September 04, 1993 By Gerard Shields of The Sentinel Staff
EUSTIS — What has been a dream one-point rivalry over the last three years turned into a nightmare for the Eustis Panthers, who fell to the rival Leesburg Yellowjackets, 14-0.
Turnovers, penalties and a first half of losing yardage put the Panthers (0-1) behind to stay, despite a valiant second half comeback that looked like it was going to make the game interesting.
The Yellowjackets (1-0) bulled their way through the first half, rotating four running backs and capitalizing on Eustis errors.
A 22-yard Yellowjacket punt return to the Panther nine-yard line by Aaron Blake set up Leesburg's first score early in the first quarter. Three plays later Blake plunged over for the game-winning touchdown.
Leesburg scored again in the second quarter when quarterback T.J. Gooden scrambled for an 11-yard run after getting the ball off a Eustis fumble.
The rotation of Leesburg backs was a far cry from a year ago when Leesburg counted solely on running great Oran Singleton, who graduated after high-stepping into the Florida rushing history books.
''We've got six backs and I'm not afraid to play any of them,'' Leesburg Coach Ed Hoffman said after the win.
While the Eustis defense couldn't slow down Leesburg, a torrential downpour did. After a 40-minute rain and lightning delay in the third quarter, the teams returned and a rejuvenated Eustis squad buckled down.
The younger and smaller Panthers juggled outside and inside runs to gain their first two first downs, before coughing up the ball with a fumble.
Panther defenders kept Leesburg at midfield behind the tackles of defensive tackle Billy Rhodes.
The Panther offense also got rolling behind the running of John Potts. Potts caught two passes in the winding minutes, but Eustis fumbled again at the one-minute mark.
''Every time we got something going it seemed something happened,'' Eustis Coach Kevin McClelland said. ''We whipped their butts the second half. I'm not happy with the score but I think we earned some respect.''
The past three years, the rivalry ended in one-point victories. Three years ago, Eustis won 22-21. Leesburg won the past two games by identical 7-6 scores.
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Gerard Shields of The Sentinel Staff
Orlando Sentinel
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