Who's the best?

  Q: What high school (in Pinellas) has the best girls varsity soccer team?

Brandon Wright, Times Staff Writer: There are a number of excellent teams in Pinellas County, but from what I've seen this year, Palm Harbor is the best. They are tactical, have multiple scoring options and have a pair of outstanding goalkeepers. That said, I think Countryside, East Lake, Shorecrest, St. Petersburg and Clearwater Central Catholic all have a good shot at reaching the Final Four. Pinellas County had four representatives last season (PHU, St. Petersburg, CCC and Shorecrest) and could very well equal that number again this year.

(Pictured: PHU celebrates last season's state semifinal win over St. Thomas Aquinas. Times photo - Ted McLaren. Click to enlarge.)

Plant football DVDs

Q: How do I get a video of the State Finals with Plant and Nease? 

Regional Sports Editor Frank Pastor: DVDs of SunSports coverage from each of the state championship football games can be purchased through Gametapes.com for $19.99. Here's the link:

http://www.gametapes.com/search.php?st=FL&tn=&ev=&Submit=Go

(Pictured: Bret Thomas. Times photo - Zach Boyden-Holmes. Click to enlarge.)

Girls and football

(Pictured: Former Nature Coast Tech football players Amber Scull and Amber Collard. Times photo - Kevin White. Click to enlarge).

Q: In Pinellas County Public High Schools, do they allow girls to play on the tackle football teams?

Bob Putnam, Pinellas County reporter: Yes, girls can play tackle football in this county, but it is rare. A few years ago, a girl from Gibbs played and another from Northeast went through summer practices.

Why so many?

Q: Does anyone lose as many athletes year in and year out via transfer as Robinson? This year, there are three football players (Joel Leonard-Gaither, Tom Gordon-Leto, Nixon Ramos-Jefferson) at other schools. Now, we lost sophmore Sheldon Cooley to Plant in basketball; Clayton Bourasa, a state qualifier in wrestling, to Plant; Joe Montes, a starter in baseball, to Jefferson; Shane Scanlon, a starter in baseball, to Plant; and Rikka Lovely, who started in basketball and won three track district titles last year as a freshman. Ramos also wrestled. We are already the smallest public school in Tampa by far.This makes it almost impossible to compete.

Joey Knight, Hillsborough Sports Editor: The situation you've encountered at Robinson is prevalent throughout Hillsborough County. The movement of student-athletes from school to school is a trend that has grown by staggering proportions in the last decade or so. For most of these kids, they see a better chance for playing time or more exposure to college scouts at other schools, then find loopholes in the county's special assignment policy to make the move. In some instances, they're illegally recruited by other county coaches. Hillsborough baseball coach Pat Russo, in fact, was fired last week when school officials determined they had acquired substantial evidence that Russo was recruiting players (Russo has vowed to fight the dismissal). At any rate, prep "free agency" is here to stay as long as there are unscrupulous coaches, and delusional parents who believe their child could be in line for a Division I scholarship if only they could play at another high school.

Unsung heroes

Q: As I read through the articles regarding high school football I see all of the kids being mentioned that ran the ball or, of course, the quarterback.  However, there is never any mention of the boys in the trenches who block and open holes so these other boys can run the ball. I know it would be tremendous occasionally for these boys to be recognized for their hard work as well. They may not stand out as stars in the eyes of most spectators but that is not for lack of hard work and tenacity.

Frank Pastor, Regional Sports Editor: No question, linemen are the unsung heroes on most teams. But because we have a limited amount of space to recap a game, much of it is devoted to describing plays that determine the outcome, such as go-ahead touchdowns or pivotal turnovers. We try to give the linemen their due in other ways. Sometimes, it's including a quote from a running back or a linebacker who credits the players in front of him for his success. At other times, it's a a feature on a particularly successful line or lineman. We wrote features on several Hudson linemen during the Cobras' playoff run last season and did similar stories during Armwood's state championship seasons. Last year, we wrote a front-page story on a family of linemen from Clearwater. Linemen Robert Allen of Hudson, Danny Tolley of Wesley Chapel and Donnie Woods of Jefferson were cover subjects for some of our recent football preview sections. And don't miss the Tampa Bay Top Talents package in tomorrow's paper. Armwood defensive lineman Torrey Davis is our pick for the top player in the bay area.

Can they play?

Q: Do you know if Hernando County or any surrounding Tampa Bay counties allow 8th graders to participate in varsity high school sports?

Vince Thomas, Hernando County reporter: Public high schools do not allow eight graders to participate, but certain private schools will sometimes feature middle schoolers on varsity rosters, since these schools might go all the way down to the fifth grade.

 

Football schedules

Q: Where can I find a Pinellas high school football schedule for 2006?

Frank Pastor, Regional Sports Editor: The Times will publish schedules for all Pinellas County football teams (Citrus, Hernando, Pasco and Hillsborough schedules will be distributed in those counties) in our special preview section to run on Aug. 25. In the meantime, you can access schedules for every team in the state at http://i.fhsaa.org/members/ and entering the name of the school whose schedule you seek.

Any plans for basketball tab?

Q: I was wondering if there's any way that the sports section could cover a preseason basketball preview in the same form or fashion that they do for the football season?

Frank Pastor, Regional Sports Editor: While we will continue to produce separate boys and girls basketball previews for each of the five counties in our coverage area, we have no plans at present to produce a special section similar to what we do for football. We tried a basketball section a few years ago, but the response from readers was lukewarm. Our experience has been that football far outweighs all other high school sports, including basketball, in terms of both attendance and reader interest. 

Got a question?

Readers can ask questions directly of Times prep staff writers via the Ask Us feature on our new web page. Just send your question to highschoolsports@tampabay.com, and we'll post responses to those of general interest as soon as possible. Questions and answers can be viewed by clicking on the Ask Us category at the top left of your screen.

Frank Pastor, Regional Sports Editor