Posts by Eduardo A. Encina
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Times’ 2011 all-Hillsborough County volleyball team
Co-Players of the Year: OH Jordan Burgess, Sr., Berkeley Prep Plainly put, Burgess will leave Berkeley as one of the most decorated volleyball players in recent memory. After winning her third straight state title at Berkeley, she became the first repeat winner of the Florida Dairy Farmers Miss Volleyball award. ...
Read moreThu. Dec. 22, 2011 at 10:24 a.m. | Eduardo A. Encina
Early graduation gives top prospects a jump on acclimating to college life
TAMPA — Plant City quarterback Bennie Coney had known he wanted to enroll in college early since the beginning of his junior year. As his recruiting heated up, so did the thought of starting his college career a semester early. Coney, the bay area’s top quarterback recruit for the Class ...
Read moreWed. Dec. 21, 2011 at 7:11 p.m. | Eduardo A. Encina
Class 8A state football final: Plant 31, Miramar 20
ORLANDO — This year’s Plant football team didn’t possess the five-star recruits or the record-breaking passing game of years past. These Panthers made their fourth straight state title game appearance devoid of the star power of their predecessors. And because of that, this squad might go down as the best ...
Read moreSat. Dec. 17, 2011 at 6:31 p.m. | Eduardo A. Encina
Local football players give back during holiday season
WEST TAMPA -- Some of them had just returned from their first semester of college 24 hours earlier, but several former and current high school football players assembled at Rey Park Community Center in West Tampa on Friday afternoon to participate in a holiday toy giveaway. The event, organized by Unsigned ...
Read moreFri. Dec. 16, 2011 at 10:06 p.m. | Eduardo A. Encina
It's one-stop, Ivy League shopping at Plant this season
TAMPA — Plant senior tight end Chase Mighell spends most of his time on the football field protecting quarterback James Few. Off the field, the teammates have an intense academic competition that will shape their future beyond the gridiron. Mighell and Few own identical 6.12 weighted grade-point averages, tied for ...
Read moreThu. Dec. 15, 2011 at 6:52 p.m. | Eduardo A. Encina
Baseball: Tampa Prep's Durin O'Linger commits to Davidson
Tampa Prep senior pitcher/first baseman Durin O'Linger has committed to Division I Davidson College, Terrapins coach A.J. Hendrix announced on Thursday. O'Linger, who transferred from Middleton this school year, was 7-3 with a 1.36 ERA and 57 strikeouts in 51 2/3 innings for the Tigers last year. He also hit .472 with a team-high 10 doubles, one home run and ...
Read moreThu. Dec. 15, 2011 at 1:15 p.m. | Eduardo A. Encina
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Recruit: Durin O'Linger
Davidson College
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Recruit: Durin O'Linger
Volleyball: Berkeley's Burgess wins Gatorade state player of the year award
Berkeley Prep senior outside hitter Jordan Burgess added another state honor to her resume on Wednesday. The Stanford-bound senior was named this year’s Gatorade Florida Volleyball Player of the Year. The 6-foot-1 Burgess won the same award last season and is now one of 51 finalists – one from each state and ...
Read moreWed. Dec. 14, 2011 at 8:54 a.m. | Eduardo A. Encina
Meet Plant's opponent: Miramar
TAMPA — Five months after Isaiah Laurencin’s death, Miramar football coach Damon Cogdell said the wound has yet to heal and the pain still lingers. Long before the Patriots landed in Saturday’s Class 8A state title game against Plant, the football team received a new purpose that has propelled it ...
Read moreTue. Dec. 13, 2011 at 5:54 p.m. | Eduardo A. Encina
Harry Hubbard out as Blake football coach
Harry Hubbard won’t be back for a fourth season as the head football coach at Blake. Hubbard was fired from his post Tuesday, he confirmed to the Times. “I’m fine with their decision,” Hubbard said by phone Tuesday. “Like I’ve always said, God always has something in store for you.” ...
Read moreTue. Dec. 13, 2011 at 1:14 p.m. | Eduardo A. Encina
FHSAA soccer finals moved to USF
This year's boys and girls soccer finals will have a different look and a different home. The Florida High School Athletic Assocition announced Monday that USF's Corbett Stadium will host the girls soccer finals Feb. 10-11 and the boys soccer finals Feb. 17-18. The past three years, the events have been held at Pepin Stadium on the ...
Read moreMon. Dec. 12, 2011 at 4:42 p.m. | Eduardo A. Encina
Plant WR Austin Aikens day to day with knee injury
The status of Plant senior Austin Aikens, the Panthers' leading receiver, for Saturday's Class 8A state title game against Miramar is uncertain. Aikens suffered a bruised PCL in his left knee while trying to make a diving sideline catch in Friday's 26-7 state semifinal win over Neptune Beach Fletcher. An MRI exam over the weekend was negative and Aikens is considered day-to-day, coach Robert Weiner said. "A ...
Read moreMon. Dec. 12, 2011 at 3:40 p.m. | Eduardo A. Encina
Plant City's Patterson named one of 12 finalists for the Rudy Awards
Plant City senior running back Dazmond Patterson has been named one of 12 finalists for this year's Rudy Awards, a third-year national honor that recognizes student athletes who have inspired their teammates, classmates and communities in the spirit of Daniel "Rudy" Ruettiger, the subject of the movie "Rudy." Patterson, along with the other 11 finalists will be profiled in PARADE ...
Read moreSat. Dec. 10, 2011 at 8:05 p.m. | Eduardo A. Encina
Class 8A state semifinal: Plant 26, Neptune Beach Fletcher 7
TAMPA — A week after needing overtime to save its season, the Plant football team was determined to not need a prayer in Friday night’s Class 8A state semifinal against Neptune Beach Fletcher. The Panthers needed a furious fourth-quarter comeback to beat East Lake last week, but seven days later, ...
Read moreSat. Dec. 10, 2011 at 12:27 a.m. | Eduardo A. Encina
Plant's O-linemen in synch despite inexperience
TAMPA — Plant senior center Jon Haney’s helmet bears more scratches than the black paw print stickers that decorate the helmets of some of his skill position teammates — the ones that are more often rewarded for touchdowns than pancake blocks. But the team realizes that if Plant’s yearly formula ...
Read moreThu. Dec. 08, 2011 at 6:27 p.m. | Eduardo A. Encina
Riverview's Woodard reaches 1,000-point plateau with triple double
Riverview junior basketball player Faith Woodard scored her 1,000th career point in Wednesday night’s 78-35 win at Newsome – and she did so with her best overall effort of the season. The 6-foot-2 forward registered her first triple-double of the season against the Wolves, scoring a season-high 28 points, 20 ...
Read moreThu. Dec. 08, 2011 at 1:39 p.m. | Eduardo A. Encina