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Pinellas: News and notes

By Bob Putnam and Izzy Gould, Times Staff Writers
In print: Thursday, May 1, 2008

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Falcons advance to state quarterfinals

Dunedin's flag football team beat Northeast 32-7 in Tuesday's region final to advance to the state tournament. The Falcons will play Plant City in the state quarterfinals at 8:30 p.m. Friday at West Boca Raton High.

In the region final, Auna Gould was 17-of-23 and threw three touchdowns to lead Dunedin. Gould's favorite targets were Vladanna Petricevic (nine receptions, 195 yards, one touchdown) and Felicia Postell (three receptions, 65 yards, two touchdowns).

On defense, Emily Overby had 16 tackles, Cara Trudell had two interceptions and Erica Ramos had six sacks.

Pilot program close to becoming law

A Senate bill that would allow private school students to participate in public school athletics won House approval Wednesday after heated debate. House members amended the bill so only three counties would launch a two-year pilot program, to begin in the fall.

The bill would allow private school students to participate in public school sports at the middle and high school levels, as long as their schools do not offer those programs or are not members of the Florida High School Athletic Association. The pilot program would be held in Duval, Bradford and Nassau counties and requires final approval by the Senate and Gov. Charlie Crist.

Pair named to all-academic team

East Lake's Alison Burnham and Osceola's Cameron Porter were selected to the 14th annual FHSAA Academic All-State Team.

Burnham has a 4.0 grade point average and is ranked fifth in a senior class of 539. She earned a varsity letter in soccer all four years, and also earned three letters each in flag football and golf. She plans to attend the University of Florida and study engineering.

Porter has a 3.96 GPA and ranks fifth in a senior class of 362. He earned a varsity letter in track and field all four years, as well as three letters in wrestling and one in football. He plans to attend the University of South Florida and study pre-medicine.

Twenty-four student-

athletes are being honored from the more than 70 nominees from the association's 650 member high schools. To be eligible, a student must be a graduating senior, have a cumulative unweighted GPA of at least 3.5 on a 4.0 scale, and have earned a varsity letter in at least two sports during each of his or her junior and senior years.

Each honoree will receive a $1,000 award and a commemorative medallion. From the 24 recipients, two Scholar-Athletes of the Year, one boy and one girl, will be announced at the FHSAA academic all-state awards banquet June 12. The Scholar-Athletes of the Year will receive an additional $3,000 each, as well as a trophy.

Compiled by staff writers Bob Putnam and Izzy Gould.

Hayford steps down as AD

Shorecrest's Phil Hayford has decided to step down as athletic director after 23 years. "I wanted to do this to spend more time with my family," Hayford said.

Hayford will continue to be the head coach in football and teach physical education. When Hayford took over as athletic director, the school had 24 sports teams and 36 coaching positions. Shorecrest's athletic program now has 42 teams and 64 coaching positions. The Chargers also have been ranked in the top 10 overall in their classification by the Florida High School Athletic Association 15 out of the past 23 seasons.

Mark Heiser will take over as athletic director. Heiser, a former baseball player at Coastal Carolina, is the director of athletics at Lausanne Collegiate in Memphis.