[Buckskin86]

Mike has been putting up some big numbers!!

http://www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pb...409250394/1006

Before Sarasota High's football game Friday night against Cypress Lake, Sailor running back Mike Ford and his offensive linemen discussed breaking the record.

The single-game school rushing record of 359 yards, held by Herb Haygood.

Ford and his mates didn't accomplish their goal. But who wouldn't gleefully take 251 yards and four touchdowns?

Coming off his 279-yard, two-touchdown performance against Riverview, Ford carried the load again in leading the Sailors to a 46-14 win over the Panthers at Cleland Stadium at Ihrig Field.

Ford scored on runs of 23, 32, 36 and 8 yards. Fellow back Million Murray added a 1-yard TD, quarterback Steve Karwatt threw a 44-yard touchdown pass to Chad O'Connor and defensive back Austin Guidry returned an interception 53 yards for another score.

This was a potentially dangerous sandwich game for the 2-1 Sailors, a week after their victory over Riverview and a week before a matchup with Venice High.

But Ford made sure the Sailors wouldn't suffer a letdown. By his third carry of the game, he had rushed for 74 yards and his two TDs had the Sailors in front 12-0 with two botched PATs.

"He's phenomenal,'' said Sailor coach Bob Perkins, "some of the things he's shown in the last couple of weeks. It's Mike getting comfortable in the tailback position, standing up. Each practice he's developing into a great I-back.''

Perhaps Ford's greatest run was on his 8-yard score, when he headed left, into a wave of Panther tacklers, stayed on his feet, reversed right and ran uncontested into the end zone.

The score put the Sailors up 39-14 late in the third, but the shot at Haygood's record had passed. In time, Ford was removed from the game.