The Yellow Jackets Scored Three Touchdowns In The First Half To Secure A Season-opening Win.
September 02, 2000
By Joe Williams of The Sentinel Staff
LEESBURG -- Leesburg Coach Bud O'Hara said more than once during the preseason when talking about his football team: "Speed kills.''
It didn't take long for Eustis to find out what he meant.
The Yellow Jackets used their speed to score three touchdowns in the first half and then rolled to a 21-7 victory over the Panthers in the season-opening game Friday night at Memorial Field/Hubert O. Dabney Stadium.
Leesburg (1-0) scored its first-half touchdowns on a 21-yard run by Tony Fields, a 39-yard pass play from quarterback Derek Burbank to Jermaine Orr, who had gotten behind the Panther secondary and made a nice catch after bobbling the ball, and then on a 91-yard kickoff return by Orr.
It was hard to imagine that this was the same Leesburg football team that opened practice on Aug. 7 with only 14 players ready to play.
Orr turned out to be the star for the Yellow Jackets.
Not only did he score two touchdowns, but he also had two interceptions, the second of which came with 5:09 remaining in the game and sealed the Yellow Jackets' victory.
"I was just backpedaling and I saw the ball coming,'' Orr said about his second interception."It feels real good. Everybody believed we weren't going to win. Everybody except for the players on the team.
Leesburg scored the first three times it got the ball, and when it wasn't sprinting into the end zone, its defense was doing a pretty good job of stopping the talented Eustis backfield of Toris Carter, Deleon Dawson and Clifton Joseph. In the first half, only Carter had much success, rushing for 41 yards. Dawson had just 15 and Joseph had 11.
Another of Eustis' talented backs, Russell Fickett, who is injured, didn't play.
The Yellow Jackets defense set up the first two touchdowns.
The first one, Fields' 21-yard run, came after Eustis' Carter fumbled, and Leesburg linebacker Corrie Kelly recovered the ball at the Eustis 43.
Orr set up his touchdown reception when he intercepted Eustis quarterback Steven Ziegelhofer's pass intended for Sammy Rimes. Leesburg then put together a nice drive that twice included third-down conversions for first downs and one fourth-down conversion.
Eustis (0-1) did manage to get on the scoreboard with 3:43 remaining in the half after Panther lineman Sidney Richardson broke through the line and blocked a punt attempt by Doug Orr, and Deleon Dawson recovered at the Leesburg 33. Three plays later, Frankie Manor scored on an 11-yard run.
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