John C. Cotey's Top 10

John C. Cotey's Top 10 Ranking the best of the bay area from the past week.

By JOHN C. COTEY, High Schools Columnist
Published January 20, 2008

1. Gary Anders

Anders, the Ridgewood boys basketball coach and athletic director, joins Tampa Prep coach Joe Fenlon in the 500-win club and Lakewood's Dan Wright got No. 600 earlier this year. Not only are the milestones significant, but the coaches are three of the nicest, classiest guys around. By the way, fun fact for the week: Anders got 500 this year, and Ridgewood baseball coach Larry Beets got 500 last year, giving the Rams a pair of active 500-game winners. Oh, and they were college baseball teammates at Austin Peay.

2. Dwight Wood

Hey, Hollywood, check this out. And you don't even need writers to put this one on the big screen, we've already done the work for you: The Hillsborough High girls soccer team was one week from forfeiting the whole season after their coach quit three games in and a replacement couldn't be found. Then Wood, an assistant principal, stepped in. Then Friday night, the Terriers knocked off favored Plant to win the district championship. Cha-ching!

3. Seminole soccer

Josh Howard, Roger Seltzer, Sebastian Thuriere, Sean Rafferty and Jacob Settle. These Seminole soccer players all converted penalty kicks to help stun previously undefeated Palm Harbor University on Friday for an unlikely conference championship. Well, if you consider a team that loses five players to season-ending injuries and calls up its team managers to fill in unlikely, that is.

4. Derek Winter

The scholarship offers are finally starting to roll in for Tampa Bay's best wide receiver, and this too: the 69th Guy Toph Award, given each year to Hillsborough County's top football player.

5. He shoots, he ... uh ... misses

If you listened closely after Lakewood picked up 46-44 victories twice in the same week, you could hear the rims weeping. Coach Dan Wright a little, too.

6. He shoots, he scores

Middleton's Corey Thomas and Brandon's Blake Allen nearly outscored the mighty Spartans all by themselves. Thomas scored 40 points, and Allen dropped in 41 in victories Friday night.

7. She shoots, she scores

Chelsea Klotz transferred in from Orlando, and you could say she is making the most of her only season at Tampa Prep. After hat tracks in the district semifinals and final, she now has 52 goals and the Terrapins may be headed for the state tournament.

8. Dixie Hollins boys basketball

The Rebels hit the century mark Friday night, jumping out to a 61-8 halftime lead and scoring 100 points against Osceola behind 29 from Devonta Davis. Pretty impressive, considering the Rebels previous high was 69 points against ... yep, Osceola.

9. Pinellas Park fans

They managed to put 1,500 or so into the gym Friday night against Clearwater (with lots of help from the Tornado backers, mind you), making it the biggest hoops crowd of the season in Pinellas County.

10. Tony Dungy

Great. Just great. So now I have to resurrect a dormant franchise, build a loyal following, see a new coach win the Super Bowl with my players and win my own Super Bowl in another city to get my kid into Plant to play catch with the area's best quarterback? Talk about raising the bar.

Preps columnist John C. Cotey can be reached at 813-909-4612 or johncotey@gmail.com

[Last modified January 19, 2008, 22:30:17]