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Bulldog, Pirate staffs to keep watchful eye on players
By JAMAL THALJI © St. Petersburg Times, published August 25, 2000 Body language will be crucial as the Pasco and Zephyrhills coaching staffs evaluate their players during tonight's preseason kickoff classics. Bulldogs coach Tom Fisher will be watching to see which of his players are bent over, heads sagging, gasping for air during the 7:30 p.m. game against Springstead at Bulldog Stadium. Pirates coach Ricky Thomas will simply be on the lookout for any of his players crumpled on the field, clutching injured body parts during tonight's 7:30 contest against visiting South Sumter. Especially his fullback. Returning standout Kenny Roberts is still nursing a twisted left ankle he injured last season and has bothered him ever since. Re-aggravating the injury during spring camp has limited his practice time in the fall. "We'd like to get through this healthy," Thomas said. "And Kenny is not 100 percent. I don't know how much he's going to play, but hopefully, we can get him out of there without getting too banged up." Thomas said he has considered holding Roberts out, especially because the senior might be needed at linebacker this season. But Roberts should see some playing time despite Thomas' reservations. "It's one of my major concerns right now," Thomas said. "I thought about (holding Roberts out.) But I want to give him a few snaps anyway, try to let him knock the rust off, let him get back in the groove again." Considering how thin the Pasco and Zephyrhills opening-day rosters are, escaping the preseason injury-free is a concern of both coaching staffs. But a team as thin as the Bulldogs needs to know which players it can rely on to go both ways, for how long and who can spell them if they can't. That's why Fisher will be keeping a keen eye on the state of his team's conditioning tonight. "We're looking to see if we have the stamina for a lot of players to be going both ways," Fisher sad. "We're kind of trying to gauge our physical condition and just see if we can play sound offense and defense. We're not going to do anything fancy, just basic football." The departure of key seniors at quarterback, kicker, tailback and all along the offensive line means quite a few Bulldogs will be getting their first starts. Key among that group includes quarterback John Briscoe and tailback Michael Moody. Fisher wants to throw all of his new starters in and see if they can swim; to see if they can handle playing both ways. The sooner the better. "That's just it. We've got to get them to get their feet wet and get it wet hard," Fisher said. "Maybe we'll have to throw some cement in and get it even harder. "It's very valuable, conditioning-wise, to see where we stand, to see who can go both ways. What I've always done in the past is people who can't go two ways, we need to be able to spell them with certain people so they can take a series off for offense and defense, sort of pace them." The Pasco coaching staff will be keeping a close watch on the defense to see if key players at defensive end and linebacker can carry out their assignments. Offensively, sophomore quarterback Ben Alford makes his debut. His ability to get the ball to star wide receiver Joe Bain in Thomas' spread offense will be crucial to the Pirates' success in 2000. The preseason always has been vexing to Thomas. His lone preseason win was in 1996, a hard-fought battle against Land O'Lakes. Otherwise Thomas has gone 1-3 in the preseason. While a loss to Countryside in 1998 galvanized what would be a conference and district championship team, last season's ugly loss at South Sumter foreshadowed a rough season. Thomas doesn't want to lose to a neighborhood rival like South Sumter even if it is just the preseason. But getting his starters playing time, keeping them healthy and winning all at the same time is the coach's problem. "It's very hard to balance," he said. "You want to give everyone the chance to see how they perform under pressure. We need some momentum. We need some confidence going into the regular season. "We need to do some things well, and we need some success."
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