By Rick Pedone
Sports Editor

Down by 26 points in the third quarter, it looked like St. Cloud’s 2011 football season was winding down on an inglorious note.

But, that was before the Bulldogs forced a pair of second-half turnovers and dented the Lakeland High end zone three times during last Friday’s regional playoff game, resulting in a 26-21 cliffhanger that Lakeland, 11-0 and No. 1 in Class 7A, was relieved to collect.

The Bulldogs, 3-8 counting two forfeits, ended one of their most tumultuous football seasons just one touchdown away from the biggest upset in the school’s history.

“We were catching all kind of smack talk from everyone when we went into that stadium, but when we left there were Lakeland fans lined up telling us what a great job we did, how impressed they were with our  team,” St. Cloud Coach Chad Ansbaugh said. “I think we got the message out about what St. Cloud football is about.”

St. Cloud struggled in the first half against a Lakeland defense that throttled the Bulldogs during a 48-14 Dreadnaughts win during the regular season opener. But, Ansbaugh said the Bulldogs never lost confidence that they would come back.

“Even though we gave up a couple of scores (19-0 at halftime), it wasn’t like our defense wasn’t playing well,” Ansbaugh said. “The more we looked at it, we believed it was much more our game. We thought if we kept playing the way we were on defense, that we could do some things. Like I told the guys, just keep swinging while they’re throwing the dirt on us.”

Quarterback Phillip Steinmetz, getting protection from Lakeland’s rush with a max-protect package, threw a 37-yard touchdown pass to running back Eric Pfeifer. Steinmetz ran 1 and 12 yards for touchdowns to pull the Bulldogs within five points with over eight minutes to play.

“We had a decent shot at coming all the way back. We got a couple of turnovers that gave us a short field, and that definitely helped, but we still had to get the ball in the end zone. It wasn’t like they weren’t pick-6s,” Ansbaugh said. “We actually came out of the pile with the ball on Lakeland’s last series, but we didn’t get the ball, they gave it to Lakeland. I don’t know how that happens.”

The Dreadnaughts ran off most of the last five minutes after a Bulldogs three-and-out, but Lakeland barely escaped disaster when it fumbled deep in its territory and the bouncing ball barely eluded Bulldogs defenders who easily could have returned the potential turnover for a go-ahead touchdown.

It was the last game for many of St. Cloud’s veteran leaders, like Steinmetz, receivers Austyn Jandrew, Cole Harvey and Brett Biller, and linebackers Jeff Spelman, Anthony Ellis, Colton Glasscock, Carlos Cordero and Dan Brown.

“We lose some great seniors, but we’ve got some real good players coming back. I’m not sure who the next quarterback will be, but he better be good and handing off to (running back) Eric Pfeifer. He’s one of those kids who has another gear during the game,” Ansbaugh said. “What’s going to be hard is replacing the linebackers, because those guys were the heart of the team.”

Ansbaugh took over at midseason as an interim replacement for Mike Short, who resigned after Florida High School Athletic Association violations impacted the team.

“I had the easy part of the job. The credit goes to the assistants, who had to deal with a lot of change and pick up extra responsibilities. Those guys did a tremendous job under difficult circumstances, I can’t say enough good things about them,” Ansbaugh said. “Our athletic director, our trainer, a lot of people stepped up to do things outside of their responsibilities to help me out.”

Ansbaugh, also the Bulldogs girls basketball coach, was the freshman football coach before he replaced Short.

He wants to remain a part of the football program.

“There’s nothing quite like the excitement you have on Friday nights when the varsity is out there,” he said.