- November 28, 2024
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On average, the Mainland defense allows one touchdown per game. And, according to the defensive coordinator, the defense still hasn’t played a perfect game.
BY ANDREW O'BRIEN | SPORTS EDITOR
Long after the sun set on Tuesday night’s practice, Mainland linebacker Ricky Norris made his way from the practice field to the weight room. He had squats to do.
Just a few days after knocking off Leesburg, 21-6, in the Class 6A regional semifinals, Mainland (11-1) is heading back to the regional finals — the same round the team lost to Naples in last season. (Mainland will host South Fort Myers (9-3) 7:30 p.m. Friday, at the Municipal Stadium, in Daytona Beach.)
But if this year’s defense, which has athletes all over the field, has anything to say about it, practices are going to continue well into December.
“This year, comparing it to last year’s team, I feel like we’re hungrier,” said Norris, a senior and the Mike (middle) linebacker that anchors the defense. “We were young last year. This year, it’s all of us, and we really believe in that family.”
Norris leads the team with more than 100 tackles, a handful of sacks and one interception.
But he’s not the only one catching balls from the opponents’ quarterbacks.
“We (score points) to get the offense hyped,” Norris said. “Little does the offense know, we feed off them when they score. We feel like we can score, too.”
They can.
Mainland’s defense has 12 interceptions this season returned for touchdowns. That’s quite a bit of points from a unit that primarily is simply supposed to stop the opposing offense.
Mainland’s defensive coordinator, Anthony Brown, is also the linebackers coach. He has been the Bucs’ coordinator for 10 years, including the 2003 state championship team.
He said he sees plenty of similarities between this year’s team and the team that won a state title a decade ago. And that starts with Norris, who is cousins with Travis Roland, Mainland’s Mike linebacker on the 2003 defense. Statistically, the defense is similar, too. This year’s team has four shutouts; the 2003 team had seven.
But it’s not a coincidence.
Before the season, the defense told the coaches that they want to outdo the 2003 defense.
“They said they wanted to be the best defense in Mainland history,” Brown said on Tuesday. “And we said that’s a huge goal for them because of the history and tradition that we have.”
But the players have put in the work, they have studied film, and they have showed up on Friday nights. And that has led them to be one of eight teams still playing football after Thanksgiving in Class 6A.
“I’ve been doing this for a long time,” Brown said, “and it’s kind of hard to believe that we still really haven’t played our perfect game. ... Sometimes, I have to sit back and look at some of the stuff they’re doing because I still can’t believe we have so many interceptions for touchdowns.”
On Friday, Mainland will see a run-heavy South Fort Myers team, which comes in 9-3 and averages about 232.5 rushing yards per game, according to maxpreps.com.
In the regional semifinals last week against Winter Haven, South Fort Myers racked up 437 yards on 62 carries (7.06 yards per carry).
Norris said his unit will be ready.
“A lot of teams feel like they can’t run on us, so they try to pass the ball,” he said. “But we like to be run stoppers.”
Twelve weeks of the season are gone. The Bucs are district champions and are playing after Thanksgiving for the third straight year.
And does hitting the weight room in the dark after practice is over make a difference?
“As you see, we’re the last team in Volusia County still playing,” Norris said.
FRIDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL
Who: Mainland (11-1) vs. South Fort Myers (9-3)
What: Class 6A regional finals
When: 7:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 29
Where: Municipal Stadium in Daytona Beach
