Canterbury star football duo rejoin team

Canterbury first-year football coach Steven Dudley just dodged a big bullet.

The Crusaders two best players, QB/DB Brandon Hamilton and WR Johnny Lancaster, have rejoined the team following a flirtation with a prestigious wooden bat baseball league.

The duo shocked the team a few weeks ago, telling them they’d skip football to focus on their baseball futures.

But at halftime of the Crusaders 27-0 loss Friday to the Masters Academy, they had a change of heart. They begged Dudley at halftime to suit up. Dudley said he had his team take a vote whether to allow the two to join the team.

There "were some hard feelings," Dudley said, "but it was unanimous to bring them back."

"It’s a great thing for us," Dudley said. "We felt like we were going into a gun battle with a butterknife."

--- JOE SMITH

joesmith@sptimes.com

Times photo of Canterbury WR Johnny Lancaster. Photo by Ted McLaren.

Comments

[Bluto]

OVER?...OVER?...IT'S NOT OVER TILL WE SAY IT IS!

WAS IT OVER WHEN THE GERMANS BOMBED PEARL HARBOR?

YOU ALL ARE WORTHLESS AND WEAK....NOW DROP AND GIVE ME TWENTY!

Canterbury players, stop actin like you won, YOU DIDNT GET OVER IT. THE SCOREBOARD SAYS IT ALL. if you want to have a chance at beating us bring it on next year. we will run it all over you again and again. As for matt hendry's interception. IT WAS AMAZING. THERE WAS NO DOUBLE COVERAGE THAT PLAY STOP WHINING. WE WON GET OVER IT. as for us saying that canterbury's field was our house. IT NOW IS OUR HOUSE.

Game is long over!
Both teams need to show some respect for one another & turn the page.
Bad winners are just as bad as sore losers. AFA won, Canterbury lost. Both teams fought hard & should be respected. Calling names & insulting teams NEVER helped a team win football games. It makes you look like a punk. Both schools should show some class & focus on their next game. Talking trash is for punks & losers! Spend that energy working your butt off to get better as a team!

I know that to AFA their idea of worked might be pretty low because they haven’t had too many good games lately but the freshman running back did not work Canterbury at all he had more kick return yards than rushing and he is not even comparable to Cuda maybe in a couple years but he was definitely not close to Cuda on Friday

how about the freshman running back that worked Canterbury everytime he got the ball (ask your entire team).

[john madden]

I will go on the record because everyone in st.pete already has... a few points to touch on 1. Brandon Hamilton is a 17yr. old who just wants to win, he had to run as soon as he said hike, without a line to block for him or anyone else. you also would get frustrated when your line openly lets afa defenders run freely at you. 2. the catch Johnny Lancaster made over #22 was some what of a randy moss type play not to mention the 5 other catches he had for over 100yds. It also was not his fault when the afa defensive picked the pass he was under double coverage and the pass was hurried by the outstanding o line. 3. Joey Cuda ran great, he was punishing the afa defense with every carry not to mention the neck breaker of a stiff arm(ask # 23)

wat are you talkin bout?they had like 30 penalties in that game!!

I dident know Canterbury had the refs on their payroll. but its to bad even with there help they couldent pull a win

umm THE TRUTH i guess you don't remember the time when Lancaster out jumped your boy Matt Hendry either or how they had to switch corners on him throughout the game because your boy Matt couldn't cover him. and for the interception wow you finally stopped him but wait they needed to double cover him to do it.

[Cru Jones]

I want you to read a couple posts from yesterday, i said it was classless of them and I even followed up with one of the AFA staff to question the celebration and the players were punished for that. Im sick of reading almosts, and box score comments. Canterbury lost, AFA won, and those are the only facts that matter. Now get out there this week and kick some butt!

To celebrate on someone else's field chanting "our house"/ "our house" is CLASSLESS! They almost got beat by a 3rd year program w/ 16 guys- then feel the need to gloat & act like punks.
AFA is a disgrace. I thought a military school like AFA would want to teach sportsmanship, class & grace. They should be ashamed!! Have some class!!

Thank you!!! finally someone said what happened out there..yes Cuda had a GREAT game...but in the end faragut won the game..its all over now and there is nothing that we can change so stop writing all these stupid things and talk bout next week.

[THE TRUTH]

Some of you guys are being rediculous. Canterbury was running their mouth this whole time and AFA was just responding to all their crap. You wanna say all that stuff and you think we would take that lightly? There was stupid penalties all game. And as for Hamilton, Cuda, and Lancaster outplaying AFA's defense. My boy Matt Hendry jumped and picked one off over Lancaster in the endzone. Hamilton got sacked I don't know how many times. Cuda is the only one that showed some talent out there for Canterbury. I'll give you that. You talk crap expect to eat it.

[Cru Jones]

Honestly, who ever you are that called me out, you dont know my abilities or even who I am and im certainly not jealous of someone who has no class or sportmanship. I know he is a great athlete and maybe he doesnt have the best line, but the fact of the matter is, he got killed out there and he would agree im sure. In the last 5 minutes, he played cheap and sour, and thats not an athlete, thats a baby brat!

Cru Jones, maybe if brandon had a line he wouldnt be touched. Brandon would be more of an athlete than you were or ever will be. Lets not get mad at brandon because you yourself couldnt be him.

AFA won! why are we still talking about this. They know what and endzone looks like and they have some solid talent so lets stop talking and lets see what everyone has got next week on the Gridiron! Play ball boys its the best time of your lives

hey jim rome, listen you beat canterbury by a meesly few points i wouldnt be celebrating to much.

afa suks...they wouldnt ever win against canterbury again if they played them 10 more times!!!so shut your traps!the only good person on afa's basketball team is josh burch...but as for canterbury's baseball team...um there solid 1-9

[Cru Jones]

Sounds like you a saying Canterbury is a bunch of girls if im not mistakened? I see more blog postings of Canterbury girls, you said it not me, talking about how they got their rears handed to them by a poor team and they cant even beat a terrible team like themselves, am i not seeing this right? AFA players are just sticking up for their win, like they should. And those people on the field chanting wait till Baseball, wait till what? Even the players themselves will tell you they are terrible and stand no chance. Lets wait till Basketball and see, ok? Now thats an even playing field. The sad thing is, im a Canterbury fan, but im ashamed at the lack of class that Brandon showed on the field during the 4th quarter, especially for someone that got thrown down like a rag doll most of the game.

Does anybody else think this is funny besides me? AFA has been horrible for decades except for a couple of years when they bought players in. Canterbury is too new and small to matter yet.

Yes Cru, a win is a win, you are right. But if Mike Tyson goes out and wins a split decision over a 9 year old girl, would he be bragging about it? It is a win though.

From what I know about the game, AFA had better enjoy this victory as it might be the only one you see this season.

[Cru Jones]

Let me ask a simple question. You people, from both schools i might add, are fairly educated people. I mean your families pay large sums of money to get you some sort of education, right? Well, if the New York Yankees go out and hit 14 Home Runs, 27 total hits, and on "paper" it looks like a winning box score, what if the Devil Rays, which is what you are making the AFA/Canterbury matchup look like, score just one more run than NY, and hit all singles off of Clemons, does that mean they win? Its all about wins and losses in the end people. Stop talking trash and make of sense of your arguments, you owe it to your parents.

[the truth]

AFA, its sad that your whole team was basically playing three players and won by that little. Cuda, Hamilton, and Lancaster can't do everything and you should be embarrassed that it took that many bodies to defeat them.

[Canterbury]

The fact of the matter is AFA's "Our house comment" was classless however that doesnt even equal the amount of unsportsman like acts by the Crusaders. Bottomline, they suck. Both the schools are small and lack talent across the board, but AFA won the game, no matter what side you routed for. AFA's stupid mistakes and ridiculous penalties allowed Canterbury to stay in the game but the end result was AFA got the W. Brandon Hamilton, you lack class all over the place. You played hard but you sure suck at losing!

Wrong again! afa dominated in yardage. Dumb mistakes were the only thing that kept canterbury in it!

Stats were 100% accurate. Canterbury dominated first downs, yardade, time of posession, etc...
canterbury put all their backups in on kickoff team to open 2nd half & it killed them. That was a GIFT to AFA.
Without that- Canterbury wins !!!
Canterbury will learn from that painful mistake. They need to just kick ball out of bounds on kickoff!!!!

[Will Augustine]

This original story is old news, the game is now history and I'm signing off this blog.

Canterbury, you've got a solid football team with some talented players.

Good luck next week, and show those boys in Orlando how the game of football is played.

[David Thurman]

I was at the game and i have to say that both teams had alot of penalties and there is no way that one team lost the game. it is clear that the better team won and if you could watch film you can see farragut doesnt play alot of players either. Afa's running back was a freshman and he ran all over the Canterbury d-fense and ran over cuda and other canterbury "stars" over time and time again. Afa's jr. fullback took over the game and ran down the middle of Canterbury's team and fished with a touchdown. It is clear that the better team won and if canterbury wants to win anything this year they need to shut up, stop talking, and just okay the game

You people are out of your minds....The only reason the game was close was bc afa let canterbury stay in the game. times messed up the box score...afa had 278 yards cabterbury had 166...nuf said

I attended the AFA vs. Canterbury game & came away with this conclusion: CANTERBURY WAS CLEARLY THE BETTER TEAM!!Canterbury just simply ran out of players (they actually had 14 or 15 kids able to play). They probably have 5 or 6 freshman starting. Their skill players ran ALL OVER ADMIRAL FARRAGUT! Joey Cuda carried the entire AFA defense on his back on several plays. It's a shame Canterbury doesn't have about 5-6 more guys (just bodies). Anyway, I was very impressed with the Canterbury offense. Hamilton & Cuda are AMAZING! I feel bad they don't have more guys to help them out. They could be really good!

OMG somebody who was at that game please tell me that it is true that AFA said it was, "their house!" Look at the stats and box score farragut, you didn't win the game, Cantebury lost it (and yes, there is a difference).

And even with your sorry schedule, I would bet (want in Will?) that you don't score more than 120 points for the season...

I agree that you guys should just shut your mouths and play. But please, try to have some class.

[AJ Augustine #15]

Good game Canterbury. You guys played well. Good luck for the rest of your season.

canterbury u had a lot of talk be4 we came there and shut u up...i thought that we did not know wat a endzone looked like??? i think that we found it last night...

Will I don’t think gambling on high school sports is acceptable.

AFA has no class they barley won and had the nerve to dance and chant "who’s house our house" on Canterbury's home field. That just shows how good of a school AFA is.

Afa should not be proud of there so called victory. I know what the score board said at the end of the game and it is what matters but anyone who was at the game could vouch that Canterbury was in control and doing at will what they pleased. Afa scored on a kick return, which if you noticed none of the main starters took place on. So congrats but also Canterbury had over 100 yards in penalties, which pretty much means they beat themselves. There was also a touchdown called back because a pony tail sorry ref can’t make a call he said the receiver went out of bounds. O and one more thing Canterbury’s skill players are 100 times better than Afa Brandon, Johnny, Cuda, and Dominique out played all of the Afa players. If Canterbury had a better line the score would of been 49- 0 but hey it wasn’t and congrats for the afa actually scoring; they had to play a team with 15 guys to do it, but that is something to brag about.

[Skippy Numbnutt]

So a crappy 1A team barely beat a crappy Ind team that is in their 2nd year of football and plays with less than 20 players. You should have won Farragut. Congrats. It really was a no-win situation for AFA though since beating Canterbury is like beating my little sister.

"This is just the start for Farragut." The start of what? You guys play one of the softest schedules, will likely be last in your sorry district and will continue to be one of the jokes of Pinellas football.

Just shut up and play.

Beat a quality team like Ft. Meade, Northside or Keswick and then you can talk crap!

Looks like Canterbury lost tonight. What's up now? How many times did Brandon get sacked?? It was ugly out there. We ran all over you tonight. This is just the start for Farragut.

These guys are probably good enough in baseball to get a ride to college play. Because of that, it seems to me, they made a sensible decision to dedicate themselves to that, but had 2nd thoughts. Most of us have modified our career course to some degree, at some point. That's what they did and are being criticized for it. Their coach allowed they're teammates to vote about letting them back on the team. The vote was unanimously in favor of their return as long as these guys were willing to work as hard as the rest of the team. They're doing that & not one on the team has expressed regret. I'm guessing, the team is happy to have their help! If these guys turn out to be prima donnas, they should be booted, otherwise, let's give them a fair chance to prove their dedication to the team! It's early in the season & they'll prove whether it was a good or bad move by their staying on & playing hard or quitting! The proof is yet to be seen.

Alright.. Farragut maybe if you weren't so scared to play Johnny Lancaster and Brandon Hamilton you would suit up your girls and play some football. see you at the game. goodluck.

and as for the mr. are you kidding me
why don't you come play Johnny and Brandon and see how you get worked. quit complaing they are highschool kids and you are a sad wannabe.

2:23,
What exactly is your problem? Is it jealousy? Is it bitterness? There clearly is more risk getting hurt playing football. If they blew out a knee or shoulder playing football- their chances of getting a college baseball scholarship would be OVER!! Why can't you comprehend that? For arguments sake- let's say they simply "got bored", then felt like they were "missing out" (as you said).
SO FREAKIN WHAT!!!!They changed their minds & asked to be back on the team BEFORE the season started. Their teammates voted UNANIMOUSLY for them to come back & they have worked their butts off to get better & make their team better. What possible problem could you have with that? Why is that concept hard for you to understand.
If you thought your future (possible scholarship,etc...) was in baseball, but your school wanted you to play football (a sport you probably won't be able to get a scholarship in) What sport would you focus on? They clearly are putting their futures at risk- it's not a flare for the dramatic - it's reality!!1

[Will Augustine]

Oh goody......more ammo! Thanks for your opinion. And by the way, there clueless one, the school's name is spelled F-A-R-R-A-G-U-T.

If you're so confident tonight, care to put your money where your mouth is?

Risking their future by playing football? Enough with the dramatic flare! From the sounds of it, these kids got bored, saw that they were missing out on something, and went to play. Enough with the "they were saving their teammates" or "they couldnt stand watching their friends get beat" or "they are putting their future on the line".....they are playing football for goodness sake! Its not like they enlisted.

admiral farragot sucks and they will lose tonite

[brock]

I'll explain to the two kids who had their positions taken away how it's fair: they're better than you are. From the sound of how some here are talking, about the team vote, it seems as if the team voted for the return of the two starters. I'm willing to bet the two people who gave up their positions also voted for them to come back.

Even if they didn't though, what's fair is that if you're not good enough to start, you're not good enough to start. Maybe next year those guys will be better, or maybe one of the starters goes down this year to injury or quits again, and it turns out whoever the back up was turns into a better player. Who knows, but for now, if you're not good enough, you're not good enough whether it's trying to Q at Cbury or NEHI. I don't think there's an athlete out there who would rather have a starting job b/c his competitor is disallowed on the team, than to lose it b/c of ability.

It's fair because their teammates voted for them to come back to the team. It's not as though they are punks that cause trouble or don't care about their teammates. They were facing a tough decision. They have shown up for every practice & have worked hard. For cripes sake - they are 17 & 18 yrs old. They deserve to be starting because they are risking their futures in order to re-join their teammates who need them. They hated to see their teammates lose. If you think they shouldn't be allowed back on the team - you are a mean-spirited jerk who has a grudge or some type of jealousy that won't let you see things fairly. Give the kids a break! Get over your stupid anger & jealousy. THEY ARE KIDS (that happen to have alot of talent). Don't hate them for that!!!

As for the two "Einsteins" asking about the quality of football players... I bet if you took a starter off of a private school team and placed him on a county team, he would bring up the team g.p.a., graduate and go on to college without having to take remedial classes at Tyrone Tech (St. Pete College). That's not to say that bigger schools don't have smart kids, its just that....they don't!

Somebody explain to me how this is fair for the two kids who were last week's starters at the two positions?

[brock]

There's no doubt there are talented players at small schools. Depth is the real issue. A lot of guys through the years have played division 1 college ball despite coming from private schools. A lot of guys transfer from private schools to play at public schools in the first place. What happens with the small schools, and by small I mean preparatory schools that are K-12 institutions, is that the student population in 9-12 drops significantly from where it is from K-8 b/c a lot of people want to go to a large high school, public or catholic.

That's why you have schools like Canterbury that have a handful of good athletes, who could play elsewhere, playing the leaders in every sport offered, only to be short-changed b/c there's practically no bench support. You sit the stars or starters just for a couple minutes of gametime and you give up the lead or you fall way behind. Simply, there isn't the depth to hang with bigger teams. From reading the Times, it seems like Canterbury has 3 or 4 great athletes who are primarily baseball guys playing all their sports, whereas in public high schools there are few guys who do play multiple sports like guys in prep schools can.

So it's not that there's a void of talent at Canterbury or Shorecrest, it's that they lack the depth b/c the high school population is so much smaller than the alternatives.

Oh and I almost forgot...it's definitely not true that The Times only covers talent. For years the Times shuns even covering with any regularity actual news about the Miami Hurricanes in favor of all anyone could ever want to know aobut the Gators and Seminoles. And for years Miami has been the talent chest of the entire state of Florida. Hell, I could open the Times on any given day and find more coverage of the USF Bulls and the UCF Knights than I could of the Hurricanes. But this is another issue, as I do think the Times has gotten a lot better covering all the bay area schools, with this year looking to be the best given their web effort here.

There are several private school players in this county that would start @ NE, St. Pete, etc... (regardless of classification). Small schools just don't have as many talented players as a large public school. If you've seen some of these private school players play - you'd recognize & appreciate their talent.

I didn't mean to sound like I'd only like to play Canterbury. I'd love to play any private school listed in pinellas county better yet the state of Florida. We'd love to play the best teams in all classifications. There's all this fuss about how lower classified high school teams aren't in the spot light and people blame the Times. The fact of the matter is the Times will make sure they cover only the teams with talent. And that's not to say Lower classified teams don't have talent. It's just the higher the class the higher the talent. Try to take a defensive tackle that started at a 1A 2A school, now put that kid on the practice field at Northeast. Will he start over a Javantae Boyd. A Pat Hanley. A Lawon Scott. Or Donnel Engram. Talent is the issue. We don't want to play cupcake teams. We want to show 1A 2A and 3A teams why they're not in the spot light.