By Eugenio Torrens
Senior running back Jerome Samuels said Sunlake’s bus ride to Ocala Vanguard was the quietest of his life.
He said generally when they are that subdued during a trip to an away game they usually try and pump themselves up for the upcoming 48-minute battle.
“Soon as we got out here, we did the talking,” Samuels said.
And the Seahawks made quite a statement with their 22-21 victory against the Knights to win the Class 6A regional quarterfinals contest.
For Sunlake, a fifth-year program, the playoffs are new. Even making it to the postseason was a feat in it of itself after a 1-9 season three years ago.
“Every year we’ve progressed and progressed,” said senior center Nate McCoole. “This win really epitomizes how far we’ve come.”
For a team making its first trip to the playoffs, playing against a team on the road with playoff history might have been too daunting.
Not for this squad.
“We knew we was going to fight and we was not going to lay down on nobody,” said junior Eddie Burgos, who had a touchdown reception in the win. “We didn’t care how big they were.”
“It means a lot,” Samuels added. “We had a lot of doubters, people saying Pasco schools can’t play out here. We came out here and proved a lot of people wrong.”
But don’t expect the Seahawks to bask too long in the joy of making program firsts.
“We weren’t satisfied with just making it,” said senior quarterback Cameron Stoltz. “We’re going to make history, we want to make big history.”
For complete coverage of Sunlake’s playoff win against Vanguard, see page 17.
