It's Fabulous! And it's back: The Friday Night Rewind Fab 50.

Fabulous One, oh how I have missed thee. The rankings, the debate, the hate mail, the scathing comments from Largo fans. Sigh. It's been too long.

So here we go: the 2009 Friday Night Rewind Fabulous 50, put together every week by your favorite video hosts John C. Cotey and Joey Knight. We're rolling the dice in Week 1, and of course there's the coveted "Fabulous Battle For No. 50", which features mighty Pinellas Park against mighty Osceola. The winner stays in at least for another week. The loser? Banished to the Not-Fabulous-At-All 51-And-Beyond.

Can you feel it? I'm giddy. Let's get to it.

1. Plant
   This week: hosts No. 5 TBT.
   Joey says: Withholding judgement on the Panthers until they play with a full squad.
   Cotey says: I need a new catchphrase this year. Think I'm going with "What tha...???!!!" As in, Phillip Ely, above, might miss the season with a back injury? What tha....???!!!
2. Armwood
   This week: at Newsome
   Joey says: I'm starting to sip on the Armwood-as-state-contender Kool-Aid.
   Cotey says: Matt Jones and Josh Grady made me a glass. It's quite tasty.
3. Largo
   This week: hosts Dunedin, Thursday
   Joey says: Myrick Gwyn scores (via punt return) on his first play of 2009. I'll take that as a nice omen for the Pack.
   Cotey says: I think the Packers put it on Dunedin in a big way this week.

Preseason video series: Top athletes

Our preseason football video series wraps up with our look at the bay area's top athletes.

Previous videos (including our elite 8 teams):
Top running backs
Top defenders
Top quarterbacks
No. 1 Plant
No. 2 Armwood
No. 3 Largo
No. 4 Hillsborough
No. 5 Tampa Bay Tech
No. 6 Tampa Catholic
No. 7 Countryside
No. 8 Nature Coast
Highlights from the first day of practice

Nature Coast announces new coaches

Sharks first-year athletic director Kristen Peeples announced several new coaching hires at Nature Coast.

Among them, Pete Ruiz has been promoted to varsity head baseball coach. He replaces John Frascatore, who was not retained despite leading the Sharks to the Class 4A playoffs in his only season.

Ruiz becomes the fifth head coach in four seasons.

Peeples also announced Mary Jo Artura will coach boys and girls swimming, and Vivien Tolley will coach varsity cheerleading.

Also of note, Nature Coast has added a varsity bowling team, which will be coached on a voluntary basis by Carrie Piechowicz.

"They wanted to have a bowling team," Peeples said of the players. "It was pushed by parents and students. Carrie took on the responsibility of it as a volunteer. She said she would make it run, fund raise and all those things."

In the face of budget woes, Peeples said the bowling program will essential run itself leaving the school with minimal or no cost. 

Nature Coast already had a successful bowling program with the boys and girls teams reaching the 2007 state final (the boys team won state. But the program ended in Sept. 2008 due to lack of funding.

-- IZZY GOULD
izzygould@gmail.com

Preseason football poll

The Associated Press Top 10 Florida high school preseason football poll, with first-place votes in parentheses and rating points. Area teams in bold:
Class 6A 1. Miami Northwestern (7)   70   
2. Miami Central   49   
3. Dr. Phillips   41   
4. Mainland   39   
5. Atlantic Community   34   
6. Apopka   33   
7. Christopher Columbus Catholic   31   
8. Boone   26   
9. Sanford Seminole   24   
10. Miami Carol City     8   

Others receiving votes: Treasure Coast 7, Miami Southridge 5, Orange Park 4, Olympia 3, Vero Beach 3, Miami Killian 2, Miramar 2, Boca Raton Community 2, DeLand 1, Plantation 1.

Class 5A
1. St. Thomas Aquinas (8)   80   
2. Lakeland   70   
3. Plant   63   
4. Kissimmee Osceola   48   
5. Venice   44   
6. Tampa Bay Tech   36   
7. Boyd Anderson   30   
8. Manatee   28   
9. Countryside   12   
10. Seabreeze     9   
 
Others receiving votes: Dillard 5, Chamberlain 5, Brandon 4, Fletcher 4, Royal Palm Beach 1, Buchholz 1.

Study takes deeper look into severe high school sports injuries

Plenty of medical studies have been done to show which high school sports produce the most injuries, but a new study in this month's American Journal of Sports Medicine takes a look at severe high school injuries based on sport, gender and injury type.

Defining a severe injury as one that keeps an athlete out of action for at least three weeks, the study took a look at high school injury data from 2005-'07 and found that 14.9 percent of all high school injuries are "severe."

Among the findings:

• As one would expect, football accounted for the most severe injuries. After that, wrestling, girls basketball and girls soccer had the highest number of severe injuries.
• In the sports in which both boys and girls compete in (soccer, basketball, baseball/softball), girls had a higher injury rate than boys.
• Severe knee injuries were the most prevalent (30 percent), following by ankle (12.3) and shoulder (10.9) injuries.
• Another item of note, five percent of all severe injuries were a result of "illegal player activity," like tripping or spear tackling.

-- EDUARDO A. ENCINA

High school football chat

Regular-season football games kick off this week, and we're ready to field any questions you have about Friday's matchups -- or Thursday's Dunedin-Largo game. But we're not talking exclusively football. Chime in with any swimming, golf, volleyball or cross country questions as well. If you can't tune in at 6 on Wednesday, you can always submit questions below and catch us on a replay.

Football: FIU offers Nature Coast junior Ja'Juan Story

Nature Coast athlete Ja'Juan Story, the younger brother of running back Antwan Story, received his first Division I offer last week when Florida International made a verbal offer to the Sharks' junior.

 

Story (6-foot-4, 180 pounds) was the starting quarterback for the JV last season before being called up to varsity mid-season. He even started a game and played the first half in a game against Crystal River..

 

Story is expected to play wide receiver this season, but is capable of playing various positions and will contribute on defense in the secondary. He has  run a 4.3, 40-yard dash according to Shark assistant Robert Kazmier, who confirmed the FIU offer.

 

The Golden Panthers are an up-and-coming FBS program from the Sun Belt Conference. The team finished 5-7 in 2008. Story wouldn't be the first player from the area to attend FIU. Former Central lineman Andy Leavine is currently a senior starter on the offensive line for the Golden Panthers.

-- Derek J. LaRiviere, Times correspondent

Dandy Dozen: Week 1 volleyball rankings

Last year, four bay area teams survived an arduous regular-season schedule and do-or-die region playoff games to advance to the state semifinals at the Lakeland Center. Once again, Tampa Bay is well-stocked with superstar athletes and championship-caliber teams. Plant and Berkeley Prep appear as strong as ever; beyond those two, the picture is a bit less focused. With that in mind, here's our first Dandy Dozen installment for the 2009 season.

1. Plant
New district: 6A-8; Old district: 5A-10
Outlook: The only team in the bay area to win a state title last year, Plant has earned the right to open the 2009 season in the top spot. The Panthers are trying to win a fourth-straight state championship, which would be a first for the volleyball powerhouse. They have the firepower to do so with Maddie Martin, Becca Howard (left) and Ali McCurdy all returning for their senior seasons.

2. Berkeley Prep
New district: 3A-10; Old district: 3A-11
Outlook: Not much separates the first two teams; Berkeley Prep was the only Florida school to defeat Plant last season. Berkeley’s talented trio of timbers – OH Jordan Burgess (6-foot), MB Lindsay Young (6-foot-1) and S MacKenzie Dagostino (5-foot-10) – will try to lead the Buccaneers to a 13th state title. They currently have 12, which ranks second in the bay area behind Tampa Prep’s 15.

3. Palm Harbor University
New district: 6A-7; Old district: 5A-9
Outlook: Seniors Cassie Wilkinson and Cassie Roy, a Mercer University commit, lead a loaded PHU squad. The Hurricanes went 24-4 last season, but were swept in three games by Plant in the region semifinals. The Panthers remain in the same region, so the Hurricanes will have to find a way to narrow that gap if they hope to advance deeper into the playoffs.

Preseason video series: Top running backs

Our preseason video series continues with our look at the area's top running backs. Next up: Top playmakers.

Previous videos (including our elite 8 teams):
Top defenders
Top quarterbacks
No. 1 Plant
No. 2 Armwood
No. 3 Largo
No. 4 Hillsborough
No. 5 Tampa Bay Tech
No. 6 Tampa Catholic
No. 7 Countryside
No. 8 Nature Coast
Highlights from the first day of practice

Who has the most talent on top 25 teams: Us or Miami-Dade/Broward?

Last weekend, we provided you with a list of all the local players (Hillsborough, Pasco, Pinellas and Hernando) currently on rosters of teams in the AP preseason top 25.

The total number -- 38.

While that isn't bad by any stretch, the Miami Herald has now put together a similar chart for Miami-Dade and Broward Counties. That area, the paper reports, has 53 players on top 25 rosters.

Still, we're not that far behind what many consider the country's premier area for recruits.

That should give you an idea of how much talent we've been producing.

Below, is a list of our players .... followed by theirs:

1. Florida: (11) Jim Barrie, OL, Berkeley Prep; Gary Beemer, OL, Newsome; Steven Bennett, DB, Tarpon Springs; Riley Cooper, WR, Clearwater Central Catholic; Cole Gilliam, OL, Durant; Jon Halapio, OL, St. Petersburg Catholic; Cody Hampton, LS, Boca Ciega; Corey Henderson, DB, Lakewood; A.J. Jones, LB, Middleton; Matt Patchan, OL, Armwood; Scott Peek, LB, Freedom.

5. Alabama: (1) Javier Arenas, DB/KR, Robinson.

6. Ohio State: (1)  Orhian Johnson, DB, Boca Ciega.

8. Mississippi: (5) Billy Tapp, QB, St. Petersburg Catholic; Andrew Harris, WR, St. Petersburg Catholic; Dexter McCluster, WR, Largo; Don Mosley, OL, Hillsborough; Lawon Scott, DT, St. Petersburg.

9. Penn State: (1) Josh Matzkin, LB, Berkeley Prep.