St. Cloud takes on Gateway in 7A-6

By Ken Jackson
Sports Writer

If you like your high school football games with a bit of buzz — the sound coming from the lights not withstanding – you’ll get it Friday at 7:30 p.m. at Gannarellli Field.

St. Cloud hosts Gateway in the Class 7A District 6 opener for both schools. The campuses are about eight miles apart, but the coaching staffs are much closer.

St. Cloud Coach Mike Short spent the 2001-05 seasons as a Gateway assistant alongside Panther Coach Marlin Roberts.

Short said it can be tough to put friendships aside for a couple hours.

“It’s fun, but a bit uncomfortable,” he said. “You love to play against your friends, but you hate to think that someone loses.”

St. Cloud (1-2) won for the first time, 41-28, at Agape Christian (0-3), Saturday. The Bulldogs rode the hot hand of junior running back Eric Pfeifer, who rushed for 250 yards and four touchdowns on just 13 carries. Quarterback Phillip Steinmetz returned from a shoulder injury and was precise, hitting 14 of 20 passes for 170 yards. He tossed TD passes to Austyn Jandrew and Brett Biller.

Still, it almost wasn’t enough.

“It’s a good thing (Agape) didn’t have more depth. It could have been trouble for us,” Short said. “They’ve got some incredible kids. Phillip looked fine. He was very workmanlike, I don’t think he missed on a pass in the second half.”

The Bulldogs rolled up 489 yards of offense — 319 on the ground, thanks mostly to Pfeifer — and it was a joy to see, Short said, after the team struggled to sustain drives in losses to Lakeland and Rockledge to start the year.

“We needed a breakout. It was important to get back on track on offense,” he said. “We passed when we wanted and threw when we wanted.”

The defense played well in spots, despite surrendering touchdowns on a fake punt and a kickoff return by Serge Trezy and a reverse by UCF oral commitment D’Rico Johnson.

E.J. Mckenzie intercepted a pass and Brian Steinmetz, Logan Roth, Carlos Cordero and Colton Glasscock recorded sacks.

Gateway (2-1) lost for the first time, 30-0, to Orange City University last week.

The Panthers fumbled on their first offensive play and never recovered, Roberts said.

“We weren’t ready to play, and then just made mistake after mistake,” he said. “I mean, we recovered a fumble but then fumbled it right back to them. We just got overpowered by their lines, the defensive line especially.”

The Panthers were playing for their first 3-0 start since 2002. They managed just 76 offensive yards against University (2-1), fumbled twice and had a punt blocked for a touchdown.

“We looked nothing like we did last week (a 29-28 win over Lake Minneola). Maybe it was for the best, a little dose of reality,” Roberts said. “Some of the kids needed a wake-up call to realize how much work needs to be done to turn this program around.

“To their credit, they came back in Saturday morning and everybody was upbeat,” he said. “I was ready to tell them that football can’t be played in the past, but I didn’t have to.”

Roberts knows his team will play Friday against a Bulldogs team that feels good about itself after Saturday.

“And I can’t blame them. Pfeifer? Jeez, he’s got that low center of gravity and runs hard. And then Steinmetz is there to get the ball to his weapons. We’ve got a lot to contain.

“This is an important week for us. Obviously with the district, but we had so many gains the first two weeks and we can’t let things go back to the way it was.”

Short said he knows Gateway will play hard in this neighborhood tussle, and it will make things difficult in a game that’s important mentally for St. Cloud, too.

“Marlin has done some great things with them, especially their defense,” he said. “It’s pretty good and we could have problems running the ball.

We need to keep our momentum, with games ahead against Leesburg and Osceola.”

Short said Brian Steinmetz took a shot with about four minutes left in the game and was being checked for a possible concussion. Lineman Nick Hartman should return this week from a concussion.

Gateway comes in healthy. A win would mark its first on-field district victory since 2006

The Panthers were an independent from 2007-08.