Boys basketball: Mood is right as Jesuit rolls
TAMPA — Prep basketball’s opening night at Jesuit wasn’t without its glitches. The shooters were tight, the fouls plenteous and the passes periodically awry at the Tiger Palace. But the audience was...
View ArticleHillsborough boys hoops preview
The final four Hillsborough County’s preseason top four, listed with 2011-12 record1. Jesuit (27-2): Four starters return from veteran coach Neal Goldman’s best team, which finished a game shy of the...
View ArticleNorth Suncoast boys hoops preview
Last season featured a handful of North Suncoast boys basketball highlights, including Nature Coast’s run to the state semifinals and the rise of upstart Academy at the Lakes. So, as the season opens...
View ArticleGuest analysis: Anclote's Matt Wicks on Pasco-Gainesville Eastside
Anclote coach Matt Wicks has played both teams in Friday’s Class 5A region semifinal matchup in Dade City. Wicks’ Sharks lost to Pasco 34-0 in their fourth game of the regular season and fell to...
View ArticlePinellas County boys hoops preview
This is shaping up as one of the most volatile high school boys basketball seasons the county has ever had, with few clues as to how it will end. As many as seven teams seem capable of making a run to...
View ArticleRobinson's 'rock?' That'd be Martin Ruiz
TAMPA — The zaniness that has defined Robinson football this autumn was encapsulated in 24 madcap minutes Friday against Port Orange Atlantic. There was a 90-yard Carlos Duclos kickoff return — on the...
View ArticleLakewood's Latimer ready for a crack at Robinson
Laterian Latimer could only watch the last time his team played Robinson. The senior running back was sidelined due to a concussion sustained the week before against Jesuit. There was nothing he could...
View ArticleChecking in on Pasco RB David Emmanuel and ATH Janarion Grant
Some quick recruiting notes from Pasco: * RB David Emmanuel recently picked up his third Division I offer, from Memphis, Emmanuel said after practice today. He also has offers from FAU and Rutgers....
View ArticleEast Lake LT Mason Cole's one part teddy bear, one part beast
EAST LAKE — Mason Cole leans forward at left tackle, a mop of brown, curly hair sneaking out of his helmet, a No. 52 stretched across his jersey. Cole, a junior at East Lake High School, sometimes...
View ArticleNewsome's Worth succeeding with retro approach
LITHIA — Surely a wart lurks somewhere in Will Worth’s life. Beneath that wristband bearing the spiritual message, behind that pile of straight-A report cards, a crack or two must exist. Maybe it’s...
View ArticleCountryside's Mielock signs with University of Tampa
Countryside senior 1B/RHP Jake Mielock has signed with the University of Tampa, according to coach Kemo O’Sullivan. Mielock hit .241 last season with 12 RBIs. Tampa recruited him as a pitcher. Mielock...
View ArticleNorth Suncoast pigskin picks: Week 13
Gainesville Eastside (6-5) at Pasco (11-0)When: 7:30 p.m. FridayWinner gets: Robinson/Lakewood winner in the Class 5A region finalsCommon opponents: Pasco beat Anclote 34-0 in the regular season and...
View ArticlePinellas pigskin picks: Week 13
Playoff football | All at 7:30 Friday8A: Vero Beach (9-1) at East Lake (10-1)Winner gets: Orlando Dr. Phillips/ Plant winner in the region final.Playoff history: East Lake is 5-12 all time in...
View ArticleHillsborough pigskin picks: Week 13
Friday's playoff football games | All at 7:30 p.m.Plant (10-1) at Orlando Dr. Phillips (11-0) Winner faces: East Lake-Vero Beach winner on Nov. 30 Last week: Plant defeated Orlando Freedom, 48-31;...
View ArticleNo rest for big-hitting Terrier Harris
TAMPA — Playing tailback was one of the few things Nigel Harris had not tried as a high school athlete — or ever, really. Harris had proved to be a standout linebacker at Hillsborough High. He is one...
View ArticlePirates' Ray has made lasting impression
DADE CITY — Pasco couldn’t have picked a more unlikely hero in last year’s Class 5A region semifinals than Brandon Ray. On a team with at least five Division I recruits, Ray was an undersized...
View ArticlePasco DE Flournory taps into fierceness
DADE CITY — When Pasco marched through the 2011 regular season undefeated, Morgan Flournory sat on the sideline, waiting for the Pirates’ score to rise high enough that coaches would trust the backup...
View ArticleCotey: Pasco's Janarion Grant, a talent you must see to believe
DADE CITY — He is there. Then he is not. He is down, then he’s up. He is left, then right. Fast, then slow. Inside, then outside, then inside again. He is like a ghost. You swear you see him. You...
View ArticlePlant's linebackers offer a remarkable skill set
Plant had them all over the years, from undersized tackling machines like Mike Tate to ball-hawking playmakers like Beau Hume to major-college prospects like James Wilder Jr. None of the Panthers’...
View ArticleEast Lake RB Fordham choosing his spots
EAST LAKE — For months, the county’s most anonymous starting running back sat quietly in the middle of a maelstrom, watching as recruiting services and other members of the media followed his...
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