Place an Ad Calendars Classified Forums Sports Weather

sptimes.com Text-only News sections Arts & Entertainment AP The Wire Business Citrus County Columnists Floridian Hernando County Hillsborough Letters Movies Neighborhood Times News Update North Pinellas North of Tampa Obituaries Opinion Pasco County South Pinellas Sports State Tampa Bay TV Times World & Nation  Find your local news section Weekly sections Brandon Times City Times Homes Outdoors Perspective Personal Tech Taste Travel Weekend Xpress Special Sections Arena football Buccaneers College football Devil Rays Lightning Police reports Schools Seniority Subscriber Services Subscribe Renew Help Advertise Place an ad In print Online Market Info Join Us Internships Scholarships Times Jobs Contact us

Wegerle spurs Cowboys

The Gaither forward scores twice to lead his team into its third consecutive regional final.

By JEREMY RASMUSSEN

© St. Petersburg Times, published February 14, 2001

TAMPA -- Bryce Wegerle scored two goals and added some eye-popping passes to lead Gaither to a 4-1 win Tuesday over Vero Beach in the Class 4A, Region 2 semifinal.

After nearly being kicked off the team in January for conduct coach Adrian Bush would not elaborate on, Wegerle has returned with a vengeance, putting Gaither (22-3-1) within one game of a third consecutive final four appearance.

"I've been taking stuff a lot more seriously lately," Wegerle said. "It's hard to get to the top. It's twice as hard to get back there again."

Bush concurred.

"It's been a great turnaround for (Wegerle)," he said. "In the last month, I've seen him mature as a player and a young man. I still don't believe he's played his best game yet."

Midway through the first half, Wegerle opened the scoring as he took a cross from David Jennings and buried it in the right corner.

Five minutes later, after Gaither put together a brilliant string of passes from its own penalty box, forward Steve Sullivan found Jennings wide open in the goal box for another score.

The Cowboys controlled much of the first half, outshooting the Indians 8-1 and holding their speedy forwards, Dilver Diaz and Alex Amelio, without a shot.

Wegerle narrowly missed making it 3-0 in the 30th minute as his diving header from Norris Hartzog's cross was parried away by Indian goalie Joe McCurdy.

In the second half, Vero Beach (16-6-3) came out firing, and Elliott List pulled the Indians to within 2-1 with a 46th-minute goal. But Wegerle put the Cowboys up 3-1 on a hard, left-footed shot from Hartzog's pass in the 59th minute. Then, Hartzog finished with a beautiful lob over McCurdy in the 76th minute.

The win set a school mark for victories in a season. Gaither now travels to Stuart Martin County, a 5-1 winner over Bloomingdale.

4A: Martin County ousts Bulls 5-1

Bloomingdale jumped out to an early lead against Stuart Martin County in its Class 4A, Region semifinal, but the Bulls couldn't hang on as Martin County ran away with a 5-1 victory.

The Bulls scored first early in the first half, but Martin County tied the game and then converted a penalty kick to take a 2-1 halftime lead. Bloomingdale then gave up three second-half goals before taking the three-hour bus trip home.

3A: Tornadoes tame Wildcats

CLEARWATER -- Clearwater downed Wharton 4-2 in Class 3A, Region 3 action Tuesday night at Jack Russell Stadium.

Wharton scored first and last in this game, but in between, the bigger Clearwater players pushed and banged their way around the field before eventually wearing the Wildcats down.

Wharton's Shane Provost broke through in the 12th minute to put the Wildcats up 1-0 with a nice shot from the left side. The Tornadoes responded with defense, taking control of the game and moving the attack to Wharton's side of the field.

Three minutes later, Clearwater broke through on a nice header by Buster Wiand.

Then, just after halftime, Clearwater's Billy Callahan gave the Tornadoes a 2-1 lead on a header.

Clearwater extended its advantage midway through the second half with two quick goals in 63rd and 68th minutes to put the game out of reach.

Buster Wiand scored his second goal on a rebound after a nice save by Wildcat keeper Tinashe Kusema.

Five minutes later, John Schultz beat Kusema again to put the Tornadoes ahead 4-1. Wharton's Jon Burklo scored in the 78th minute for the final score of the evening.

"We preach defense every day and it really paid of for us tonight," Clearwater coach Bruce Toscani said.

"You have to win every ball in a game like this. Teams that do, win, and we didn't do it tonight," Wildcat coach Mike Rowan said.

-- THOM WATSON

© 2006 • All Rights Reserved • Tampa Bay Times
490 First Avenue South • St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-893-8111

Contact the Times | Privacy Policy
Standard of Accuracy | Terms, Conditions & Copyright