Place an Ad Calendars Classified Forums Sports Weather

sptimes.com Text-only News sections Arts & Entertainment AP The Wire Business Citrus County Columnists Floridian Hernando County Hillsborough Letters Movies Neighborhood Times News Update North Pinellas North of Tampa Obituaries Opinion Pasco County South Pinellas Sports State Tampa Bay TV Times World & Nation  Find your local news section Weekly sections Brandon Times City Times Homes Outdoors Perspective Personal Tech Taste Travel Weekend Xpress Special Sections Arena football Buccaneers College football Devil Rays Lightning Police reports Schools Seniority Subscriber Services Subscribe Renew Help Advertise Place an ad In print Online Market Info Join Us Internships Scholarships Times Jobs Contact us

Preps

Soccer extra

By MIKE READLING, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published January 30, 2003

18 and Counting

The whispers have already started. This is the year the Jesuit boys' streak of 18 consecutive district titles comes to a crashing end.

The naysayers point to the Tigers' 14-6-2 record. Not a bad point considering Jesuit hadn't lost more than two games in a season since 1997. They back up the Tigers' demise with results such as: Osceola 3, Jesuit 2; and Brandon 2, Jesuit 0. Osceola's win was its second over Jesuit in the past nine years.

Everyone hopes the final nail in Jesuit's coffin is the Tigers' No. 3 seed in the district tournament for the first time in almost two decades.

"It would be nice if someone other than them made it in," Osceola coach Tim Rachford said.

Don't look now, but here come the Tigers.

Jesuit has won its past six games, a streak that might end heading into Saturday's season finale against Melbourne Central Catholic, ranked fifth in the nation. Jesuit handed Trinity Prep its third loss of the season Monday with a convincing 4-1 score.

Coach Bob Bauman wouldn't have it any other way.

"I wanted to play a team of that caliber at the end of the season," Bauman said. "I wanted to see how far we've come since the beginning of the season."

Bauman said the biggest problem has been team chemistry as he tries to integrate inexperienced players into a team battling injuries. He was finally able to use the same lineup on consecutive nights and it has led to the Tigers' current streak.

"We're finally starting to play," he said. "I think that we're a much better team than when we played Brandon and Osceola."

Winter Loving

When most people heard Tampa Prep was dropping its fairly successful boys fall team in favor of a winter squad, they laughed. For years, fall soccer has been looked upon as the place small schools went to cheer when they couldn't field a football team. How were they going to compete?

How about with an 11-2-4 record that includes wins over some of the state's best and a whole lot of newfound respect?

The Terrapins have beaten and tied CCC, tied Berkeley Prep twice and last week beat Orangewood Christian, a former fall rival and perennial final four contender.

"We've been better than most people expected," coach Jose DaCosta said. "We've gone past our expectations."

DaCosta said the biggest difference has been the level of play and size of players in the winter season, but it's something his team was able to adapt to, despite the fact the Terrapins tend to be smaller than most teams.

The Terps' first winter district tournament begins Tuesday against the only team that beat them twice -- Tampa Catholic. One win, though, and Tampa Prep is in the region playoffs.

"It's cool for our school," DaCosta said. "I don't think a lot of people expected us to do this well."

Going International

Typically when one of the best goalkeepers in the nation asks to miss nine days during the most crucial part of the season, a coach would laugh and then feel the player's forehead for a fever.

But when Bloomingdale keeper Chris Sedlak told coach Sam Isajar he was going to have to miss more than a week of practice and the Bulls' region quarterfinal game (assuming they finish first or second in the district tournament), the coach couldn't say a word.

"What am I supposed to do? Tell him he can't go play with the National Team?" Isajar said. "This is a great opportunity for him."

Sedlak is a member of the Southern Regional pool for the Under-18 U.S. National Team that will travel to Brazil Feb. 9-17 to play a series of friendlies against some of that country's top youth club teams. Previous trips with the team have taken Sedlak to Amsterdam a couple years ago and Trinidad and Tobago last summer.

Amazingly, it turned out the tournament couldn't have come at a better time for Sedlak and the Bulls. Because of the way the Florida High School Activities Association scheduled the district and region tournaments, he can play in the district final Thursday, leave Sunday and return the following Monday in time for Tuesday's region semifinal.

The Bulls shouldn't have any problem in the game he misses. Bloomingdale beat Sarasota 7-0 in last year's region quarterfinal.

Does it Get Tougher?

Few districts are as evenly matched on the boys and girls sides than Class 3A, District 9.

The King girls and Plant boys earned the top seeds and first-round byes for the district tournaments, but that honor is barely important considering the competition they're going to face in the semifinals.

The Lions will play either Chamberlain or Leto while Kelvin Jones' Panthers, who finished undefeated, will get Chamberlain or Alonso.

"Chamberlain is strong this year, Alonso's turning it on and Leto is always tough come district time," said Sickles boys coach Mike Rady, whose team will face King or Leto if it beats Middleton on Monday night. "I don't want to play either side."

Busting In

Brandon's 2-2 tie with Bloomingdale on Tuesday was more than just a great final test before next week's district tournament, it was also a chance to earn a little more national recognition.

The Bulls boys are ranked No. 9 in the StudentSports.com national rankings and have been in the top 25 all season. With a 15-1-1 record (the lone loss coming in the Student Sports Invitational), who can argue with that?

If anybody could, it would be Brandon. The Eagles are 14-1-2 and have not lost to a county team yet haven't been recognized nationally -- until Tuesday. Brandon was listed No. 15 in the Southeast Region, meaning it's on the right track to cracking the top 25 national poll.

An even more encouraging sign is the opinion of those who watched Tuesday night's game that Brandon outplayed Bloomingdale.

© 2006 • All Rights Reserved • Tampa Bay Times
490 First Avenue South • St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-893-8111

Contact the Times | Privacy Policy
Standard of Accuracy | Terms, Conditions & Copyright