Countryside Touchdown Club ~ Contact Info

TARPON SPRINGS - It was last year at this time when the East Lake Eagles beat the Cougars to knock CHS out of playoff contention and celebrate on our home turf. The roles were reversed on Friday, as Countryside trounced the dejected Eagles by a whopping 5 touchdown differential and effectively ousted East Lake from any chance at a playoff berth on their home turf. It's been a wild cavalcade for the garnet and gold in '08, but the team knew it had a chance at the post-season with a win on the road. What looked like might be a tight contest from the opening whistle, quickly turned into a literal thrashing of these birds of prey.

East Lake took the opening kickoff inside the 35 and slowly but surely drove successfully on the Cougar "D", which tightened at the end of the drive to give up just a 32 yard field goal to Travis Mullen. The Eagles had possession of the ball for 8:47 seconds to start the game. That would be the last time home team fans would be jovial as Countryside reeled off the next 38 unanswered. It took roughly 16 minutes, but Terry Johnson finally opened up the scoring for CHS with a 6 yard score, set up by a 39 yard halfback pass from Todd Shorter to Jimbo Chmelik. On the ensuing drive, the Eagles fumbled on a botched option play, and just a few plays later, Dawrence Roberts tallied on a 3 yard run to make it 14-3. With less than a minute left in the half, Shorter gave his team a comfortable 18 point advantage with an 18 yard catch from Jimbo.

Chmelik used his speed and agility to his power in the third quarter, scoring twice on the run. First, a 5 yard TD scamper, and then a serpentine run which netted him 6 more points, good for 29 yards. 35-3 going into the fourth, which by this juncture in the game, it was only a matter of time for the sixth win of the year. William Griswold would cap off the scoring with an early fourth quarter field goal of 36 yards to run the Cougars' winning streak to three. Because of Palm Harbor's 30-28 loss against Dunedin, the trio of Countryside, PHU, and Dunedin will compete in a do or die shootout to be hosted by Falcons on Monday night. Two of these three will advance to the playoffs beginning November 21. No matter what the outcome of this event, Countryside will wrap up its regular season schedule next Friday vs. Seminole for the annual senior night festivities. Come out and support your garnet and gold on Monday night in Dunedin, and next Friday vs. the Warhawks. GO COUGARS!!!!!