PLAYOFF TIME

Phoebus still claims the championship trophy from last year. They got off to a good start in the first round against Warwick. Coach Bill Dee has broken away from tradition and thrown the ball a lot more this year. He didn't need to on Friday night. Shawn Alston had a monster game on the ground. He rushed for 246 yards and 3 touchdowns in the Phantoms 28-9 win. Catch all the hilites of this and all the playoff games in the video section of the homepage (look to your right).
Elsewhere in Division 5, Green Run left it up to their defense to shut down Heritage. You can see Tayvon Gatlin's key interception helping the Stallions secure a 19-6 win.
Lake Taylor finished the regular season undefeated, only the third Eastern District school to do that. But Head Coach Hank Sawyer was 0-5 in playoff attempts. The Titans are going to have to wait until next year to break that jinx. #7 seeded Indian River pulled off the lone upset of the night. They held Lake Taylor to just 39 yards of offense in their 20-9 victory.
In Division 6, Woodside proved stubborn for a half against undefeated and #1 seed Oscar Smith. You make the call on a pivotal play in the hilites. Woodside was driving to score the go ahead touchdown in the second quarter when their quarterback reached over the goal line with the ball. When it hit the ground it came loose. Nobody blew a whistle and the Tigers picked it up and made a long return. After that Oscar Smith poured it on 41-6.
Salem is the other undefeated school in Division 6. When our cameras were there, the special teams gave us all the hilites. As usual, Kevin Whaley topped it off with a touchdown as the the Sun Devils had little trouble with Maury 44-3.
Bayside's E.J. Manuel has played his last game before heading off to Florida State. Too bad for Marlins fans he spent most of the night eluding an overwhelming pass rush from Western Branch. He did throw a touchdown to lead Bayside to the halftime lead. After intermission, the Bruins did all the scoring. Michael Brown closed the deal with a punt return for the final score in a 23-8 Western Branch win.