Preps

A little revenge for PHU

By JAMAL THALJI
Published December 17, 2004

PALM HARBOR - What happened to Seminole against Palm Harbor U. Thursday night at Hurricanes Stadium can sort of be described like this:

The Warhawks showed up. In the first half they went up a goal on the Hurricanes. Yadda, yadda, yadda. PHU rallied to a 2-1 victory over last year's Class 5A runnerup.

The 'Canes (8-2-1) beat the Warhawks (8-3-2) for the first time since the 2002-03 season and avenged last year's three-game sweep, including a bitter 4-1 region final loss that saw six yellow cards and one red.

"I think at halftime they came off saying how, "We've got the game won. That team's nothing. They've only got two players. Yadda, yadda, yadda,' " Seminole coach Rick Masi said. "I said "Just look at it guys. You're on their field. The scoreboard says 1-0, but it's 0-0. You've got to go out there and play.' "

Instead it was PHU that outplayed its talkative rival, putting two goals inside the bottom left shelf in a five-minute span.

Shane Burroughs' rocket ricocheted off the crossbar, and Alex Athanasopoulos slammed the rebound home to tie it at 1 in the 58th minute.

Five minutes later, a set play saw Max Venker from 25 yards out of the right near post hit Cameron Miller, who delivered the ball to Zach Postans, who sent the double assist inside the left post for a goal and a 2-1 lead.

Masi said he doesn't remember the last time the Warhawks lost two in a row, or surrendered two goals in so little time.

"Our last game was a 4-1 loss with a red card, it's that kind of rivalry," Hurricanes coach Juan Pablo Pinzon said.

"We had a lot to prove, but not to anyone else, to ourselves."

[Last modified December 17, 2004, 00:08:09]