By Rick Pedone
Sports Editor

St. Cloud, down 21-0 at the half at Martin County last week, scored 30 straight points to remain unbeaten (2-0), 30-21.

Quarterback Phillip Steinmetz ran for two touchdowns and passed for another, Irving Huggins ran for a score and the St. Cloud defense produced five turnovers to blank the Tigers in the second half.

“It seemed like we got off the bus and forgot we had to play a football game,” St. Cloud Coach Bill Buldini said. “Once we got in at halftime and talked about it, we got focused and played the way we are capable.”

St. Cloud takes its longest road trip of the season to unbeaten (2-0) Key West. The Conchs blasted Coral Shores, 46-0, last week. Kickoff Friday is at 7:30 p.m.

St. Cloud is leaving after school today to make the 380-mile trip. Last year, the Bulldogs left for Key West early on the day of the game. The result wasn’t pretty, a 32-13 loss.

“We were tired before the game started,” Assistant Coach Mike Short said. “Even the coaches were tired.”

At least St. Cloud was able to shake off its first-half lethargy at Martin County. After the defense forced a fumble, Steinmetz guided the Bulldogs on a scoring drive capped by Huggins’ 4-yard run. Alain Moise, who kicked three PATs and a 20-yard field goal, added the PAT.

Steinmetz ran 1-yard for St. Cloud’s second score, then he passed to Pat McCloskey early in the fourth quarter 42 yards for the tying touchdown. Moise added the PAT.

Moise’s field goal put the Dogs on top, 24-21, and Steinmetz iced it with a 4-yard run with 1:22 to play.

Short, the Dogs offensive coordinator, said the team went old-school in the second half.

“Our linemen made it happen. We went to the double-tight power stuff and started pounding the ball,” he said. “Phillip and Irving made some good runs. That’s the thing about our offense. Everyone talks about the five-wide and throwing it, and we can do that, but we can also run the ball. It is like having two different offenses.”

Buldini said the defense, after giving up two long TD runs to the Tigers’ Dan Hubbard in the first half, buckled down.

“It was a matter of getting focused. We gave up the two big plays, but in the second half, when we got into our assignments, we took care of that,” Buldini said.

Safety Melvin Manning had a huge game, forcing two fumbles, intercepting a pass and recovering a fumble. He had six tackles. The front four turned in a solid effort in the second half.

Defensive lineman Kevin Greenawalt had seven tackles and a fumble recovery, Brandon Marty had nine tackles and Kevin Ulysses had 10 tackles and a fumble recovery.

Short said the important thing was to keep the players from getting discouraged.

“We talked about that at halftime, about being patient. We had to make them understand that we couldn’t try to score 21 points on one play,” he said.