Pinellas super seven

By JOHN C. COTEY
Published January 27, 2006

1. LARGO (19-2): The Packers are getting better - wins last week were by 17, 23 and 36 points, respectively. Tonight's game against Clearwater should be just a wee bit closer. Largo is No. 2 in the state poll, the highest-ranked team in the county.

2. LAKEWOOD (16-5): One coach tells us this team, when healthy, is still the best in the county. Hmmmmm. Guess we won't find out because the PCAC rulebook again will deny us the best matchup in the county (Largo v. Lakewood), just like last year. Sigh.

3. ST. PETERSBURG CATHOLIC (19-2): The Barons have won their past four games by 20 points or more, and might be the county's hottest team. We think Aaron Holmes is pretty serious when he said he wants to go out with a state title, because he sure is playing like it.

4. BOCA CIEGA (15-5): So, you think the Pirates are mad about that loss to Lakewood? Let's see. Since then they have won games by scores of 59-25, 70-41 (over a pretty decent PHU team) and 69-34. That's an average of 32.7 points per game. Scary.

5. CLEARWATER (17-4): The Tornadoes are PCAC title-game bound after PHU showed it was far from ready for prime time by winning out to force a tiebreaker when it lost to East Lake. Clearwater showed the 'Canes how to take care of business by beating that same Eagles team 72-59 a few nights later.

6. COUNTRYSIDE (14-7): Hey, what are the Cougars doing here? Well, they handed Sickles its only district loss, beat Mitchell last week, then added a huge district win by knocking off St. Petersburg 72-58. Class 6A kinda looks good on Countryside, no?

7. GIBBS (13-9): We're wondering - was that big win over Lakewood a few weeks back a fluke? Man, sure wish they played again. What? They do? TONIGHT???? Alright!

[Last modified January 27, 2006, 01:22:12]