Tornadoes remain cool and stay unbeaten with PCAC title win
Clearwater defeats St. Petersburg 12-0 in the final game before district tournaments.
By LAURA LEE
Published May 13, 2003
CLEARWATER - The Tornadoes say they don't have a good reaction to losing.
Two years ago, they went undefeated, and all was fine and good. Last year, they lost once, to eventual conference champion Countryside. And they didn't take it too well.
"We got violent," Anisha Turman said.
"We tore down the goal post," Brittany Link said.
Jokes aside, they took losing hard. But this season, they haven't had to deal with it.
Clearwater (11-0) beat St. Petersburg 12-0 in Monday's PCAC Championship game.
"It's a lot about pride," Clearwater coach Robert Lucio said. "We didn't have it last year."
Clearwater dominated much of the game. The Tornadoes, who have thrived on defense in the regular season, continued in the same vein.
Clearwater put a fast rush up front to stop the Green Devils' biggest weapon, senior running back Sheena Williams.
"I never expected her to run that fast," said T.T. Thompson, a Clearwater sophomore who never let Williams out of her sight. "My whole strategy was to stay on her. Wherever she was, I was right there."
Clearwater allowed St. Petersburg (6-5) into its territory once. The Green Devils went to the air and Clearwater was equally effective shutting that down. The Tornadoes had three interceptions of Green Devil junior quarterback Liz Kiernan, two by sophomore Terri McCammon and one by Thompson.
And Clearwater's offense produced when it needed to. Sophomore quarterback Jessie Muchler connected with junior Tayla Adams for both touchdowns. The first was on Clearwater's first possession, a 15-yard pass capping a 60-yard drive. The second came with five minutes to play in the game. Muchler lobbed the ball to the end zone and Adams fought off two defenders in the air to come down with the ball.
After a rough season, the Green Devils were happy to be there, coach Victor Overstreet said. St. Petersburg advanced to last year's title game, putting a bulls' eye on the team this season, he said.
"We have nothing to be ashamed of. Nobody expected us to come this far," Overstreet said. "Our second season starts Friday."
Both teams get a fresh start in district tournaments this week. St. Petersburg hosts the District 8 tournament Friday and Clearwater hosts the District 7 tournament Saturday. Those two district winners meet in a play-in game with that winner advancing to the state tournament May 23-24 at Clearwater.
