Pasco: News and Notes

By Times staff
Published August 29, 2007

Set your DVR ...

Game to watch:

Wesley Chapel at Land O'Lakes, volleyball, 7 p.m.

Another classic East-side battle as the Gators look to stay up, fresh off a showdown with River Ridge.

Read on the blog

Wiregrass doesn't want Wesley Chapel. I predict the score will be a blowout. ... Greg Jenkins is going to run all over their linebackers.

Posted by: Wildcats, Aug. 27

Lasting images

See a game photo or feature picture that strikes your fancy? You can purchase them at tampabay.com/photos.

Today on tampabay.com

Staff writers Izzy Gould and David Murphy blog about North Suncoast football. Check out blogs.tampabay.com/preps/

Horn gone

Mark it down: Andrew Horn, above, won't repeat as Pasco County's boys golfer of the year. That's because the former Wesley Chapel star has transferred, Wildcats athletic director Steve Mumaw said. According to Horn's bio with the Florida Junior Golf Tour, he's currently enrolled at Groveland South Lake.

Limbo atWesley Chapel

Truth be told, Wesley Chapel girls coach Scott Boyd isn't exactly sure how good his team will be this year. He has two of the top golfers in the area in T.J. Adipietro and Samantha Friese but is still waiting to see if Brooke Albritton will return. The early word was Albritton was leaving the team to concentrate on school. But Boyd said that could change. Stay tuned.

Tech-savvy Pirates

For years, Pasco football fans could follow their footballing Pirates on WDCF 1350-AM, which provided live coverage of games and aired a weekly coaches show. But rising costs that could not be offset by flagging advertiser interest drove the Pirates off the airwaves.

Well, guess who's back?

This season, Pasco is proving itself technologically savvy, bringing back play-by-play announcer Gerald Newton and former coaches show host John Edwards to provide Web casts of the gridiron action at StretchInternet.com. Newton will call the games live Friday night with a partner to be announced, and Edwards will host the coaches show each Wednesday. Pasco athletic director Jim Ward said he got the idea a few years back when he and Edwards called games for Saint Leo men's basketball on Stretch Internet. Pasco games, including junior varsity football and some basketball, baseball and softball games, will be aired live through the 2007-08 season. For roughly one-third of what it would have cost the school to return to radio (Stretch Internet's Web site says it's roughly $2,499 a year for unlimited streaming), Ward said he will put on as many games in as many different sports as he can find announcers for. The first Web cast will air tonight when Newton calls the season opener for the JV football team.e_SClBSaint Leo Bulls?

An offseason of unusually high turnover for USF baseball includes another significant departure: senior first baseman Brandin Daniel, who led the Bulls in home runs and RBIs in 2007, transferred from USF and will play his final college season at Saint Leo in eastern Pasco County.

Daniel, a three-year starter whose seven home runs and 45 RBIs were team highs, said Monday his transfer was a "personal decision." His departure leaves coach Lelo Prado with just eight returning players - five hitters and three pitchers - who played more than a few at-bats on Prado's 2007 team. It means Prado will have to rely more heavily on freshmen and junior college transfers.

Daniel started 50 games as a sophomore in 2006 and 25 as a freshman, finishing with 95 career RBIs in three seasons. He is the third USF player to transfer to Saint Leo this summer, joining catcher Braulio Pardo and pitcher/outfielder J.C. Suarez.

My number

23, 16, 7 ... Oftentimes an athlete's uniform number becomes a second identity. Periodically, we'll sit down with an area athlete and find out the story behind his or her number. Know of a good story? E-mail dmurphy@sptimes.com or igould@sptimes.com Today, Izzy Gould tracked down defensive end Japhus Pope.

School: Pasco

Number: 32

The story: He chose the number to honor his late brother Garion Pope, who died in a car crash in 2003. Garion was a former Pasco standout who went on to redshirt at Dodge City Community College in Kansas before his death. Under his jersey during games Japhus wears a T-shirt his late brother bought at the high school track and field state championships. He described them as very close and said his brother was a father figure.

Other famous No. 32s: Magic Johnson, Marcus Allen, Jim Brown, Bill Walton, O.J. Simpson, Karl Malone.

Compiled by staff writers Izzy Gould, David Murphy, John C. Cotey and Greg Auman

Contact us

Izzy Gould can be reached at izzygould@gmail.com or (727) 580-5315. David Murphy can be reached at dmurphy@sptimes.com or (352) 848-1407.

[Last modified August 29, 2007, 01:02:29]