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November 21, 2009
Then, with under three minutes to go, and St. Petersburg clinging to a suddenly slim 21-14 lead over Burton and the Indians, Robinson had chance number three. Burton was a second late delivering a sideline out to favorite receiver Bo Ceravolo, and Robinson made his move. Right in front of the St. Petersburg bench, he flashed in front of Ceravolo, caught Burton's pass in full stride and took the pick 35 yards to paydirt and drove the dagger into Venice's postseason dreams, and set off a wild, jubilant celebration on the Green Devil bench, as the Green Devils beat the Indians, 28-21, on Friday night at Powell-Davis Stadium in Venice. Venice came into this game as a heavy favorite, with many scribes and pundits having them all set to play St. Thomas Aquinas in the semi-finals, especially after they had dispatched all comers since an early loss to Virginia State Champion Oscar Smith in August. They have beaten four playoff teams (Charlotte, Manatee, Southeast, and Braden River) soundly, and appeared to be gaining momentum as the season progressed. St. Petersburg, on the other hand, has had losing seasons regularly since the 90's and until Head Coach Joe Fabrizio took over, were no threat. But last year they went 8-2, this year 9-1, and they all believed they could beat Venice. And beat Venice they did. After the Green Devil defense held Venice to two first downs on its first drive, they took over at their own 24 following a partially blocked Kye Rodgers punt, and set the tone for this one right from the git-go. All four members of the starting backfield carried at least once in the eight plays that followed, they overcame a holding penalty, and when FB Ben Sams burst through a hole into the end zone from 10 yards out, for a 7-0 lead, they had eveyone's attention. The next series was more of the same. The defense held Venice to a three-and-out, including a sack of Burton on third down, and got the ball back in Venice territory at the 45. This time St. Petersburg overcame three penalties, again used all four backs, Ben Sams (135 yards on the night), Malik Wilson (45 yards), Rashard Lewis (65 yards, and one onside kick recovery), and QB David Jones (two TDs) and pounded their way to a second touchdown to make it 14-0 at the 2:26 mark of the first quarter. Venice's defense has not seen that kind of ground attack all year. It was a shock watching it. But they got better, and did not give up any more points until late in the game. At the half, though, St. Petersburg had the lead, 14-0. The St. Petersburg front line was outstanding all night. They are not the biggest D-line in the world, in fact, probably not the biggest d-line in their district. But they were relentless, and they made tackles. Burton was unable to break off any of his trademark long distance scrambles and open field runs. Unofficially, he had only 63 yards on 22 carries, including several sacks. He did begin to scramble and find receivers late in the game, but it was too little too late. The third quarter opened with the teams trading punts until Venice finally got on the board with 4 minutes left in the third. After a failed trick play, Burton dropped back to pass on third down. He got chased out of the pocket, but found RB Josh Boyle behind everyone at the St. Pete 10, and he delivered the mail to him for a 51-yard touchdown. The third quarter ended at 14-7, St. Pete. On Venice's first possession of the final quarter, Bo Ceravolo got called for offensive pass interference on a deep 3rd down call, and Venice had to punt. St. Pete got a great punt return from Deondre Davis, and set up shop at the Venice 26. But the Venice defense was firing on all cylinders at this point and held. Then senior WR and FG Holder Adam Christner got the biggest call of his life. On fourth down-and-3 , at the Venice 24, and with Venice very much still alive and kicking, Christner got the call for the fake field goal. If he was nervous, he didn't show it, and ran for a first down inside the ten, and when David Jones ran it in three plays later, it was 21-7 with 4:55 left, and some of the Venice faithful started to leave. Not so fast. When you've got a senior QB like Trey Burton on the field, don't ever think a lead is too much. It took him less than one minute to prove it. All Burton did was find Josh Boyle open three times for 63 yards, then scrambled in from the six himself, and with 4:00 left it was suddenly 21-14, and Venice fans were howling. Then when Venice held and forced a punt to get the ball back with 2:08 left, there were more than a few very worried fans on the St. Pete side of the field. With a first-and-10 from his 28, Burton dropped back from the shotgun, and turned to fire the very familiar 7-yard out to Bo Ceravolo. The play simply killed Manatee several weeks ago, and Ceravolo had eleven catches that night. But the ball was a little late. And when Green Devil Trey Robinson saw it coming he knew what to do. And the rest is history. It was 28-14, and the wind was out of the sails for Venice. When Burton got the ball back with under two minutes left, he passed for four completions and 50 yards and found Boyle for paydirt at the 0:35 mark to make the score 28-21, St. Petersburg, but it was not going to be Venice's night. The onsides kick failed, and this one was over. It is very ironic that as great as Burton is, and as many great days he will have in the future as a Florida Gator, the playoffs were not kind to his record. He finishes with a 27-7 career record as a starter, but only 1-3 in the playoffs. For Venice Head Coach John Peacock, this is a very, very tough loss. This team was groomed for three years to be right here, on this night, and to be in this position. Like many well-laid plans, it just was not to be.
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