Pinellas Park High School - Occurrences Yearbook (Largo, FL)

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In his home jersey, senior Kevin Hykin, guard, satisHes his thirst, anticipating going back in the game. VARSITY FOOTBALL SCORES Lakewood Seminole Largo Countryside Tampa Bay Tecli Tampa Jefferson East Bay Clearwater Plant Robinson Dixie Hollins Sarasota I 7 rasota «. — 14- Absorbed in the game, seniors Ed Noble, end, Jerry Johnson, corner, and Matt Sugdinis, end, watch as their team fights hard against the Plant Panthers. r VARSITY FOOTBALL 183

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A moment of glory; a moment of grief The St. Petersburg Times ' headline read No contest: Pinellas Park erupts 38-7. An- drew Piszczynski, junior, com- mented, It was the best game of the season! The amount of emo- tion that was poured into that game was immeasurable and the energy between the players and the tans was electric. There wasn ' t much action in the first quarter until Stephens broke for a 48-yard run wnich set up the first Patriot touchdown. That play gave the team the psyche to get into the game. Buck noted that the defense did an outstanding job, highlighting that they were responsible for two touchdowns, a superior accomplishment for any defense. Beating Clearwater, a tradi- tional rival of the Patriots, was cause for celebration as the students poured over the field, mingling with the players and hugging, grins slapped on every face. However, this moment of glory was fleeting. Everyone ' s minds turned quickly to the game of the season. For the Patriots, Plant stood between them and the state championship. That Friday, the players were tense and heavy at neart. Although everyone tried to give them votes of confidence and ease their anticipation, the players were businesslike and no less so on the sidelines as they contemplated hard what they had to do. The Patriots captured a 14-0 lead during the first half. As it seemed the players would head to the locker room with the half ending that way, the Panthers, on their last possession, drilled down the field to narrow the Patriot lead to 14-7. Shortly into the third quarter. Plant made another touchdown. The Patriots held their head above water, but Plant surged on relentlessly. The Pinellas Park stands kept Patriot Pride stir- ring and cheered the team on through the final seconds. The score, 14-20 hit the Patriots hard. Masses waited in silence, their hearts inside the locker room with the players. When they finally emerged, their cheeks were stained and eyes puffy and red. Some sought comfort from family and friends while others sauntered away to work things out in their heads. Buck told them to remain proud — grieve over the weekend, but be ready to regroup on Monday. Stephens said, If you could have been in the locker room after the game, you could have seen how much love is on our team. We just stood in the middle of the locker room hugging for the longest time, added Booker. Buck reported of that following Monday, Practice went well. The guys were still a little down, however, they did pull together. A new goal was set to finish the season with a 9-1 record and then to defeat Sarasota River- view in the Ram Bowl. The Patriots made some recovery with a victory at Robinson. Booker scored four touch- downs to lead the Patriots in a 46-22 win. In the last game of the season, the Patriots in- flicted a 40-12 loss on Dixie Hollins. The Ram Bowl was cause for grief as it was the Plant game all over again, expressed Piszczynski. We should have beat them. The players were disappointed with the outcome of the season. Ron Harris, senior, explained, After the state championship was lost last year, it was left up to the returning team to win the next year. Everyone had high expecta- tions, but life is full of bad breaks. We know we had the capability. Buck stated, When you have a dream and it ' s taken away, you can ' t say T could have . . . ' It teaches you life. You form new goals. Harris continued, There was disappointment, but there weren ' t any regrets. Stephens, nodding his head in agreement added, We had a lot of love and we had our glory in winning. The bumps and bruises were all worth it! !2 VARSITY FOOTBALL

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Practicing Hard Playing Hard All the practice was worth it, said Derek Davis, sophomore, of the Junior Varsity football team who ended their season with a well fought 5-3 record. The J.V. always seemed to pull through, stated Mike Logue, sophomore, and in the first games the scores evidently proved that. The Patriots had a field day against Dunedin in their season opener defeating the Falcons 20- 3. The Patriots then resumed with their flying start by soundly defeating Boca Ciega and Tarpon Springs by scores of 20-12 and 6-0 before hitting a few snags. Although the team played en- thusiastically they fell short of their goal and victory eluded them in a double overtime rally versus Clearwater. It was a big game. We were disappointed, stated Coach Tim Hinz. They ' re a hard working bunch of guys and we were a lot better than our record showed. After an upset- ting loss to Countryside a re- juvenated team beat Seminole before being overcome in another important game by Largo ' s Packers. The team then ended the season with a sound defeat of Dixie Hollins. The team practiced long hours and always entered the field with high hopes stated Hinz who has coached the Junior Varsity Patriots for four years. The guys were able to keep their heads held high. They ' re certain- ly an impressive bunch. ROW 1: Pat Atkinson, (Charles Bentley, Mike Burgess. Anthony Small, Sam Williams, Bari Williams, Rick Black, Dave Applegate, Steve Satti, Andre Lowett, Don Patten, George Voelker, Dave McClelland. Brian Hudson, Mike Thorn, |eff Lawler, Pat Lynch; ROW 2: Hieu Vu, Chuck Clark, Russ Brown, Irven Harris, )eff Pickett, Dom Viola, Ron Fancio, |eff Walsh, Leon Hammond. Heath Moriarity. Derek Barnett, John O ' hair, Derek Davis, Leroy Savage, Alex Virgil, Dave Hitt, Dave Mixon, John Merrar; ROW 3: Manager Stass Andrews, Shawn Kelly, Mike Logue, John Skipper, Terry Patterson. Pat Quill. Mike Blue, Carl Pelletier, Trey Scully. Andy Pepe, Jason Smith, Robert Henry, Sean Minton. Jeff Ger- vato, Mike Adams, Todd Wiley. John Adair; ROW 4: Jeff Nuce. Gary Boswell. Rick Willard, Dan Palaz- zo, Mark Morgan, Chris Geiger, Chris Byrd, Coach Ed Jackson, Coach Tim Hinz, Robert Hugler, Scott jhermack, Steve Reith, Jason Pickett, Tymme Patterson. Willie Parker, Brad Bishop J.V. FOOTBALL Dunedin 20-3 Boca Ciega 20-12 Tarpon Springs 6-0 Clearwater 8-16 Countryside 18-19 Seminole 13-0 Largo 13-21 Dixie Hollins 28-20 184 JV FOOTBALL