Youth Sports Report:

Football: Cougars aiming for State title

Posted Dec 18, 2009 by Nick Murray

Updated Dec 18, 2009 at 11:11 AM

The Countryside Jr. Cougars under-15 football team will try to complete a perfect season on Saturday as they travel to Miami for a shot at a state championship.

The Cougars won the SunCoast Youth Football Conference with a 14-8 victory against Lakewood, and then advanced to the Florida Youth Athletic Association championship game against the West Kendall Dolphins with a 30-0 win against the St. Petersburg Silver Raiders.

The Cougars have been led by a strong defense that has only allowed four touchdowns in 13 games so far this season. Cougars coach Mike Carroll said the biggest reason for the defense’s success has been the resilience the players have shown throughout the season.

“I like to tell them they’re not the best defense I’ve ever seen because they’re not the biggest or the strongest or the fastest,” Carroll said. “But they’re the most resilient I’ve ever seen. They don’t get down, and it’s 11 guys running to the football. They do a very good job of tackling, they do a very good job of pass coverage, of not letting passes go over the top, and because of that teams have a very tough time getting big plays, so if you’re going to score on us, you really have to put in a long drive, and that’s hard to do against us.”

That resilience has also been evident on the Cougars offense. Quarterback Jack Barr came to the Cougars shortly before the season started, and has come on in leaps and bounds in his first year playing quarterback in a balanced attack, following in the footsteps of current Countryside High quarterback Jimbo Chmelik.

“He used to play quarterback in the double-wing,” Carroll said, “so he had a lot to learn, but by the end of the year he throws the ball and controls the football game as well as any quarterback I’ve ever had and we’ve had some good ones.”

Barr has been helped by the skill players around him, receivers Michael Johnson, whom Carroll says has the best set of hands as the Cougars have had, and Ethan Thompson, tailback Anthony Holmes and full back Shyzzam Shackelford, but Carroll said that every player on the team has played a role in getting the Cougars to this point.

“I can’t emphasize it enough, everyone on our team contributes,” Carroll said. “I could tell you stories about every one of them. Our offensive line does a wonderful job protecting our quarterback, very few guys get to our quarterback, and I can’t say enough about how they’ve come together as a team.”