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November 28, 1992|By Joe Williams of The Sentinel Staff
LAND O' LAKES — Although it had been 21 years since Leesburg last
appeared in the playoffs, Leesburg tailback Oran Singleton seemed right
at home,
scoring four touchdowns as the Yellow Jackets rolled to a 47-0 victory
over Land O' Lakes Friday night in the Class AAAA, Region 4 playoff
game.
Singleton, a 5-foot-6, 150-pound senior, scored on
Leesburg's first offensive play, a 55-yard run, and finished with 237
yards on 14 carries. He also had an 89-yard kickoff return for a
touchdown to start the second half and didn't play past the middle of
the third quarter.
Singleton scored two more first-half touchdowns on runs of 80 and 43
yards. He came close to a fifth touchdown but fumbled at the 2 on an
11-yard run. The ball bounced into the end zone, where it was recovered
by Leesburg's Aaron Blake, giving the Yellow Jackets a 28-0 lead with 14
seconds remaining in the second quarter.
Ninth-ranked Leesburg
(10-1), whose defense recorded its seventh shutout of the season in
front of a crowd of about 2,000 at Gator Stadium, advanced to next
week's Section 2 playoff against Seabreeze, a 32-14 victor over Merritt
Island.
''You take him (Singleton) out of the game, and it is a
much better ballgame,'' Land O' Lakes coach John Benedetto said. ''We
couldn't handle him at all. Once he got into the secondary, we had
nobody at all who could handle him.
''They are just a great ballclub and we are not on that level.''
Land O' Lakes (9-2) has been to the regional playoffs five times in 16 years but has never won.
''We prepared real hard for the game,'' Leesburg linebacker Beau Young said.
In
addition Singleton's kickoff return to open the half, the Yellow
Jackets also scored on a 45-yard halfback pass from Herbert Ellis to
D.J. Keith with six minutes remaining in the third quarter, and reserve
fullback Alan Neiford scored on a 2-yard run with 9:02 left in the
fourth quarter.
''Oran scoring that first touchdown on the first
play really gave us an emotional lift,'' Leesburg coach Ed Hoffman said.
''It helped make up for the last 21 years that we haven't been in the
playoffs.''
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By Gary White
Daily Commercial Staff Writer
Daily Commercial
September 19,1992
LEESBURG - If the Leesburg Yellow jackets wanted to win one for the Gipper, they might have saved it for a more meaningful occasion.
With head coach Ed Hoffman absent because of injury, Leesburg entered Friday night's game against first-year school Cypress Creek determined to make fans forget their error-prone opening victory over Eustis. Not that the Bears would have had a chance anyway.
Leesburg scored on eight of its 10 offensive possessions and coasted to a 63-0 victory that easily could have been more lopsided. The Jackets improved to 2-0.
Defensive coordinator George Fuller ran the team in place of Hoffman, who incurred a broken leg as well as knee and ankle damage during an accident in Wednesday's practice. Fuller's most difficult challenge was keeping the score down.
"This is entirely, unequivocally Ed Hoffman's program," Fuller said afterward. "I can't wait to hand him his whistle."
Hoffman is scheduled for surgery today and may miss the team's game next Friday at Auburndale.
But none of that mattered Friday night as Leesburg, ranked ninth in Class 4A, rolled to a 43-0 halftime lead. Quarterback Steve Gooden, who normally watches tailback Oran Singleton do the scoring, got into the act in the first half. He capped Leesburg's first drive with a 15-yard keeper, and immediately after Julliard Roberts' interception, Gooden made a nice reverse-field run for a 29-yard score.
"It was wide open; they were so worried about the fullback and the tailback they weren't coming to me," Gooden said.
The rout was on. Singleton scored three times in the first half and fullback Nick Williams added another touchdown before Leesburg pulled the first team.
Gooden said Leesburg had planned to use the de facto scrimmage to work on its passing game. He settled for tossing four passes and completing three for 79 yards.
"I told them (his teammates) before we went out, the key to this game was the intensity level," Gooden said. "When we played Eustis, we didn't have the intensity. We just went out flat."
Despite the Jackets' total dominance, however, their performance isn't flawless. Blocking penalties negated Singleton's touchdown runs of 38 and 25 yards, although Leesburg still scored on both possessions. Backup tailback Herbert Ellis saw a Singleton-like, 66-yard sprint nullified just before the half.
Singleton finished with 170 yards on 10 official carries, although he added a 60-yard touchdown on a free kick return. In two games, penalties have cost Singleton 120 yards and four touchdowns.
"We just can't keep making those mistakes," Fuller said.
Not that it mattered. Leesburg amassed 446 yards of offense, scoring on all but its final possessions of each half. Cypress Creek has been outscored in its two games by 119-13
Leesburg allowed Cypress Creek fullback Norman Levy to gain 155 yards on 21 carries, and
twice the Bears threatened to avoid a shutout. But Fred Waczewski missed a 32-yard field goal late in the first half, and Leesburg's second-team defense held on downs late in the fourth quarter.
"Facing Singleton tonight and (St. Cloud's Eric) Butler last week - those are two of the top backs in the state of Florida," Cypress creek Coach Dave Langdon said.
"We've got even seniors who haven't played before. We played against a great team with a great back."
And it didn't help the Bears that Leesburg had added incentive - to win it for Hoffman.
"I was pleased with he way the kids came together and didn't give us any problems," Fuller said. " We expect them to go out and play hard, and that (Hoffman's absence) is certainly incentive."
That and the team's disappointment with the Eustis game formed a double motivation.
"We had to show we were a mature team and we could come through adversity and win
without our head coach," Gooden said. "I think we came a long way tonight. We didn't play to
the other team's level. We played at our level."
LEESBURG 63, CYPRESS CREEK 0
at Leesburg
Cypress Creek 0 0 0 0--0
Leesburg 21 22 13 7--63
First Quarter
Lee-Gooden 13 yard run (Rausch kick)
Lee-Gooden 29 yard run (Rausch kick)
Lee-Singleton 3 yard run (Rausch kick)
Second Quarter
Lee-Williams 20 yard run (Rausch kick)
Lee-Singleton 52 yard run (Rausch kick failed)
Lee-Safety, ball snapped out of end zone
Lee-Singleton 60 kick return (Rausch kick)
Third Quarter
Lee-Ellis 1 yard run (kick failed)
Lee-Singleton 40 yard run (Rausch kick)
Fourth Quarter
Lee-Roberts 1 yard run (Rausch kick)
RUSHING--Cypress Creek: Johnson 3-10, Barrett 5-8, Levy 21-155,
Rainat 6-39, Leesburg: Singleton 10-170, Gooden 5-61, Keith 2-5,
Williams 7-56, Ellis 6-39, Blake 5-29, Roberts 3-7
Gerald is a professional Internet marketer and social media marketing expert. His online business ventures and websites generate multiple streams of income annually. His consulting clients include best selling authors and international speakers.
Gerald is the CEO/President of Lacey LLC and OmariWholesale, Inc. He runs his entire business from his home where he is able to spend quality time with his family and friends. He is passionate about helping individuals to build and monetize their personal brand online.
Hubert O. Dabney Stadium, Leesburg High School, Leesburg Florida, Home of the Jackets
PREP FOOTBALL
State Rankings
The rankings of the Florida high school football teams, after the first week of the season, compiled from votes by members of the Florida Sports Writers Association. The names are followed by number of first-place votes, records and total points.
Class 4A
1. Ft. Lauderdale St. Thomas Aquinas (12), 1-0, 138
2. Fort Myers 1-0, 115
3. Fort Walton Beach (1), 1-0, 112
4. Milton 1-0, 95
5. Stuart Martin County (1) 1-0, 89
6. Bardenton Southeast 1-0, 73
7. Naples Barron Collier 1-0, 59
8. Springfield Rutherford 0-1, 27
9. Leesburg 1-0, 25
10. Merritt Island 1-0, 19
Also received votes: Boca Raton 7, Mandarin 5, Raines 2, Ocala Forest 1, Daytona Beach Seabreeze 1, Punta Gorda Charlotte 1, Lakeland Kathleen 1.
Gerald is a professional Internet marketer and social media marketing expert. His online business ventures and websites generate multiple streams of income annually. His consulting clients include best selling authors and international speakers.
Gerald is the CEO/President of Lacey LLC and OmariWholesale, Inc. He runs his entire business from his home where he is able to spend quality time with his family and friends. He is passionate about helping individuals to build and monetize their personal brand online.
