Zephyrhills Christian moves on to the semifinals
By Kyle LoJacono
Zephyrhills Christian Academy took another step toward a state championship by defeating Elfers Christian 72-27 Oct. 29 in the six-man football quarterfinals.
The 72 points were the most scored by the Warriors (11-0) in their history.
“They actually scored on us first,” said Zephyrhills Christian coach Mike Smith. “Then Dale Smith (Jr.) ran the next kickoff back for a score and we never looked back from there.”
Dale, who is a senior linebacker, also scored on an interception and a fumble return.
Warriors quarterback Mikey Smith, an eighth grader and Mike’s son, had a pair of touchdown passes in the game. Mike said the offensive star was Josh Roberts, who scored almost every time he touched the ball.
“They just couldn’t bring Josh down,” Mike said. “We didn’t punt once all night and it was good to put up those kinds of numbers.”
Zephyrhills Christian’s offense was clicking on all cylinders, but the defense was rusty after having a bye week in the first round of the six-man football playoffs. The Warriors allowed just 20 points and recorded eight shutouts in the regular season.
“I made a coaching mistake by not letting them hit in practice leading up to the game,” Mike said. “I was worried about injuries. We usually hit really well in games and we came out flat and tried to make a lot of arm tackles. We won’t make that mistake again because we’ll be hitting in practice.”
The Warriors will next play in the semifinals against the No. 3 seed Clearwater Academy (10-1) Nov. 5 in their building, 34927 Eiland Blvd. at 7:30 p.m.
This is the fourth season of the six-man league and the Warriors have made the semifinals each year. During the season many of the Warriors players, including Roberts, Mikey and Dale, said they feel they will win the state title this season.
“We have to play our game to win,” Mike said. “Clearwater has probably the best quarterback we’re going to play against. He gets everyone involved and we’ll need to play better defense if we’re going to beat them. We need to believe in ourselves because we have a shot at this.”
