Football’s Brightest Honored At Banquet

Posted Apr 23, 2008 by Katherine Smith

Updated Apr 23, 2008 at 09:12 PM

The National Football Foundation honored Hillsborough County’s top players Wednesday night at their annual Scholar Athlete’s Banquet.

Plant receiver Derek Winter won the Scholar Athlete award. Winter, the county’s leading receiver the past two seasons, was among 17 players from area high school nominated. His 5.67 GPA was one of the tops of the nominees.

Others nominated were Brandon’s Wale Agbede, Armwood’s Joshua Alston, Berkeley Prep’s Archie Barnes and Alex Matzkin, Newsome’s Chad Byrd, Jefferson’s Sebastian Cadavid, Alonso’s Jamal Cook, Plant’s Tyler Evans and Rhonne Sanderson, Gaither’s Zach Henderson, Hillsborough’s Robert Hughlett, Wharton’s Drew Kocher, Sickles Corey Page, Middleton’s Jarryd Reid, Durant’s Grant Sizemore and King’s Daniel Zychlinski.

King’s Michael Jones was also honored with the Sam Bailey Scholarship.

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Plant City Hires New Football Coach

Posted Apr 23, 2008 by Adam Adkins

Updated Apr 23, 2008 at 09:00 PM

Plant City has named Jason Strunk as its new football coach, according to an email from Raiders athletic director Trent Hobbs.

Strunk has been a high school and college assistant in Pennsylvania since 2000. He served as assistant head coach and defensive coordinator at Northampton High in Northampton, Penn., from 2000-2006, and has been inside linebackers coach at Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Penn., since 2007.

Strunk replaces Kevin Kelley, who resigned after the 2007 season. 

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STATE TENNIS ROUNDUP

Posted Apr 23, 2008 by Jarrett Guthrie

Updated Apr 24, 2008 at 09:59 AM

Hillsborough County tennis players came up big today in the 3A state tennis tournament at two sites in Altamonte Springs. Wharton is leading the boys team competition with 10 points as three Wildcats’ singles players are in state final matches Thursday and in doubles semifinals in both Nos. 1 and 2. Mitch Wong, Rohit Navelkar and Bryant Fuller will play in singles finals Thursday at Sanlando Park. Wong and Navelkar will also play in doubles competition with Wong teaming with Alex Bartholomew and Navelkar teaming with Michael Alford. Wong and Bartholomew, both seniors are vying for their second title, winning the No. 2 doubles title in 2006.

Plant’s girls tennis team is in second place with eight team points behind St. Thomas Aquinas, which has 10. Plant’s No. 1 Amber Li and No. 2 Solange La Puente are both in the finals Thursday. Li and La Puente also won in No. 1 doubles and Carol Fraley and Morgan Nolan also advanced in the No. 2 doubles.
In 3A individual competition, Newsome’s Andy Hersh and Plant’s Joel Samaha both won matches today earning them a spot in different brackets of Thursday’s semifinals. Chamberlain’s Jamie Mera also won Wednesday advancing her to the semifinals. Mera will also play in doubles competition with Jennifer Miller.

—Andy Hersh said his routine was business as usual prior to his 6-4, 6-4 win against Bradenton Bayshore’s Aaron Despeghel. Hersh said his prematch routine includes 20 minutes of stretching and 10 minutes of jumping rope while listening to music (his choice today: Kanye West).
“I was excited about this match from the moment I got here,” Hersh said. “I felt like this was my match and it was time to do some work and kick some butt.”

—Wharton’s Nos. 1-5 all won their first matches Wednesday and three won semifinals matches, but they were not the only Wildcats in attendance. In total eight team players made the trip with Matt Diamond, Justin Le and Daniel Kirinich traveling with the team as alternates. Diamond, a senior spent a majority of the first set of Mitch Wong and Alex Bartholomew’s second match going 15 against 1. Diamond was a lone, but loud cheering section for his teammates against a big group of Ft. Lauderdale St. Thomas Aquinas players rooting for the Wharton opponents.
“I’m there to support my guys no matter how many people are against us,” Diamond said. “We came here to win and I’ll do everything I can to make that happen.”
Diamond was 5-0 this season in matches for Wharton.

—Plant is making the most of a new opportunity. This season a rule change in tennis allowed the district runner-up continue into region play and Plant defeated George Jenkins in the quarterfinals and got a measure of revenge against District 9 champion Chamberlain and advanced to the state tournament for the first time in Lynn Vu’s five seasons as Plant’s coach.
“We don’t have any rituals really because this is our first time getting here,” Vu said. “As runners-up I’d say things are going pretty well.”

CLASS 1A: Berkeley Prep’s girls made its first appearance in the state tournament Wednesday at Red Bug Lake Park in Cassleberry. Although it was a short trip, Buccaneers Gary Baker felt the trip was a success.

No. 1 singles Maria Datcu and No. 5 singles Anne Baldy won their quarterfinal matches but lost in the semifinals. Jaime Ayers (No. 2), Amanda Morejon (No. 3) and Sophia Kim (No. 4) all lost their quarterfinal matches.

“I did some networking while I was here, too,” Baker said. “I talked to coaches from Miami, Ocala and Tallahassee. They are all interested in coming to Tampa to play us — and going to Busch Gardens. I realized we need to play tougher competition if we want to make this a regular occurrence.”

In individual play, Tampa Prep’s Kelly Palmer and Alex Hallenbeck lost their quarterfinal singles matches while Palmer and Ellie Walling lost in the semifinals after receiving a quarterfinal bye. The Berkeley Prep doubles team of Zach Bandes and Brian Shim won their quarterfinal match but lost a three-seter in the semifinals.

CLASS 2A: Tampa Catholic’s Meghan Sullivan lost to Rebekah Kitto of Stanton, 2-6, 6-3, 6-1 in the individual singles semifinals on Tuesday. She, and her sister Kelly Sullivan, lost in the doubles semifinals to Cocoa Beach, 6-2, 6-2.
Rick Harmon

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Lamar Runs 10.35 100 Meters, Anchors 4x100 To 41.73

Posted Apr 23, 2008 by Bill Ward

Updated Apr 23, 2008 at 06:52 PM

Hillsborough junior Lindsey Lamar just blazed to a winning 100-meter time of 10.35 seconds—a lifetime best—in the Class 3A-Region 3 track and field championships at Punta Gorda Port Charlotte High. Minutres later, he anchored the Terriers’ 4x100 relay team to another season best, 41.73 seconds.

Lamar’s 100 time is now tied for second in the state for all classifications, behind Jeff Demps of Class 2A South Lake High. Unfortunately for Lamar, his time is not eligible for the national rankings because there was no wind gauge at Wednesday’s meet. There was definitely an aiding tailwind for his race, but just how much we’ll never know.

Joining him on the relay were Terrence Mitchell, Allonzo Williams and Marc Thomas.

Mark Williams just won the 400 in 48.64 to give the Terriers 90 points, 55 ahead of Plant and Wharton, who are tied for second.

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Parker’s Legal Issues Grow

Posted Apr 23, 2008 by Aaron Knox

Updated Apr 23, 2008 at 05:48 PM

TALLAHASSEE Florida State receiver Preston Parker’s arrest on gun and drug charges late Monday night in Palm Beach County is causing him additional legal strife in Leon County.

After his arrest for shoplifting a DVD at a Tallahassee Best Buy store in November 2006 when he was 18, Parker entered a pre-trail diversion program as a first-time offender. However, according to Leon County court officials on Wednesday, Parker’s arrest for carrying a concealed loaded .45-caliber handgun and possession of 4.81 grams of marijuana on Monday violates the terms of the program.

As a result, Parker now has a May 20 court date in Tallahassee on the second-degree misdemeanor charge stemming from his shoplifting arrest.

Parker, who turned 21 in February, also still owes $170 in court costs related to the 2006 arrest. Parker remains suspended indefinitely and barred from participating in any official team activities until his legal issues are resolved.

Scott Carter

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Plant’s Jackson Strains Hamstring at 3A-Region 3 Track Meet

Posted Apr 23, 2008 by Bill Ward

Updated Apr 23, 2008 at 05:28 PM

Plant’s hopes of upsetting Hillsboreough for the Class 3A-Region 3 track and field championships suffered a serious blow Wednesday when senior sprinter Lovell Jackson strained a hamstring during the preliminary rounds of the 100-meter dash. Jackson was able to get to the finish line in 10.97 seconds, but his time did not qualify him for the finals, where he was expected to contend for the title.

Soon after that race, Jackson, the county champion in the 100, managed to anchor the Panthers’ 4x100 relay team to a heat-winning time of 42.00. But Jackson says he will likely have to wrap the hamstring if he is going to run the finals of the relay later tonight.

Meanwhile, Hillsborough’s boys pulled ahead in the team standings with the surprising 1-2 finish in the triple jump by junior Jerod Brisbon and senior Eric Cottman. Both established new personal bests, with Brisbon winning in 45-7.5 and Cottman taking second at 45-5. TBT’s LaVaughn King was third withhis own PB, 45-3. The Terriers’ points there give them a 37-20 lead over Plant heading into tonight’s finals.

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Allen Trade Leaves K.C. Sitting Pretty With Draft Picks

Posted Apr 23, 2008 by Luke Easterling

Updated Apr 23, 2008 at 04:48 PM

As tough as it was to part with the NFL’s reigning sack champion, Kansas City isn’t doing too badly after trading DE Jared Allen to the Vikings.  The Chiefs now own 6 of the top 82 picks in the draft, which is perfect for a bottom-tier team going through a youth movement.

At #5 overall, the Chiefs will have a lot of options.  Matt Ryan, Darren McFadden, Branden Albert, Ryan Clady and Sedrick Ellis are all possibilities.  It’s also likely that the Chiefs will attempt to trade down from #5, as there are plenty of suitors near pick #10 that fancy some of those names, and might be willing to trade up.

With Minnesota’s #17 pick, the Chiefs will also have the luxury of taking the best player available.  The biggest positive about having so many picks in the first three rounds is that is allows a team to not feel as tied down to making a need pick as they might be otherwise, allowing them to simply take what comes to them and eventually still fill all their positions of need.

Though a team never likes to part with a player like Allen, the Chiefs can’t feel bad about the position they’re in going into Saturday.

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Doc stands in the way

Posted Apr 23, 2008 by Marc Lancaster

Updated Apr 23, 2008 at 04:08 PM

LAKE BUENA VISTA—The Rays’ unbeaten mark at Disney gets perhaps its stiffest test tonight, with Roy Halladay on the hill for the Jays. We’ll see if Jason Hammel can hold down the fort long enough for the Rays’ bats to do some damage against Toronto’s ace.

Andrew Friedman spoke briefly this afternoon about the Dan Johnson situation, repeatedly terming it “awkward,” and I guess that about sums it up. Basically, when Johnson hit the waiver wire last week, the Rays weren’t sure how serious Carlos Pena’s hamstring problem was and they didn’t think the Gabe Gross deal would get done so quickly. That apparently was the case even into the weekend, as Johnson was in transit to Tampa Bay.

Once Pena proved himself healthy—and he’s back at first base tonight after serving as the DH the last three games—and the Gross deal came down yesterday, Johnson was expendable. Joe Maddon said he felt “awful” about the way everything went down with Johnson, but that’s the way it goes.

The one other news item out of Maddon’s pregame chat was the news that Scott Kazmir’s first start might not come May 3 in Boston as planned. He may move back a day to that Sunday because of the off days stacking up lately and the Rays not wanting the other starters to get too far off their regular rest. So it’ll be either May 3 or 4 for Kazmir’s debut.

Here are tonight’s lineups:

Rays
Iwamura 2B
Crawford LF
Upton CF
Pena 1B
Longoria 3B
Hinske RF
Gomes DH
Navarro C
Bartlett SS
Hammel P

Blue Jays
Eckstein SS
Stewart LF
Hill 2B
Wells CF
Stairs RF
Barajas 1B
Zaun C
Diaz DH
Inglett 3B
Halladay P

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Mikey likes ...

Posted Apr 23, 2008 by Brett McMurphy

Updated Apr 23, 2008 at 03:50 PM

Mike Jenkins said he has a favorite team he’s hoping to be selected by in Saturday’s NFL Draft.

“ ‘As early as possible’ is my favorite team,” Jenkins said.

For the past few weeks, the former University of South Florida cornerback has undergone a litany of tests – on and off-the-field – from NFL scouts and coaches.

Now comes the hardest test of all – waiting for the NFL Draft to begin Saturday.

“When I first started all this [working out for the draft], it was overwhelming,” Jenkins said. “But I got used to it. It’s been pretty much the same thing every week.”

The past week for Jenkins consisted of flying to San Francisco for the weekend for a work out with the 49ers. Then yesterday, the New Orleans Saints dropped by USF so Jenkins could go through a personal workout.

Last month, New England coach Bill Belichick also came down to USF to personally work out Jenkins and CB Trae Williams.

Not surprisingly, New England (No. 7 overall pick) and New Orleans (No. 10 overall pick) are two teams that could select a cornerback in the first round. Here’s a column from Sunday’s Tampa Tribune on Jenkins by Joe Henderson.

While Jenkins will make history by becoming USF’s first-ever NFL first-round pick, Williams’ name probably won’t be called until Sunday’s second day between rounds three through seven.

LB Ben Moffitt also is projected as a second-day guy and he recently visited with the Bucs.

ESPN.com’s Pat Yasinskas, a former Tampa Tribune reporter, reports that Moffitt “spent a lot of time going over film and answering questions for [Bucs] defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin. Moffitt could go any time from the fifth round on. He’s not likely to be an immediate difference maker, but he’s the kind of player who can be a key contributor on special teams as a rookie.”

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Hello, Goodbye

Posted Apr 23, 2008 by Marc Lancaster

Updated Apr 23, 2008 at 02:26 PM

LAKE BUENA VISTA—Well, so much for the Dan Johnson era in Rays history.

A day after the first baseman, claimed off waivers from the A’s on Friday, joined Tampa Bay, he’s gone. The Rays designated Johnson for assignment to make room on the roster for Gabe Gross, who was acquired from the Brewers yesterday. Gross is here today, thus the move.

The Rays didn’t need Johnson after Carlos Pena’s tight hamstring turned out to be a minor setback, so there you go. The Rays will carry an abundance of outfielders today and tomorrow before getting rid of one of them—likely Justin Ruggiano or Nathan Haynes—when Matt Garza comes off the DL to start Friday.

More on this from Andrew Friedman when we talk to him later.

Also today, Scott Kazmir completed his second rehab start for Vero Beach, taking the loss in a 4-3 setback at Palm Beach that began at the absurd hour of 10:30 a.m. Kazmir allowed seven hits and four runs (three of them coming on a pair of homers) in 4 2/3 innings. He struck out four and didn’t walk a batter. Kazmir is slated to start Monday for Durham before rejoining the Rays’ rotation May 3 against the Red Sox.

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