Special to The Laker/Lutz News

East Pasco rivalry more than just a football game

By Kyle LoJacono

Fans who packed Bulldog Stadium Friday night were treated to the 53rd 9-Mile War, the annual football game between east Pasco County and Class 3A, District 7 rivals Zephyrhills and Pasco high schools.

The Pirates (4-0) took the contest 50-7, the third straight victory in the matchup against the Bulldogs (0-4), to extend their lead in the all-time series 36-17. While the annual meeting started as just a football game, the event has become much more than that.

“This is like true America right here,” said Zephyrhills principal Steve Van Gorden before the game. “You’ve got two small towns that love their communities. The players out there have fathers and grandfathers who played in this game and now they’re watching their kids and grandkids play tonight. Really it’s what’s good about our community.”

Van Gorden became Zephyrhills principal at the end of the 2008-09 school year and was taking in his first home 9-Mile War as the Bulldogs leader.

“Honestly I don’t think there is anywhere else in Pasco County where you could have this rivalry,” Van Gorden continued. “It’s been going on for generations. I mean the kids didn’t even want to leave school today after the pep rally because they were so excited about the game.”

Many of the players had connections with the other team. Bulldogs running back Jacolby O’Neal attended Pasco last year before making the move nine miles south this season. Pirates quarterback Jacob Guy went to Zephyrhills as a freshman.

“I played with probably more than half their team on (junior varsity) when I was here my freshman year,” Guy said. “The score doesn’t say it, but they stepped up big and it was a rough first half for us.”

One family is even split by the rivalry. Reggie Roberts became Zephyrhills coach in January and graduated from the school in 1990. His father Ricky Giles is a Pasco assistant and his younger half brother Trey Dudley-Giles is a wide receiver and defensive back for the Pirates.

Even the school’s principals have ties to the other city. Van Gorden got his first teaching position at Pasco High and Pasco Middle after being hired by 12-year Pirates principal Pat Reedy, who started out at Stewart Middle.

The two friends decided to make a wager on the game. The losing principal had to wear the opposing school’s colors and appear on the other’s morning show and give a recap of the game, which turned out to be Van Gorden.

“We did this last year and the bet was a Blizzard from Dairy Queen,” Reedy said before the game. “He still hasn’t paid that one off and I reminded him of that. He came up with this one so he has to pay it off.”

A confident Reedy reminded Van Gorden before the game that Pasco beat Zephyrhills 56-0 in the spring game this year. He said the Pirates ran out of gunpowder for the cannon they fire after scoring.

The game started close with the two squads trading touchdowns on their first drive. Zephyrhills had a chance to take the lead after cornerback Adrian Sanchez intercepted Guy on the Pirates second possession, but the Bulldogs turned the ball over on downs. The Pirates then scored on their next three drives and stretched the lead to 36-7 at the half.

Guy finished 8-of-14 for 118 yards and four touchdowns. Wide receiver Mike Clower caught touchdown grabs of 23 and 33 yards, while Dudley-Giles had scoring catches of 12 and 29 yards. Dudley-Giles also added a pair of interceptions.

“It makes me feel good to get two touchdowns and beat my own brother,” Dudley-Giles said. “I played in the game last year but didn’t score, so this is special to come here and get two touchdowns.”

Zephyrhills quarterback Chris Reaves went 12-of-29 passing for 139 yards and a 19-yard touchdown to running back Jamal Roberts. Reaves also had 91 yards rushing, but was sacked four times and was picked off three times by the Pirates defense.

Reggie pointed out that the game was tied when senior linebacker and tight end Frank “Duke” Morrison went out with a head injury. When he went down the Bulldogs had to use younger players in his place.

“No excuses,” Reggie said. “My guys want to win. You see them crying. Those tears, I told them that’s not being a baby. That’s something inside them that wants it. Those are the kids I want. How they feel going into that locker room right now is desire to play football. They battled and that’s what I want from them. That scoreboard doesn’t say anything about these young men.

“We’re going to keep learning, we’re going to keep getting better and we’re going to win some football games,” Reggie continued.

Pasco next travels to play Gulf Oct. 8, while Zephyrhills will take on Mitchell at home the same night.

By Kyle LoJacono

The Steinbrenner High volleyball team set the standard for athletics at the new facility by winning the first district championship for the school last year.

While another district crown is on the Warriors (8-4) to-do list, it is just one step toward their ultimate goal.

“We want to win at least 20 matches, win another district title, win the first regional championship for the school and get to the final four,” said Steinbrenner coach Staci Elias.

Everyone is reminded of the team’s accomplishment last year when they look at the banner in the Warriors’ gym, which helps fuel the squad.

“It was really cool to be the first team to have a banner,” said senior setter Erin McMurtry. “It was really big because we were a brand new school and we came out and showed that we’re new, but we have the power that huge schools do.”

One of the challenges in starting the program is many of the players came from different schools. Elias, who had never opened a volleyball program before, has had to use different methods to bring the separate players together as a team.

“She’s had us do teambuilding things to make us closer,” said senior outside and middle hitter Natalia Ortiz. “It’s helped us be more together out there.”

Ortiz played at Sickles High before coming to Steinbrenner, as did junior libero Cary Anne Bame. The Warriors lost a close match to the Gryphons last year, but avenged that loss in straight sets this season.

“It was fantastic,” Bame said of beating Sickles. “We came more prepared and were extremely mentally focused. We just knew we had to leave it all on the court. It wasn’t revenge, but it kind of was because we all think we should have beaten them last year.”

While most of the older players on Steinbrenner already had their match against their first school this year, McMurtry is still waiting to do the same. She attended Gaither High before Steinbrenner, but the difference is the Warriors beat the Cowboys last year in straight sets.

“I still know girls on their team and I played with some of them,” McMurtry said. “I get to play against the varsity team I would have been on. It’s a big match.”

Steinbrenner plays at Gaither Oct. 14 at 7:30 p.m.

On the court, the action starts with Bame. As the libero, she is the first person to touch the ball and set up the offense, which she has done so far. Through the Warriors’ first 11 matches, she has a team-high 112 digs while adding 14 aces.

“I have a lot of passion playing libero,” Bame said. “I love the fact that I risk everything to dive and get that one ball and start the play off clean. If I don’t get to the ball it messes the offense up, so I have to go all out to get the dig … It’s kind of a part of me. I take care of the ball and give the others a chance to do their job.”

The next person to get the ball is McMurtry, who tries to put the ball in the right spot for the hitters to get an unblocked shot at a kill.

“We’ve got a great libero and setter and it makes things easier for us up front,” said senior outside hitter Kristen Liguori. “We count on them to get us the ball in a good spot.”

Liguori has taken advantage of the Warriors good passing, leading the team with 112 kills while adding six blocks. She also has 20 aces.

Ortiz is tied with McMurtry for most blocks on the team with nine. Ortiz also has 27 kills.

Elias said Bame, McMurtry, Ortiz and Liguori are the most vocal leaders on Steinbrenner, but another has done so more quietly.

“Megan Moyer has the highest hitting percentage of any of our hitters,” Elias said. “She doesn’t have all the stats like some of the other girls and she is very quiet. We call her the silent weapon because a lot of teams don’t realize how effective she is until we put her in and she gets a big kill.”

Moyer, a senior middle hitter, has a 45.1 hitting percentage and 47 kills, 11 aces and eight blocks.

While the goal of the team is to win, they have secondary ones that are nearly as important to them.

“They want to be thought of as more than just a volleyball team,” Elias said. “They did a lot to raise awareness of breast cancer.”

Last October they wore pink ribbons, shoelaces and socks to raise awareness of the disease. Plans are not yet set for this year, but Elias said it will be as visual as before.

-All stats as recorded to Maxpreps.com by coaches as of Oct. 4.

By Kyle LoJacono

After three straight third place finishes, Zephyrhills Christian Academy is looking for a six-man state championship.

“We’ve had the talent to win it since we started in the league four years ago,” said coach Mike Smith, who is also the school’s principal and co-founder. “We lost in the semifinals by one, six and one points. Last year we were 9-1 in the regular season and I think we’re a lot better this year.”

The team has started 8-0 with the offense averaging 52 points per game while allowing just seven total points and recording six shutouts. One win was a forfeit over Genesis Prep.

Zephyrhills Christian’s quarterback and leader of that prolific offense is Mikey Smith, who has played the position since starting in the Zephyrhills Police Athletic League at age 8. He is also Mike’s son and an eighth grader at the school.

“We’re a strong team and we’re fast and athletic,” said the Warriors signal caller. “We should go all the way this year … Winning a state title was all of our goals coming into the year.”

Mikey said the key to that high scoring attack is the offensive line, which is known as the hog line and includes Tim Thurston, Dominic Ferrington, Devin White and Andrew Ivie.

“It’s satisfying to get so many points, but I wish it took more plays sometimes,” White, a junior, said. “We only get to play like one or two plays at a time. It’s fun though. It’s cool to see the score and know we helped that happen.”

Ivie is only in eighth grade, but is already one of the biggest players.

“We’re all like brothers on the line,” Ivie said. “We’re all together as one unit.”

Also playing a big part in the offense is running back and wide receiver Josh Roberts. He started playing in the eighth grade and is currently a senior.

“We usually fall apart at the beginning of the season, but this year we started really strong,” Roberts said. “We’ve been more together and also are much better players. I think we’ll go all the way.”

Six-man football becomes easier for athletic players like Roberts as there are few people and more space on the field.

“It’s a lost faster,” Roberts said. “If you break a tackle you can score real easily because there aren’t many levels to the defense.”

Mike’s brother, Dale, is the assistant on the team. Both went to Zephyrhills High and played on the football team. Dale set the Bulldogs record in the bench press with 420 pounds that stands to this day.

Dale’s son, Dale Smith Jr., is a linebacker on the team and one of the defensive leaders. He is a senior, but last played football as a freshman in Colorado.

“We don’t care what part of the field they’re on because we act like it’s the goal line every play,” Dale Jr. said. “We don’t ever want to give up a yard.”

Dale moved his family back to Zephyrhills after his father, Paul Smith, died of a heart attack in January. Paul handled the maintenance for Zephyrhills Christian and the football field is named after him.

Zephyrhills Christian has about 150 students, 44 in the high school. The team has 16 players, but the smaller talent pool does not seem to hurt the Warriors on the field.

“I have eight kids who could legitimately start in Pasco County public schools,” Mike said. “After those eight kids I’d still have a good junior varsity team in the public schools with what we have. So we have some depth that we didn’t have in the past. We had the same amount of kids last year, but it dropped from good athletes to kids that had never played football before.”

The tackle program at the school has been around for four years. Before that the Warriors played flag football. Mike said the team has players from mainly Zephyrhills, but also Dade City and Wesley Chapel.

“We love football, but the most important thing is remembering that God is most important and then comes school work,” Mike said. “We make sure they know if they want to play they need to take care of both those things first. Without God, football is meaningless.”

The Steinbrenner High football team picked up the first varsity win in school history in a 13-7 defeat of Bloomingdale High. The victory was a little more special for the Warriors (1-4) because it came in front of their home crowd.

“It was great,” said Steinbrenner coach Floyd Graham. “The kids worked really hard for this and we got to do it with our fans … No one player made it happen. They all stepped up.”

For the majority of the season the Warriors defense had been ahead of the offense in execution, but that unit upped their play against Bloomingdale (1-4). Steinbrenner got on the board in the final seconds of the first half when quarterback Christian Carriere hit wide receiver Tobi Antigha with a five-yard touchdown pass. Carriere added a one-yard rushing score to put his team up for good.

“It was kind of a surprise that they stepped up so much,” said Graham about the offense. “We have a bunch of injuries on the offense and it was a lot of younger players doing the job.”

The Warriors defense held Bloomingdale to 78 offensive yards, 0 rushing.

Graham started the football program at Newsome High and knows how the first win can propel a team.

“Getting over that first win is a big step,” Graham said. “Things should get easier now because they don’t have to worry about when they’re going to get that first one.”

Steinbrenner next plays at St. Petersburg Catholic High Oct. 8.

The U10 Lutz Lightning 2000 fastpitch softball team took second place in the NSA 2010 Ultimate Border Wars tournament at Oscar Cooler Park Sept. 25-26.

Lightning second in Border Wars tournamentThe U10 Lutz Lightning 2000 fastpitch softball team took second place in the NSA 2010 Ultimate Border Wars tournament at Oscar Cooler Park Sept. 25-26.  The Lightning went 5-1 in the tournament, losing only to eventual champion New Tampa Predators in the title game.Front row from left are Melanie Rogers, Callie Turner, Rebecca Gaschler, Adyson Harvey and Lexi Whitehead. Middle row from left are Ashley Smith, Brianna Lindner, Megan McClellan, Nicole Robinson, Jennifer Bryant, Marina Deetz and Miranda Arroyo. Back row from left are assistant Jim Rogers, assistant Dianne McClellan and coach Ron Gaschler.