5 Cheers for Pinellas

I Will be the very first to admit that I didn’t see as much Pinellas Football as I did last year, but you never forget your first love and I never stayed disconnected. I kept a close eye on you Pinellas. I liked what I saw live, what I heard from witnesses, and what I read in the blogs and twitterverse. You’re starting to do great things Pinellas. Here’s why…

1. Loudest cheer goes to of course the boys from Admiral Farragut. You’re the Pride of Pinellas today and carry the hopes of a county that deserves a title. There are probably many people that have no idea where this school is even located, but they’ll know tomorrow regardless of the outcome in Orlando. Cheers to all of the boys on a successful season with one more mission left to accomplish.

2. Cheer goes to Countryside. One cheer for each undefeated season in back-to-back fashion. Although it wasn’t meant to be this year, the Cougars will continue to be a part of the county’s elite for some time to come along with East Lake. (Who deserve a pretty big cheer in their own right) Cheers on the success fellas. I know you’re not satisfied with the ending, but the foundation is proper. Wouldn’t leave East Lake out of the

3. Cheer goes to the team that goes by three letters. CCC’s a program on the rise and a clubhouse favorite to take a shot at being the one representing Pinellas in the not-so-distant future. As in, maybe next year not-so-distant?

4. Cheer goes to some of the most talented guys you’ll see on the next level somewhere. Billy Pavlock, Andrew Matyk, Kenny Blanch, and David Jones. The HSFB junkies will get to know that Pinellas is a lot deeper than you can imagine.

5. Final cheer goes to the staffs that gave up a large portion of their lives to help some of these kids make something of themselves. If you think it’s not easy in Hillsborough, some of the staffs in Pinellas would love to have half the human and financial resources that the ‘Borough has. Not just a cheer, but a thank you as well.

~Doug

6. The QB’s: This was quite a year for the quarterbacks in Pinellas. You had the new to the scene, junior Tracy Johnson from the far south lighting up scoreboards, Pete Dinovo the junior, leading his East Lake Eagles deep into the playoffs, and holding it down for the seniors, Billy Pavlock, willing his team into uncharted territories in the playoffs and putting a stamp on the player of year discussions.

7. Getting to see Pinellas compete on par with Hillsborough. There were many games between Hillsborough and Pinellas county this year and while HiIlsborough holds the lead, Pinellas more than showed they are on par and can compete.

8. The rise in the coaching pedigree. Pinellas has been said to not have the greatest in terms of coaching when compared to other counties. But, this season showed the coaching pedigree has improved and is on the rise.

9. The promise for next year. With many of the county’s top teams (East Lake, CCC, Lakewood, Largo) returning most of their stars you can only expect an even better year in 2012.

~Eric

10. Countryside high: Always a good team year in and year out, Gray Crow carried this team on his back. The UM commit stats was: 119/212 for 1601 yards 12td’s and 11int’s.

11. Louis Pappas: Even though his team did not make the post season he was still a very good QB and made a defense cringe in its wake: 142/222 for 2300 yards, 14 tds and only 4 ints….I love this kid a very hard worker and a good field general.

12. Pete DiNovo: Guided his team deep in the playoffs and almost knocked off Plant High, taking them to the wire, 170/251 for 2426 yards 19 tds and 9 ints

13. Tracy Johnson: This kid is really amazing and he is only a junior, So we will get to see this kid one more year as he will be the voice of Lakewood on the field: 92/183 for 2015 yards 22td’s and 5 ints.

14. Juwan Brown: “Hush” off the field but a killer player on the field and will make you eat your words if talking trash at the line of scrimmage: 53/100 956 yards, 5 tds 3 ints

~Willie

15. Rayshawn Jenkins: The 6-2 195 lb. beat out of Farragut has shown true speed and NCAA Division I talent throughout the season while helping the program rise to become a state contender. Plus he’s committed to the U and is a natural with the ball in his hands.

16. Talent: While Pinellas doesn’t receive the same coverage as it’s neighbors to the east, the experience and talent like Ferragut tailback Todd Macon, who racked up over 389 yards last season is top notch.

~Jeff

17. Admiral Farragut became Running Back U, after Cortavious Givens suffered a torn ligament in his knee. The trio of Rayshawn Jenkins, Todd Macon and Napoleon Maxwell took over. When Jenkins missed over a month due to an inury, the M-n-M boys guided the ship until Jenkins returned.

18. Pete DiNovo and Tyler Lane laid the groundwork for a state Title run next season by almost pulling off an upset of one of Hillsborough’ finest, Plant, Plant, Plant.

19. The 2A-8 District was like having Oklahoma State play Oregon each weekend. Led by offensive skill players like the Farragut trio, Canterbury’s Brent O’Neal, and Indian Rocks Christian’s Sean Culkin.

20. Countryside, you teased us again, but Diomi Roberts represented the PC in a big way.

21. David Jones was possibly the most exciting overlooked players in the history of football in the Tampa Bay area.

~Chris