The Tampa Tribune from Tampa, Florida • 5

THE TAMPA TRIBUNE, Monday, September 17, 1984 5-PH TODAY Women'! eH Women's Rortda Go Tour Tournament, first round, Sun Air Country Club, lake Hamilton, 9 am TtUVIMON 1:30 a.m. Sports Center. ESPN. 9:30 a.m. Prep Soccer (East-West All-Star Game), ESPN.

10 a.m. Auto Roemo '84 (Damngton 200), ESPN. 11:30 a.m. Ringside Review, ESPN. Noon College Football Replay (Auburn vs.

Texas), ESPN. 3:30 p.m. College Football Replay (Notre Dame vs. Michigan State), ESPN. p.m.

Sports Look, ESPN, 7 p.m. Sports Center, ESPN. 7:30 p.m. Inside Baseball, ESPN. 7:35 p.m.

Major League Baseball (Los Angeles Dodg ers vs. Atlanta Braves), Channel 17-A. 6 m. Monday Night Matchup (Miami Dolphins vs. But lalo Bills), ESPN.

6:30 p.m. NFL's Greatest Moments (1972 Miami Dolphins Highlights), ESPN. 9 p.m. NFL Football (Miami Dolphins vs. Buffalo Bills), Channels 9 10; Auto Racing '84 (Darlington 200), ESPN.

10:30 p.m. Billiards (Trick shots), ESPN. 11 p.m. Inside Baseball, ESPN. 11:30 p.m.

Sports. Center, ESPN. Midnight Sports Look, ESPN. 12:30 a.m. College Football Replay Notre Dame vs.

Michigan State), ESPN. 'I 3:30 a.m. Sports Center, Sports Slate RAMO 7:35 p.m. Makx League Baseball (Milwaukee Brewers vs. Detroit Tigers), WONN (1230AM).

Stronger 'back' bone boosted Blue Devils 4 VRM, i Frank Ruiz Parity rules in 2A district Not all things are turning but the way some observers of 2A-District 12 prep football thought they might. Though only two games have been played in a 10-game season and it is a little early to be counting out any team there have been some surprises. Speculation has mostly been whittled down to fact. Hardee! Avon Park and DeSoto are the leaders in 2A-12 as Week 3 approaches. Each is 1-0 in district games.

Both Hardee and Avon Park have overall perfect records. In case you missed it, Hardee defeated Fort Meade 34-8; DeSoto beat Mulberry 10-6; Avon Park won, 27-7 over Lake Placid; and Sebring lost 7-6 in Charlotte. From what we've seen on the field, it appears we now know who has what and which teams are going to make serious bids at the district title. Unfortunately for speculators, what has surfaced so far is a race of four teams: Hardee, Avon Park, DeSoto and Mulberry. And even that bit of speculation could change if Sebring ever stumbles on its potentially explosive offense, The Blue Streaks still have time.

Their first two games have? been against non-district opponents, a sort of boning up experience that has left them at 0-2, but unharmed (0-0) in the district race. What worries some observers and opponents is that Sebring could inadvertently discover bow to use its dangerous quarterback; Mike Whitney, or how to get its running game (led by tailback Alfred Brown and fullbacks Greg Ferguson and Dean Mattox) untracked. What if Sebring finds some receivers? Then Panic. Even Lake Placid, which lost to 2A-12 foe Avon Park Friday worries people. Fort Meade appears to be in the low end of what is known as the "prep It has run out of enough talent to get tailback Bernard Harper through a hole for the moment.

The 10-6 win by DeSoto against Mulberry Friday cannot be called an upset. The victory gave the Bulldogs an important edge in the an edge that could become more evident in the coming weeks, If there is one thing that appears to come of all this it's that parity seems to prevail, especially in the top four (or five) contenders. If you like thrillers, this is the year to own season tickets. I Lake Placid track Coach Craig Sowers, who fell 40 feet off a press box ladder on Sept. 7, is home recuperating from his injuries from that fall.

He had been helping film a Lake Placid prep football game when the ladder gave way "and he fell. He suffered several painful in- See RUIZ, Page Tennis 1 1 Photo by GREG FIGHT with yet another Interception on the first play of the Raiders' final possession. For the night, Kathleen picked off three Thompson passes (defensive back Dennis Muntz had the other) and recovered four Raider fumbles. Of course, Plant City was it own worse enemy, getting flagged 12 times for 116 yards in penalties. Hills, meanwhile, was Kathleen's primary mode of offense, carrying the ball 32 times for 159 yards and two touchdowns which pushed his season total to 267 yards and five touchdowns.

Willis, not as much a factor, completed 4-oMO passes for 57 yards and threw twice to tight end Larry Dickey for a total of 25 yards. To the east in Winter Haven, it was another classic shootout between Lakeland and Winter Haven. The result came down to a conversion attempt in the second overtime after Lakeland had pulled See McCLURE, Page i elude Raider Ransom Oliver after intercepting a pass intended for defense still tough fmf WINTER HAVEN Depending on whom you had your money on, Friday night's power struggle may rate in years to come as one of Polk County's all-time premier prep football games. The ending made it such. Granted, the game had its share of sloppiness, as Lakeland and Winter Haven each suffered ill-timed penalties, combining for 140 yards in flags: But when it was over, the Blue Devils had a 21-20 overtime victory, primarily because they had two 100-yard backs (Rod Shelton, 152 and James McKennon, 126), while the Dreadnaughts had just one (Raymond Lee, 152).

Losing coach Bill Castle, keeping a stiff lip in the wake of a bitter defeat, said, "It was a great football game." His counterpart, Winter Haven's Wayne Chapman, pretty much said the same thing. Trouble is, many of the 7,500 fans at Denison Stadium missed the best part. When regulation play ended with the' score tied 7-7, about 100 to 200 fans up and left They forgot about overtime. No doubt they were red-faced Saturday morning, reading how four touchdowns were scored while they jockeyed for the best position out of the parking lot Of course, the public address announcer didn't help matters. There were unconfirmed reports that he inadvertently uttered the standard line: "That's the ball game, ladies and gentlemen.

Have a safe trip home." Chapman, in his second year, was a bit confused himself, as it was his first overtime experience as coach. Ties stood when he coached at Auburndale in the 1960s; the new until the mid-70s. "Yeah, we heard about those people leaving," he said. "Guess they missed a good one, huh?" Let the record show that the Blue Devils are 2-0, but who could argue that they could just as easily be 0-2? Ironically, the Devils have won both games 21-20, but even more coincidental is the fact that they've staved off two-point conversions at the end. Winter Haven stopped West Orange on a two-point try with nine seconds remaining, and thwarted Lakeland's effort in the bottom half of the second overtime session Friday.

The Blue Devils rushed quarterback Garr Dees into overthrowing -Raymond Lee in the end zone, all Ithat despite missing defensive tackle "Rodney Walley. He had gone out on the previous play, apparently with leg cramps. Asked if he was surprised Lakeland attempted a pass rather than a power sweep to Lee, who gained 152 yards on the night, Chapman "We thought they'd flood that particular (left) zone. We had an idea of what was coming." A team to keep an eye on, as 3A- Richard Trapp of Orlando lost w.u mm en" i Chuck Mulling 8 coaches have been saying, is Haines City. The Hornets, trying to prove that last year (3-7) was somewhat of a fluke, upped their record to 2-0 with a district win over Arm-wood.

That wasn't the surprise, but the 28-27 score was. It was supposed to be a slaughter. Haines City was fresh off a 45-0 drubbing of Eau Gallie, while Arm-wood, a first-year school, had been thrashed 25-0 by Bradenton Bay-shore. But whatever optimism Hornet Coach George Crume might have harbored quickly subsided, especially when he saw four Hawk players who weren't even on the roster. That's because they became eligible only last week and hadn't played against Bayshore.

One of them was running back Terry Lewis. He returned the second-half kickoff 94 yards for a touchdown, and finished with 46 yards rushing. "This was a different team than the one we scouted," Crume said, noting the unexpected steam behind the Lewis and Co. express. Hmm! Wonder if coaches from a certain state college in Gainesville wouldn't have brought back a better scouting report? Both Lake Wales and Frostproof registered 20-point victories, but neither win came easy.

The Highlanders gave 27-year-old Coach James Hale his first triumph as they beat 3A-8 newcomer Gaither 40-20. But did they ever get Off to a bad start, falling behind 14-0 and mustering only 16 yards of total offense in the first quarter. However, the Highlanders picked their wishbone for all it was worth in the final three periods, finishing with 468 yards, 397 on the ground. "That team really impressed me," Hale said of the expansion Cowboys. "They played without fear.

I hope we don't get them next year." Frostproof, meantime, yawned its way to a 20-0 shutout of 1A-5 rival Ocala St. John. But get this: the Bulldogs scored just one offensive touchdown, a 6-yard run by Richard Williams. The other scores came on a fumble recovery by defensive tackle Robert Montgomery and a 35-yard punt return by quarterback Jimmy Brim-low. Worse still, the Bulldogs committed four turnovers.

It could have been worse, had they not recovered three of their own fumbles. And there were Frostproof penalties nine of them totaling 105 yards. Wouldn't want to be around Faris Brannen and his staff this week. in the finals to Don Russell of 4. Si Kathleen's Dennis Muntz tries to Oliver.

Kathleen LAKELAND For the past two years, Kathleen's football team has been built around a strong, hard-hitting defense. Almost all of those individuals are gone this year, but Coach Gary Spruce has come up with what appears to be another good defensive team. They're young but well-coached and for that reason, the Red Devils walked away with a 21-7 victory over Plant City Friday night for their second straight win of the season. True, Kathleen gave up 309 yards to the Raiders, but in the second half, when the Red Devils had to put the brakes on Plant City, they gave up only 61 yards, picked off a pair of Billy Thompson passes and recovered one fumble. The key, said Spruce, was the use of a nickel defense in the final two periods.

The fifth defensive back made it difficult for Thompson to find open receivers and for that reason he was intercepted twice. The most important of the interceptions came early in the fourth Photo by KYLE DANACEAU Sarasota. ft 1 Bob McClure quarter, with Kathleen in the lead 14-7, when defensive back Lovel Jackson robbed Plant City receiver Ransom Oliver at the Kathleen 10. It was a key play because that march turned out to be Plant City's final threat of the game. Later, Jackson delivered a vicious hit on Oliver that resulted in a fumble that Kathleen linebacker Mike Bishop hopped on at the Plant City 31.

Six plays later, after a pin-point 16-yard pass from Shane Willis to Rodney McDougal, running back Richard Hills scored on a 1-yard run to give Kathleen its final 21-7 margin with 51 seconds left in the game. Linebacker Chip Hill followed Sarasota man powers to title Gandolfo T-z -i' 1 By CHUCK MULLING Tribune Sports Writer GRENELEFE At first glance, they had no business being there, in the final, on opposite sides of the net, each pursuing the $400 first-place check. Neither are aspiring juniors nor tennis pros the types that usually dominate sanctioned tournaments. One of them assists his father in an art studio, while the other, now an attorney, was last seen playing football in Canada. But Sarasota's Don Russell and Orlando's Richard Trapp, each scoring upsets during the week, were the primary principles in the Gandolfo Grand Prix Tennis Championships Sunday, culminating a four-stop circuit that started in May.

The third-seeded Russell prevailed 6-3, 7-6, primarily because his legs had more spring at the end of the day. Of course, it helped that his passing shots were too powerful, too precise. "If you don't hit a good first volley against him, you're dead," Trapp said. In other finals, Tampa city professional Jeff Crowne crushed No. 4 Leo Gillespie of Palm Beach in the men's 25s final to earn $100.

The top-seeded Crowne whitewashed Cypresswood professional Robert Hollis 6-0, 6-0 in Sunday morning's semifinal, with Gillespie stopping Orlando's Jim Keleher 6-2, 6-0. Mick Andrews, men's tennis coach at the University of Central Florida, scored a mild upset in the 35s, defeating No. 1 Alan Benson of Tampa 7-5, 6-1. Andrews was the No. 2 seed.

In men's 55s action, top-seeded Bryan Meharg of Satellite Beach downed Richard Arnold, a nationally-ranked player from Tampa, 6-2, 6-2. In the lone doubles division, Lakeland's Danny Glad-man and Steve Layton of Vero Beach held off the new. kids on the block, Scott Evans of Auburndale and Tommy Ho of Winter Haven, 6-1, 7-6 for the open titles. Russell, 26, hadn't played a tournament since June, when he reached the semifinals of that month's Can dolfo leg. He has been honing his game sinc working part-time in his father's art shop in Sarasota, i Russell routined Winter Haven city professional Danny Gladman 6-4, 6-2 in the semifinals, and had no trouble winning the opening set against Trapp.

But he quickly painted himself a nasty picture in the second set, falling behind 3-0, only to reel off five consecutive games to take command. Once in the tie-breaker, he had no problem, winning it 7-1. "I'm in much better shape than the last tournament," said Russell, who plans to compete on a USTA satellite tour next January. "It's a good feeling just to go out knowing you can run down some A regular here at Grenelefe tournaments Trafip, 37, didn't start playing serious tennis until 10 years ago. He played professional football with the New York Jets and later with Winnipeg in the Canadian Football League, but he's best known as a standout wide receiver at the University of Florida, where he starred in the Steve Spurrier era.

"I had my chances, but just lost it," said the fourth-seeded Trapp, an attorney in Orlando. He erased second-seeded Kevin Campbell of Lakeland in the semifinals 7-5, 6-3, and earned $200 for his runner-up effort. "He had such good passing shots. He hit so many winners." v--i v-.