Weather | Sports | Forums | Comics | Classifieds | Calendar | Movies
By Times staff, correspondents
© St. Petersburg Times, published September 19, 2001
Tampa Catholic 39, Santa Fe Catholic 14
LAKELAND -- Denard Span scored four touchdowns -- two on pass receptions of 48 and 56 yards, and two on punt returns of 78 and 55 yards -- to lead Tampa Catholic past Santa Fe Catholic 39-14 on Monday night.
Span finished with five catches for 180 yards and TC quarterback Joey Pupello completed 7 of 8 passes for 220 yards.
Pupello also rushed for 105 yards.
Tampa Catholic (2-1) jumped out to a 19-0 first-half lead and led 26-14 after three quarters. TC put the game out of reach in the fourth when Pupello ran nine yards for a touchdown and threw the 56-yard strike to Span for the final score. -- STAFF REPORT
TRINITY -- It lost one game on a long screen pass in the final minute. It lost another after rallying but missing a tying extra point in the waning moments.
Tuesday night, it was a winless and very unhappy Ridgewood team that took the field at Mitchell.
"We came in angry," quarterback Jon Emminger said.
And left happy, thanks to a 26-0 rout of the first-year Mustangs.
The Rams (1-2) dominated from the start, driving 70 yards for its first touchdown then running back an interception on Mitchell's first drive that clearly set the tone for the rest of the night in the Class 4A, District 6 opener for both teams. Though it's just one game, the Rams can say this morning they are in first place.
"We're a better team than we showed the first two games," fullback Adamm Oliver said. "We seem to be a pretty balanced team and that's what we showed tonight."
The Rams scored all of their points in the first half. Emminger hit Sean Jester for a 43-yard touchdown down the middle as two Mitchell players soared by the floating ball and mistimed their jumps on the catch.
Two plays later Kevin McCready intercepted Sean Gillen's first pass attempt and ran it back 49 yards for a quick 14-0 lead.
Mitchell (0-3) could do nothing in response. Prior to their final drive of the first half, the Mustangs mustered 2 yards of offense and no first downs.
By then, Ridgewood had added another score in the first quarter as Oliver capped a 67-yard drive with a 4-yard plunge to make it 20-0 (after a blocked extra point), and Jester ran in a score from 3 yards in the second quarter to make it 26-0 (a two-point pass failed).
Gillen was intercepted by John Perry at the end of the first half, and Perry added another pick in the third quarter to help Ridgewood hold Mitchell to 93 yards of offense.
The Rams spread out their attack among running backs Oliver (52 yards), Jester (77) and Brandon Presley (68). The three also combined to catch three of Emminger's six completions for 71 yards.
Emminger, Pasco County's leading passer, threw for 104 yards on 6 of 17 passing, his third straight game with more than 100 yards. -- JOHN C. COTEY
BRADENTON -- Pick your poison.
Fast or slow, Jesuit proved in a 23-14 victory against Bradenton Southeast on Tuesday, it can dole out punishment either way.
Jesuit, ranked No. 6 in the Class 3A state poll, scored 16 unanswered points in the second half to erase a seven-point deficit and upend fifth-ranked Southeast in its district opener at John Kiker Memorial Stadium.
The victory is believed to be the Tigers' first against the Seminoles in Southeast coach Paul Maechtle's 20 seasons.
"Our team played great, there's not much else you can say," Jesuit defensive back/wide receiver Shane Robinson said. "We all played as a team and won as a team."
Aaron Fryer sealed the victory with two 6-yard touchdown runs.
The first capped a two-play, 59-yard, third-quarter scoring drive that took 29 seconds. The second ended a 16-play, 69-yard march that chewed up nearly eight minutes of the fourth-quarter clock.
"I knew we had the game locked away as soon as I scored that first touchdown," said Fryer, who finished with 116 yards on 22 carries.
Southeast (2-1, 0-1) won at least 10 games and advanced to the state semifinals each of the past three seasons.
But after losing quarterback Adrian McPherson (Florida State) and wide receivers Jawarski Pollock (North Carolina), Fred Span (N.C. State) and Travis Lipp (South Florida) to graduation, the formerly pass-happy Seminoles turned to a grind-it-out ground attack in victories against Sarasota Riverview and Bayshore.
Running back James Shelley gained a game-high 160 yards and a touchdown on 29 carries, but Jesuit (3-0, 1-0) limited Manatee County's leading rusher to one long run -- a 46-yard burst in the second quarter.
David Ochotorens returned a fumble 27 yards for a touchdown, A.J. Schneider had 11/2 sacks and Everette Egun added a sack for the Tigers.
"We just tried to corral them," Jesuit coach Dominick Ciao said. "They have some big-play people and some great athletes. We just tried to slow them down."
Injuries to offensive linemen Kyle McGraw (knee) and Cody Chajkowski (ankle) did not slow Jesuit's offense. Ciao hopes to have both back when the Tigers next play on Friday.
As he left the field Tuesday, Ciao was careful not to place too much emphasis on the victory, however big it might have seemed at the time.
"It's a win," he said. "We've got a long way to go. We're in the hunt." -- FRANK PASTOR