Thousands tackle another season

By NANCY MORGAN

© St. Petersburg Times, published September 3, 2000

The youth football season is in its beginning weeks for thousands of players and cheerleaders throughout the county.

The Pinellas Youth Football Conference entered the third week of its 33rd season Saturday, and the Suncoast Youth Football Conference played its second week of games in its 10-organization conference.

"We're having a lot of good transitions this season," said Robert Woodall Sr., first-year president of the Lakewood Jr. Spartans. "We've developed a web page, a monthly newsletter and written our first grant.

"We're also making a strong effort to make our athletes, both girls and boys, cognizant of their grades and have partnered with some tutorial programs to offer assistance to them if necessary.

"We want them to put as much emphasis on grades as on our program and then they'll be a thousand times better," Woodall said.

Lakewood's flyweight and pee wee squads jumped off to a 2-0 record up to Saturday's game with wins over Largo and Manatee. Saturday, the Jr. Spartans faced Child's Park.

"I believe in my five years with Lakewood this year has the youngest age group overall," Woodall said. "They offset their youthfulness, though, with their experience in playing.

"We'll know more as we get into the mix of the season. Actually, I felt we would be competitive but maybe not yet ready to win. They have already exceeded my expectations."

Also earning consecutive wins were the Silver Raiders mighty mite team, Greenwood's pee wee, Gibbs flyweight and mighty mite, and St. Pete's flyweight, pee wee and midget.

This Saturday, the Silver Raiders are at Palmetto, Manatee at St. Pete, Greenwood at Pinellas Park, Gibbs at Largo and Lakewood at Child's Park.

The Azalea Bulldogs, with nearly 600 participants, faced Northeast on Saturday after earning wins over Tarpon Springs in the pee wee and midget divisions and a tie in the flyweight.

"I think we've put together a pretty strong team with a good bit of experience," said Cory Snoots, coach of the Azalea midget squad.

"We probably have more speed than in the past, and we have a very talented quarterback," he said.

Jason Vasquez, in just his first year at the midget level, has shown the ability to find the open player in a pass stuation -- even if it requires looking past a few receivers while one becomes open.

"I'm an alum of Gibbs High School and had an opportunity to watch Shaun King play there," Snoots said. "I see some of Shaun King's qualities as a quarterback in Jason.

"Also, I think the fact this team beat last year's conference finalist (Tarpon Springs) says a lot for us."

Other midget squads winning their opening games were Countryside, Dunedin and Northeast.

This Saturday, Tarpon Springs is at Northeast, Dunedin at Seminole, Dixie at Countryside and Clearwater at Azalea. Junior varsity games begin at 8 a.m. and varsity at 2 p.m. in the PYFC. SYFC action starts at 3:30.

The PYFC competition continues on Saturdays through Oct. 21, and the SYFC goes through Oct. 28. Then there will be playoffs for conference championships.

BASEBALL: The Slammers 10-and-under team from Clearwater finished fifth in last month's Amateur Athletic Union Junior Olympic National Campionships in Des Moines, Iowa.

In all, 32 teams competed for the national title.

The Slammers defeated squads from Iowa, Indiana, Kansas and South Carolina. A 13-1 victory over the Richmond Storm, Virginia's state champions, clinched the Slammers' finish.

Slammers pitcher T.J. Becker had two wins, hit four home runs and collected 20 RBI in 10 games, earning all-tournament recognition. Other pitchers winning were Joey Labus and Joey Cuda, each with one victory; and Jamison Sweat, with two.

Hitting over .500 were Graham Gibson, Charles Owens and Luther Garrett.

SOFTBALL: The Clearwater Bullets 18-and-under team was fifth in a field of 146 at the National Softball Association World Series in Columbus, Ohio.

The Bullets posted a 7-2 record and were led by Lindsey Ijjas' home run and Kerri Ryskamp's two blasts.

Seniors on the team included April Coggins, Ijjas, Kristen Keyes, Dianna Korcak and Brooke Massey, all of whom were awarded full scholarships to Central Florida Community College.

Last month, Ryskamp and the five seniors were joined by Monique Mariner, Dana Vickery, Crystal Boyer, Dawn Wallace and Leslie Malovich in the American Softball Association Women's Fastpitch Tournament in Clearwater.

They finished 13th among teams of seasoned college players.

Rounding out the Bullet squad were Amy Allen, Carly Brieske, Jamie Campbell, Kelly Soco and Ellie Loder.

ICE HOCKEY: The Tampa Bay Junior Lightning is forming its recreation teams at SunBlades Ice Arena.

The first session of action lasts 14 weeks through the end of December. The second session goes from January to April.

For the first time, TBJL will offer a high school program. Visit the TBJL website at www.jrlightning.org for more information.

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