Spongers start well under their new coach

By BOB PUTNAM
Published May 27, 2005

Tarpon Springs was supposed to be in mothballs now, packed away in its place in lore as the program that made the playoffs 10 times from 1989-2001.

Many believed they ran up the white flag after failing to make the playoffs the past three seasons, including going 3-7 in 2002 and 2003.

But the Spongers are alive - and kicking.

New coach Bruce Buck, an assistant who replaced Don Davis, made his debut a successful one as Tarpon Springs beat Palm Harbor U. 27-7 last week in a spring game.

"It was a good start," Buck said. "It was a little bit different for me, being in charge, and I was excited about it.

"I wanted to get people excited about the program, so you'd have to classify this as a success."

Buck previously coached at Pinellas Park for nine seasons and guided it to a district championship and the school's first playoff appearance in 1983 and a bowl game in 1984. He left the job in 1990 and took a year off before joining Tarpon Springs as an assistant. Now that his kids are grown, he was ready to be a coach - again.

His first game back was perfectly scripted as the Spongers treated their fired-up fans to a smothering performance on defense and a ball-control offense keyed by the running of Emanuel Gamble and Marcus Thompson.

Tarpon Springs scored on its first three possessions. Gamble started it with a 7-yard touchdown run. Ryan Farley followed with a 30-yard fumble recovery and Thompson a 10-yard run.

Mark Bannon, who converted all three extra points, kicked a 25-yard field goal in the third quarter to put the Spongers ahead 24-0.

The junior varsity squads played the fourth quarter.

"We really got a lot of people in the game," Buck said. "We used three quarterbacks, five tailbacks and four fullbacks. Overall, they showed some things that we can build on this summer."

RUN, RUN, THEN RUN SOME MORE: For Northeast and Osceola, simplicity is the name of the game.

While other county teams have used hich-octane offenses to reach new levels, the Vikings and Warriors continue to dig in their heels. They still use the wing-t offense. It continues to produce the same results. Northeast and Osceola rolled to resounding victories in their spring games.

The Vikings beat Pinellas Park 32-8 despite losing quarterback Austin Gaines, who sprained his ankle on the first series.

Northeast made up for his absence as Joe Mike Lewis (two rushing touchdowns), Jeff Brenson (one rushing touchdown) and Leon Wright (two receiving touchdowns) accounted for the scoring.

The Warriors beat Largo 21-8. Justin Hart, Bryce Williams and Jesse Chester scored on short runs for Osceola. Williams also stood out on defense as the Warriors shut down all-Suncoast running back Dexter McCluster.

"Maybe I'd go with something different if I knew how to use some of that other stuff," Osceola coach George Palmer said. "But the wing-t is what we know."

[Last modified May 27, 2005, 00:54:26]