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By MIKE READLING
© St. Petersburg Times, published December 8, 2000
SEFFNER -- It's the first week of December and the Armwood football team is still crammed onto that little field between the school and the football stadium.
Coach Sean Callahan is still blowing his whistle every 10 minutes to change the drill from offensive to defensive. Players who don't make it out to the field before the specified time are still doing up-downs until Callahan decides he is tired of watching them jog in place and fall to their chest. And Ron Buskey is still taking snaps and lobbing rainbows down the field to some wide-open receiver.
It's the first week of December and that means Buskey is living a dream.
"It's always been a dream for me since I started playing quarterback in high school that I would have the chance to go to the state championship game," Buskey said. "Ever since I started playing high school football, I remember thinking about what it would be like to be the starting quarterback in the state championship game."
Well, it's not the state championship game -- Armwood must beat Belle Glade Glades Central tonight in the semifinals -- but in many ways, this season has been more than a dream for Buskey.
The senior has led Armwood further than any team in Hillsborough County since Hillsborough reached the state final in 1996. He has completed 160 of 239 passes for 2,596 yards and 24 touchdowns. He has caught the eye of some Division I-A colleges -- Central Florida and Marshall head the list -- and Buskey is on the verge of returning to glory he has not known since he played Police Athletic League football for coach Walter Monroe and the three-time Super Bowl champion Eagles.
That's where it started for the 6-foot-5 righty. After a freshman season at Tampa Catholic, Buskey transferred to Armwood and took over the team's starting role as a junior. Already possessing Monroe's will for victory, Buskey soon found himself immersed in Callahan's school of being a competitor.
It was during that junior year that Buskey learned more about football than ever before. Not to mention himself.
"Ever since he started his senior year, all of our big games have been close. The difference between our junior year and senior year is we've won them," wide receiver Leonard Anderson said. "If we're in the game late in the fourth quarter or it's real close, we're just like the Bucs. We know we're going to win.
"A lot of that falls on Ron's shoulders. He's the one that keeps everyone in it. There have been a number of games where we were close with five, three, even two minutes left and he got us a big TD and we won the game."
The one contest that sticks out as Buskey's coming-of-age game is Game 7 of his junior season. It was against Lake Wales, and the Hawks had just given up a touchdown and trailed 13-12 with less than two minutes left.
"Lake Wales last year, we had to go 60 or 70 yards in the last minute and a half," wide receiver Joe Stephens said. "He completed one third-down and two fourth-down passes and won the game on a third-down slant to Chris Murray. That was the game that sticks out to me. He's not Michael Vick. He's more like a Chris Weinke type of quarterback who is going to throw for 3,000 yards."
And that's exactly what Buskey wants to be.
A quick glimpse at his top five colleges suggests Buskey is looking to scare some NCAA passing record-holders.
Central Florida, Marshall, Minnesota, Arkansas and South Florida are interested, but Buskey said the Knights and Thundering Herd lead the pack because of their offensive styles.
"They like to throw the ball around," he said. "That's my game."
He acknowledges he must correct a throwing motion that has been at a three-quarters angle rather than over-the-top, but he said it's something he has worked on since last summer. Look at the film, he said, and you can see the difference from last year to this year.
He also acknowledges that in order for him to be playing at Florida Field next week and follow in the footsteps of some of the greatest players who "played both in the state championship game and in college," he must overcome a tough Glades Central defense.
But he's Ron Buskey, and part of that means he doesn't worry about those kinds of things.
"We're executing pretty well right now," Buskey said. "We'll be all right."
And if he's all right, that means Armwood will be all right.