Southridge Rolls
By Rudy Rodriguez-Chomat
September 18, 2003

            A week after blowing a 20-point lead, Southridge put its foot on its opponent’s throat early and keeping it there en route to a 48-21 blowout of Coral Reef before 3,000 fans at Harris Field.     

The Spartans defense forced 7 fumbles, recovering 5, including forcing the Barracudas to fumble on their first two running plays. The first one was recovered by Southridge’s Lorenzo Ferguson and returned 29 yards for a touchdown.          

The second fumble was recovered by Erick Jackson and returned to the Coral Reef 5-yard line. Two plays later Kevin Smith punched it in from three yards out, giving them a 14-0 lead less than two minutes into the game.           

Coral Reef cut the lead to 14-7 on a 1-yard plunge by Alex Neal, but Southridge came right back on a 10-play, 39 yard drive, capped by a 10-yard run by Dwight Lee for a 21-7 lead and the rout was on.           

“I was real happy about the defense,” Southridge head coach Stu Rodgers said. “They were hitting over there. They were getting after it. I was very happy about that. When they start forcing turnovers, you got a real good defense there.”

 Southridge continued to pound Coral Reef putting up two more scores and led 35-0 going into the half.

 Cudas running back Julian Reams led them with 22 rushes for 136 yards, but down 21-7, he fumbled at the Southridge 15-yard line that cost Coral Reef a chance to cut it to seven.

 Southridge took possession at the 11-yard line and marched 89 yards in 6 plays, scoring on a 55-yard touchdown pass from Phillip Simpson to Clintay Demps giving the Spartans a 28-7 lead. Demps broke three tackles taking the ball across the field outrunning the Coral Reef defenders.

 “The kids learned a lot last week against Edison,” Rodgers said. “You can’t play a quarter and a half and expect to beat good teams. This was a very good team we beat tonight. It’s a big win.”

Kevin Smith led Southridge with 17 carries for 88 yards as the Spartans improved to 2-1 on the season.

Picture 1: Southridge QB Phillip Simpson with the handoff to Kevin Smith #3.
Picture 2: Coral Reef's Alex Neal under center.
Picture 3. Southridge's Simpson running his show.