Brandon Eagles Show They Can Play With Area's Top Teams

The Eagles are coming off a great 11-2 season but they graduated 22 players, including their leading passer, Josh Celerin, their leading rusher, Daruis Lee (1,268 yards and 13 touchdowns), leading receiver, Reggie Roach, and team captian, Shawn Council. Council rushed for 373 yards and six touchdowns while compiling 50 tackles and a team-leading 8.5 sacks on defense.

Brandon jumped from Class 5A up to Class 7A and a whole new district this season. The new district is favorable as far as proximity but the new teams are much tougher than the team in the old District 7. Plant City, Durant and Newsome are all contenders for the district title and Brandon was an afterthought when the season began.

The Eagles took their lumps against Armwood but came back the next week and beat Freedom 29-22. They then lost two close games to Durant 36-24 and Sickles 35-28 and were widely considered out of the race. However, a couple of things emerged recently that have turned the Eagles' season around.

First, they found something to hang their hat on. Senior running back Tyrell Garner has already carried the ball 119 times for 855 yards and 10 touchdowns in six games. The staggering number of carries not only leads the district, it leads all of class 7A.

These numbers are even more impressive when you consider that Brandon runs the ball nearly every down. The Eagles have only attempted 44 passes this year, as opposed to 218 rushes.

It's much easier to stop the run when you know it's a run. This does not seem to slow down Garner.

"I welcome the challenge. I want to step up to it," Garner said. Garner's signature game thus far was his 40-carry, 340-yard, four-touchdown game against Freedom.

The second part of the turnaround was the recent upset win over Newsome 34-0. Noone in their wildest dreams would have picked Brandon over three-time district champion Newsome but not only did the Eagles win, they made a statement.

Garner ran for 124 yards on 15 carries with two touchdowns while the offense completed just two passes.

Another threat emerged in that game in the form of sophomore running back Cyrus Dooley. Dooley only goes about 5 feet 9 inches but he goes over 210 pounds and is the rumbling bruiser of the offense. Dooley had 16 carries for 167 yards and three touchdowns in the Newsome game.

It now is looking like a very strong tandem as the carries have been split down the middle in the last two games.

The win puts them right back in the mix for the district with a huge Oct. 28 game against Plant City that could very well decide the fate of the district. Even a tough loss to Plant on Oct. 14 didn't damage their district aspirations.