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By STEVE LEE
© St. Petersburg Times, published March 22, 2001
ZEPHYRHILLS -- Wesley Chapel and Zephyrhills are set to battle today at 3 p.m. for the unofficial title of being the county's best team east of U.S. 41.
With two losses each (Wesley Chapel is 11-2 and Zephyrhills is 12-2), the winner becomes the favorite for the No. 2 seed in the Class 2A, District 7 tournament behind front-runner Hudson.
The defending district champion Cobras (10-1) have defeated the Wildcats and the Bulldogs, last year's district runners-up.
"If we had a rivalry with Zephyrhills it would be more like for second place," Wesley Chapel coach Tom Adams said.
Added Zephyrhills coach Gary Davis, "All this comes down to the tournament at the end of the season anyway."
Neither east Pasco school helped its cause by losing Tuesday; Zephyrhills by a 4-3 score to Hudson and Wesley Chapel by the same margin to Pasco.
If today's match follows last year's pattern, Zephyrhills, which is unbeaten at home at 6-0, should be favored.
The Wildcats and Bulldogs split two matches last season and Wesley Chapel won the first meeting this year, 5-1 on Feb. 20.
Zephyrhills has arguably the best 1-2 punch in the county with No. 1 Chris Black sporting 12-0 singles and doubles marks. No. 2 Chris Hinkle is 11-1 in singles and 11-0 in doubles.
Wesley Chapel actually has had two No. 1s this season with former No. 2 Jimbo Cina recently unseating Richard Griffin.
The Wildcats, who placed third in the district tournament last year, dominated the first meeting. Black had the lone victory for the Bulldogs that day and the No. 1 doubles match was not played due to darkness.
Jim Hubbard, Tim Carter and Aaron Zorik round out the top five for Zephyrhills while Wesley Chapel's No. 3, 4 and 5 players are Jimmy Cracchiolo, Carlo Lucin and Derek Johnson.