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By FRANK PASTOR, Times Staff WriterA botched play has haunted Brian Zullo, who uses last season's mistake as inspiration.
HUDSON - Not a day goes by that Brian Zullo doesn't think about the game. Or, more precisely, the play.
Zullo was penalized for roughing the punter in a shootout loss to Pasco that kept Hudson out of the playoffs last season. The play changed the momentum when the Cobras seemed to have the upper hand.
As he lays in bed at night, Zullo can't stop thinking about the seniors on that team that graduated without fulfilling their goal of making the playoffs.
He stood in front of his teammates at the Cobras' preseason camp and vowed to make amends.
"I said, "You're always one play away from being the greatest loss or the greatest win, so no matter how it goes, just do your best,' " Zullo said.
A year after the Pasco loss, Zullo has helped Hudson to its most memorable season. The Cobras won a district championship, made the playoffs for the first time in 26 seasons and became Cobras team to win a playoff game with last week's 28-14 victory over Orlando Bishop Moore.
Zullo, one of a handful of players that start on both offense and defense, was runnerup to Land O'Lakes defensive end Caz Piurowski for Sunshine Athletic Conference defensive player of the year.
"Brian isn't what you would consider the greatest athlete on the team," coach Mark Nash said. "He's an overachiever. He does a lot with just sheer will. He works for everything he gets."
Zullo, a 5-foot-11, 195-pound senior guard and linebacker, uses his quickness to protect quarterback Kyle Hatcher on rollouts and his hitting ability to spring running backs Vince Ferlita and Ryan Attaway for big gains on trap plays.
On defense Zullo watches the running back to anticipate play flow and takes advantage of his tackling ability to make plays, as evidenced by his county-high 150-plus tackles during the season.
But he isn't interested in individual accolades.
"I look at it this way," Zullo said. "Caz Piurowski can be defensive player of the year and Bryan Thomas (of Zephyrhills) can be offensive player of the year, but our team is still out here practicing and they're not."
Zullo said two plays - one he made and one he didn't - helped send Hudson on its way.
One play after coaches yelled at the defense for its lack of intensity during a practice days before a Sept. 30 game against Pasco, Zullo stuffed scout-team running back Bobby Rondos to set the tone for a 40-13 victory.
A week later Zullo was caught out of position on Ian Beckett's winning reception in a 28-21 overtime loss to Mitchell. Rather than get down, the defense worked tirelessly on man coverage and responded with a dominating performance in a 36-0 win over Lecanto two weeks later.
But it is the roughing-the-passer penalty that continues to stick with Zullo.
Nash said he had a lump in his throat after listening to Zullo at the Cobras camp.
"I guess the point he was trying to make was he was going to do everything in his power to make sure that nothing like that would ever happen again, that he didn't want this team to be in a predicament where something like that could cost the whole season," Nash said. "There has been no doubt that he has done that."