cougars continued to prove their legitimacy rather than let the favored Falcons storm all the way back by answering with a 69-yard drive and Roberts' first touchdown run. Johnson added his second scoring run of the night on Countryside's next possession, making it 42-26 late in the third.

The final nail would be emphatically delivered by Roberts' 66-yard speedy and elusive sprint to pay dirt with about 9:30 left to play.

The win - during Countryside's first home game of the season - puts the Cougars on top of the District 5A-9 standings at 1-0. Only four of their 10 games are at home this season. The Cougars travel to face another undefeated team next week, heading to 4-0 Tarpon Springs.

Dunedin will be attempting to rebound from Friday night's loss against an undefeated squad as well, hosting South County rival Largo High. The game will be a rematch of last year's Class 5A regional semifinal when the Packers took out Dunedin 31-0.

SCORING:

Dunedin; 0; 20; 6; 8; - 34
Countryside; 14; 14; 14; 7; - 49

CS-Goodloe 21-yard pass from Chmelik. PAT kick (Griswold) – 1st Quarter
CS-Shockley 7-yard run. PAT kick (Griswold) – 1st Quarter
CS-Johnson 1-yard run. PAT kick (Griswold) – 2nd Quarter
DUN-Singer 28-yard run. PAT kick failed (Day) – 2nd Quarter
CS-Shorter 10-yard pass from Chmelik. PAT kick (Griswold) – 2nd Quarter
DUN-Emery 10-yard pass from Singer. PAT 2 pt. pass (Singer to Howard) – 2nd Quarter
DUN-Bellamy 1-yard run. PAT 2 pt. pass failed - 2nd Quarter
DUN-Bellamy 15-yard run. PAT 2 pt. run failed - 3rd Quarter
CS-Roberts 0-yard run. PAT kick (Griswold) - 3rd Quarter
CS-Johnson 1-yard run. PAT kick (Griswold) - 3rd Quarter
CS-Roberts 66-yard run. PAT kick (Griswold) - 4th Quarter
DUN-Williams 66-yard pass from Singer. PAT 2 pt. run (Howard) - 4th Quarter

TEAM STATS:

----------- DUN ----- CS
First Downs---12---14
Atts./Rushing Yds.---41-246---41-240
Comp./Pass Atts./Int.---3-11-0---11-17-1
Passing Yds.---95---152
Total Offense---52-341---58-392
Fumbles/Lost---2-2---0-0
Punts/Avg.---4-38---5-38.4
Penalties---8-56---2-20

INDIVIDUAL LEADERS

RUSHING
DUN – Bellamy (23-178, 2 TD), Emery (7-30), Howard (4-25).
CS – Roberts (21-164, 2 TD), Chmelik (10-56, 2 TD), Johnson (5-5, 2 TD).

PASSING
DUN – Singer (3-10 for 95, 2 TD).
CS – Chmelik (10-13 for 117, 2 TD).

RECEIVING
DUN – Williams (1-66, TD), Emery (1-13, TD).
CS – Goodloe (5-89, TD), Shorter (4-63, TD).

Eric Horchy can be reached at 727-815-1071 or ehorchy@suncoastnews.com

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