Patriots Swarm All Over Seven Rivers for SSAC Title

Fri. November 18, 2011 at 1:31 a.m. | By Polk Preps Staff

Landmark Christian's Nydarius Roberts runs for a touchdown against Seven Rivers Christian during Thursday's Sunshine State Athletic Conference State Championship game. (Photo by PAUL CRATE | LEDGER MEDIA GROUP )

By BILL KEMP

News Chief

WINTER HAVEN | It might have started like last year but it certainly didn't end that way.

Landmark Christian School won the Sunshine State Athletic Conference football championship, at All Saints' Academy Field on Thursday, knocking off Seven Rivers Christian School 40-0.

The Patriots (10-2) had the Warriors down 28-0 at halftime last year before hanging on for a 49-42 win.

On Thursday LMS held a 20-0 halftime lead before blanking Seven Rivers in the second half.

"We talked about it a lot this week," Landmark head coach Mark Burdon said. "We didn't think scoring points was going to be a big deal. We thought the bigger deal was playing defense. From watching them on film we saw that they got their momentum from scoring."

The Patriots took a 7-0 lead just three plays into the game when Jaime Miranda broke free on a 47-yard touchdown run. Four minutes later Nydarius Roberts scored on a 5-yard run and Landmark held a 14-0 lead.

"We jumped out to a big lead and I was happy with that, but I was proud of what they did on defense," Burdon said about the Landmark's quick start.

Patriots' quarterback Seth Johnson was 9 of 13 for 96 yards with two touchdowns, including a 24-yard scoring strike to Justin Simpkins with 2:29 remaining in the first half.

Johnson also tossed a 3-yard touchdown strike to Robert Louis and rushed six times for 48 yards with a 1-yard touchdown run in the second half.

Freshman running back Keland White led all rushers with 159 yards on 17 carries, including a 33-yard TD run in the fourth quarter to ice the game.

"It seems that the last few years we've had a team that peaks at the right time," Burdon said, whose team won nine-straight games down the stretch.

Roberts finished with 55 yards on five carries while Miranda had 57 yards on nine rushes.

"It seems that the last few years we've had a team that peaks at the right time," Burdon said, whose team won nine-straight games down the stretch.

Burdon, who celebrated his birthday on Thursday, said he thought Landmark could win the title after knocking off Jacksonville Christ Church Academy earlier in the season.

"We played an undefeated team from Jacksonville a couple of weeks ago and it ended up being a close game. I thought at the beginning of the season we would have lost that game," Burdon said. "They believed in themselves and that they could win games."