Pasco not happy despite 4-0 win

Pasco's Jose Montelongo wasn't all that impressed with either team in Thursday night's Class 4A region quarterfinal at W.F. Edwards Stadium.

By JOHN C. COTEY
Published February 2, 2007

DADE CITY - Pasco's Jose Montelongo wasn't all that impressed with either team in Thursday night's Class 4A region quarterfinal at W.F. Edwards Stadium.

Celebration never mounted an attack. Pasco never delivered a knockout punch.

The result was still pleasing - a 4-0 Pasco victory - even if the performance wasn't sterling.

"We didn't play as good as we usually do," said Montelongo, who capped the night's scoring with his 30th goal of the season and also had his 16th assist. "We could have played better than we did. But we really didn't have to."

The Pirates 20-0-2 will, however, keep moving forward in their quest for a return trip to the state final in Fort Lauderdale. They will meet the winner of Saturday's St. Augustine-Crystal River match on Tuesday.

Thursday, Pasco was the superior team, but it left a few goals on the field and in Montelongo's words, "messed around at the midfield a little bit."

The Pirates were able to score three goals against the wind in the first half - Luis Ortiz and Ramon Rodriguez scored on headers off corner kicks and Rodriguez had another via the foot from a Montelongo feed.

With a strong wind at their back in the second half, the Pirates mustered a number of shots but just one goal. For the game, they outshot Celebration (9-10-2) 24-5.

John C. Cotey can be reached at cotey@sptimes.com or 727-869-6261.

[Last modified February 1, 2007, 23:09:56]