Cougars accept bowl invite

Posted Nov 12, 2009 by Adam Adkins

Updated Nov 12, 2009 at 06:33 PM

The Durant football team’s season won’t end Friday night after all.

The Cougars, who were eliminated from state playoff contention with last week’s loss to Newsome and play their regular-season finale Friday at King, have accepted an invitation to play in a postseason bowl game, Coach Mike Gottman confirmed Thursday morning. Durant will play Longwood Lyman at Winter Springs on Nov. 21. Kickoff is slated for 5 p.m.

The FHSAA allows teams that finish with a record at or above .500 to play in a postseason bowl game.

Gottman said Durant originally accepted an invite to play in a postseason event at Northeast High in St. Petersburg but that an opponent was unable to be found. Needless to say, he was happy to get another chance to play this season.

Gottman said he left the decision to compete in a postseason bowl game up to his seniors.

“I told our seniors, ‘You’re going to miss this when it’s over. This will give you one more chance to play this game that you love, and for 90 percent of you, this will be the last time you play this game,’” Gottman said. “They decided they wanted one more game to play.”

Durant is a bit banged up, and one Cougars senior won’t play in the team’s regular-season finale against King - running back John Hicks. Hicks suffered a high ankle sprain early in the loss to Newsome. Gottman said he was unsure if Hicks would be able to play in the postseason bowl game, but that the Cougars’ training staff planned on doing everything in its power to make that happen.