Cougar Football Aims to Go Further Than Ever

The Durant High football team (7-3) will host the Gaither Cowboys (7-3) on Friday night in regional quarterfinal action with a shot at school history. The Cougars' previous best finish was a 2003 push to the state semifinals.

It will not be an easy road. The Cowboys defense only gives up 15.5 points per game, and an injury to junior fullback Jarmarlon Hamilton might make getting past the quarterfinals tough. Two very good teams await them in the other bracket in Tampa Bay Tech and Brandon.

"This is a resilient group; they find ways to win," said Cougars head coach Mike Gottman.

This is also a highly-charged offense.

The Cougars are ferocious on the ground. They finished the regular season second in the district in both rushing yards per game (276) and total rushing yards (2,765). They scored a district-leading 33 rushing touchdowns, 18 of them from senior quarterback Nick Fabrizio.

You might think second in the district is not all that great. Well, District 8 is the ground-and-pound district. The Cougars are just behind Newsome in the district in rushing, but Newsome and Durant lead all of Class 7A in rushing yards and rushing yards per game.

Much of that has to do with a quarterback-running back tandem that has produced 2,685 yards of offense and 34 touchdowns.

It starts with Fabrizio.

"One of the biggest surprises this year was the production from Nick," Gottman said. "He's been a lot better with preventing turnovers this year, and I don't rememeber once seeing him get caught from behind."

Fabrizio is the second-leading rushing quarterback in 7A just behind — guess who? — Newsome's Will Worth. Fabrizio's 18 rushing TDs are second best in the state for a quarterback.

The other half of the tandem is Hamilton.

"He has been phenominal this year, working hard, getting better each game," Gottman said. "He's the guy that's gonna pound and get that extra yard."

Hamilton averaged 6.61 yards per carry in the regular season and rushed for 1,038 yards and eight touchdowns. Those numbers lead 7A as far as fullbacks go, but Hamilton is not your typical fullback.

District 8 was very tough to get through this year. It came down to four teams, right until the very end. Brandon's win over Plant City and Durant's victory over Newsome late in the year slipped them into the postseason, while 7-3 Plant City and 6-4 Newsome are out.

Gottman cites a 43-12 loss to Plant City as the Cougars' toughest game of the year and the 33-14 win over Newsome as their biggest win of the season.

So far.

IF YOU GO

What: Gaither at Durant, high school football playoffs
When: 7:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 18
Where: Durant High School, 4748 Cougar Path, Plant City, FL