By Rick Pedone
Sports Editor

Gateway joined Osceola and Liberty at the top of the 7A District 6 football standings Monday by defeating St. Cloud, 30-10, before an enthusiastic crowd of 1,500 at the David Ridenour Athletic Complex.

Quarterback Anthony Rodriguez (4-6-92, 2 TDs) threw for touchdown passes of 49 yards to Brandon Lakins and 30 yards to Theo Belhomme. Zach Smith ran 20 yards for a fourth quarter touchdown and his younger brother, defensive back Chase Smith, capped the victory in style by returning an interception 65 yards for a TD with 20 seconds to play. 

Kicker Marquis Ocasio added a 33-yard field goal and three PATs for the Panthers, 3-1 and 1-0.

“This is bigger than you know,” Rodriguez, a senior, said after the game while his teammates celebrated around him. “Coach (Marlin Roberts) said all week that this was our playoff game, that if we win this that we control our destiny.”

The problem was, the teams had to wait three days to play after heavy rain Friday caused a postponement.

“It was the longest weekend I can remember,” Coach Roberts said.

But, the Panthers, and their fans, were ready Monday. The student section was full, most wearing red shirts that were part of a pep rally package that included game tickets, pep rally tickets and the shirts.

“We wanted to get a big crowd out here for the 12^th man,” Roberts said.

Actually, the 11 that the Panthers put on the field were more than enough despite a spirited effort from St. Cloud, which lost three players, including quarterback E.J. Mckenzie, to injuries during the game. Mckenzie left in the second quarter with a knee injury and did not return.

“He’s a tough kid, no question,” Roberts said of Mckenzie.

The first half was scoreless until Rodriguez found Lakins down the sideline with 59 seconds left in the second quarter.

“It was a wheel route,” Rodriguez said. “They usually worry about Zach on that play, and the linebackers and safeties come up to stop him and that leaves it open for our receiver to get deep.”

The PAT failed, leaving it 6-0 at the half.

The Bulldogs, with quarterback Ian Rinehart stepping in for Mckenzie, took a 7-6 lead on their opening possession of the second half, moving 55 yards on 10 plays, all on the ground. Eric Pfeifer, who did most of the work, capped the drive with a 3-yard run and Nick Askey’s PAT put the Bulldogs up 7-6 with five minutes left in the third quarter. A 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty against the Panthers aided the drive.

Smith (17-113, 1 TD) ignited a Gateway scoring drive on the next possession as he swept right on the first play, found no room, reversed direction and gained nine yards. Two plays later he bolted 39 yards to the St. Cloud 21. The Bulldogs held at their 15 and Ocasio kicked the 33-yard field goal to put Gateway back on top, 9-7.

Gateway’s defense came up big on the next series when the Bulldogs lost 15 yards on three plays and had to punt from the 5, putting the Panthers in business at the St. Cloud 27. After Smith lost three yards, Rodriguez hit Belhomme in stride across the middle for a 30-yard TD pass that expanded the lead to 16-7 with 10:21 to play.

“I was reading the safeties,” Rodriguez said. “We put in a few things that we thought could take advantage of their weaknesses.”

The Bulldogs drove to the Gateway 11 on the next possession before Askey’s 28-yard field goal pulled them to within one score at 16-10. Rinehart hit Hayden Abshire on a 30-yard pass completion to set up the field goal.

The Bulldogs forced Gateway to punt, but with just over three minutes to play and with most of their timeouts gone, St. Cloud gambled on fourth-and-6 at their 26 and failed.

Zach Smith carried for six yards to the 20 before breaking free for his touchdown run with 1:54 to play.

Chase Smith picked off Rinehart over the middle a minute later and returned it or the final score.

St. Cloud fell to 1-2 and 0-1. The teams were about even in total yardage, with Gateway holding a 227-213 edge.

“It was a hard fought game, the way I thought it would be,” Roberts said. “I thought it would end like 20-17, with the team with 17 having the ball at the end and trying to win it. We made a couple of big plays at the end. We didn’t do that at (Orange City) University (the team’s only loss). We talked all last week about finishing the game, and that’s what we did.”

The Panthers defense did a reasonably good job of shutting down St.Cloud’s Pfeifer, who ended up with 93 yards rushing and one TD.

“Last year he had a couple of big ones against us, so we knew that we had to contain him as much as we could, and we did a pretty good job,” Roberts said. “I probably had Zach mad at me because I told him everyone in the county thought Pfeifer was the better back. I think he was ready to knock me out he was so mad. We needed a big game from him. He’s a leader and he gets us going.”

Roberts said it was important to take the district win from St. Cloud.

“We’re not looking past Liberty, or Harmony or Celebration. All of those guys are going to come after us, we know,” Roberts said. "But, if we take care of business, we could be playing Osceola for the district championship (Nov. 2)."

Neither team will have an opportunity to catch its breath this week. The Panthers travel to Eau Gallie Friday, while St. Cloud will go to Leesburg.