Published: Saturday, Oct. 24, 2009

Updated: Saturday, Oct. 24, 2009

Noles run past Booker

Bowden tops 100 yards in victory

SARASOTA — Waymon Bowden took the handoff and blasted through Booker’s defensive line. He split two would-be tacklers and lowered the boom on a third to complete an 18-yard gain.

It was only his second carry of the game.

But it was a glimpse of what was in store Friday night for the Tornadoes.

When Bowden was finished gashing Booker’s defense, visiting Southeast had a 41-7 triumph over Booker in Class 3A-District 10 action, and the senior tailback had 112 yards and a touchdown.

Bowden is the first 100-yard rusher for the Seminoles this season.

“It feels good to finally reach that mark,” Bowden said. “It’s been a slow process, but we finally pulled it together. I’ve been content with the wins. As long as our team is winning and I see progress, I’m good.”

For Southeast (4-3, 2-0), all facets of its offense were working well against Booker. The Noles rolled up 404 yards of total offense and after three possessions had a 13-0 lead.

Southeast quarterback Dyron Speight was 13-of-16 for 210 yards and a touchdown.

Wide receiver/defensive back Jonathan Dowling hauled in four receptions for 113 yards, including a 46-yard scoring strike in the second quarter, giving the Noles a 20-7 cushion.

Southeast’s passing game has carried the offense all season, but the running game was the key Friday.

“We’ve been really successful throwing the football,” Noles coach Paul Maechtle said. “But we also felt like we needed to improve running the football. We are happy Waymon got 100 yards, and (LeTray) Fagins ran the ball well, too. You would like to be balanced if you can as a football team. You can’t always do one thing, and they tried to take away the running game by playing man (defense) in the secondary against Dowling. We hit that early, and we also showed that we could run it a little bit.”

The Noles defense showed what it could do as well, limiting Booker (2-5, 1-2) to 129 yards of offense.

Southeast recovered two fumbles and had an interception.

“This win is important to us,” said Noles linebacker Desmond Blue, who recorded the pick. “We don’t have to play the guessing game like Coach Maechtle said. We are ahead in the district, and we are good right now.”