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Cashing in on miscues key for Bucs

By JOHN C. COTEY

© St. Petersburg Times, published September 8, 2000

Things were bad enough for Gulf coach Keith Newton Saturday morning, having to read about his own team's failures in the morning paper, but then this little gem jumped out at him:

Countryside 27, Northeast 10.

Wow.

"You get so used to Northeast's record that you just take it as a given they will win," Newton said. "I guess Countryside didn't. That score was surprising."

Shocking is more like it. The Cougars showed they were better than advertised, ending Northeast's 43-game winning streak and turning up the spotlight on tonight's district opener with the Bucs.

What Newton saw when he looked at the videotape of the game is a team that took advantage of every Northeast mistake.

Or in other words, the anti-Buccaneers. Gulf recovered four Hudson fumbles last week to no avail and failed to mount a fourth-quarter drive in a 20-18 loss.

"They (Countryside) were very aggressive and made things happen when they had to," Newton said, "and that's something we didn't do last week in the fourth quarter."

The Bucs think they can contend for a playoff spot in 4A-6. To do so, they have to beat Countryside, making the district opener arguably their biggest game.

"If you have any aspirations of being in the the top two, this game is a must," Newton said.

TOOBS OUT: River Ridge fullback Mike Tubolino will miss tonight's game against Hillsborough with an eye injury suffered last week in the 19-13 loss to Land O'Lakes.

Tubolino's mother Kim Hartley said her son has been cleared by doctors to resume practice next Wednesday, and Tubolino is expected to play against Zephyrhills.

BYE AND HELLO: Ridgewood opens its season at Pasco after having last week off.

While the bye week is generally designed to give teams a rest and provide some healing time in the middle of a long season, the curious placement of the Rams' bye week leaves much to be desired, coach Wayne Parzik said.

"It's certainly not very productive," he said.

The Rams are hopeful they can turn in one of their best seasons in 2000, despite losing a large chunk of their starting lineup to graduation.

And speaking of Chunks, defensive lineman Keith "Chunk" Conley thinks the Rams can bury an ugly history against Pasco by beating the Pirates tonight. He thinks the Rams' new attitude will go a long way, as will the team's commitment to the weight room.

"I think we can beat Pasco," Conley said. "We are a better-conditioned team. We're so far ahead of them as far as conditioning."

INJURY: Ridgewood will be without backup quarterback Brandon Presley, who dislocated his throwing shoulder. Other Rams that are beat up include lineman Joe Turley (back), who will miss the game, and linebacker Dallas Valentine, who has been sick all week and is questionable.

PICKS: After a 3-1 week, it's time to fit me for a straightjacket -- I'm picking Ridgewood to beat Pasco.

Let me repeat: Ridgewood ... beats ... Pasco.

It's crazy. A little wacky. Perhaps a fireable offense. But after picking the Rams as my biggest upset in our annual football tab, what choice do I have? Time to be a man and stand up, so let's say Rams 21, Pirates 20.

Before these guys in white finish buckling this thing and tossing me in the back of a van, let's go with Land O'Lakes 35, Palm Harbor 7; I like Zephyrhills over Hudson 21-9; after last week's win over Northeast, I have to take Countryside 28-3 over Gulf; Tampa Catholic beats Wesley Chapel without a fake punt 30-20; and Hillsborough is just to darned speedy for River Ridge 21-7.

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