Sports: Football notebook

Football notebook

By RODNEY PAGE, BOB PUTNAM and JOHN SCHWARB

Several county teams hurt by rash of injuries

So far, the hardest thing for most county teams to catch this season has been a break.

Injuries have beset several teams, most of which can't afford to lose players due to a lack of depth.

"I've never seen anything like this," Clearwater Central Catholic coach John Davis said. "The amazing thing is it's all happened in games. We haven't had any injuries in practice. I guess it's our time to go through with it."

The Marauders have been hit hard. Nick Capogna (broken collarbone), Lerue Rumph (broken leg) and Matt Worth (separated shoulder) are out for an extended period. Mike Scanlon (chronic fatigue) could miss a few more games. In all, 17 of 33 players on CCC's roster have missed at least one game due to injury.

And as the depth chart gets thinner, the days get longer. The Marauders were beaten 54-0 by Jefferson last week, marking the team's first loss. It also was the first time CCC was shut out since 1994, Davis' first season as coach.

"It wasn't even that close," Davis said. "I don't know if we crossed midfield."

The Marauders' woes are shared throughout the county.

Shorecrest lost quarterback Matt Lettelleir to a broken collarbone two weeks ago and had to scramble to find a replacement for last week's district game against Keswick Christian. Meanwhile, Largo might have as many as six players out for Friday's game against Palm Harbor U., the biggest name being kicker Brandon Mai (groin pull).

Part of the reason for the rash of injuries was the challenging task of playing two games between Sept. 17 and 25 following the terrorist attacks and Tropical Storm Gabrielle. "We played Tuesday, Saturday, Friday," Packers coach Rick Rodriguez said. "That's kind of close. I think too close. They're awfully young (the players). They should have rested a week."

There will be no rest this season, though. The Florida High School Activities Association eliminated the bye week so the season doesn't overlap with the winter sports. That means teams will have to sludge through a demanding district schedule the rest of the way that yields few easy nights and little time to heal.

"We're banged up right now," Lakewood coach Brian Bruch said, "but so is everybody else in the county."

NO PASSING FANCY: Countryside passed for the most yards in the county last week, not exactly a high achievement considering the total was 163.

Three teams didn't complete a pass last week and Lakewood was the only one to throw for more than 100 yards (145).

ALL MIXED UP: Talk about a topsy-turvy district. Class 5A, District 7 was supposed to be easy to predict with East Lake and Clearwater being the frontrunners for the title. Then they started playing their district counterparts.

The Eagles needed three overtimes to beat winless Pinellas Park and the Tornadoes were upset by winless Palm Harbor U.

In fact, the Hurricanes' victory clinched them no worse than a tiebreaker for a playoff berth despite their 1-4 record.