Tampa Bay Times from St. Petersburg, Florida • 23

T0 CONTACT US Delivery: (727) 895-1181 or (800) 333-7505, ext. 2800 Sports desk: (727) 893-8123 or (800) 333-7505, ext. 8123 Sports fax: (727) 893-8782 Mon-Fri: 9 a.m.-11 p.m. Sat-Sun: 5 p.m.-10 p.m. By e-mail; sptsnewssptimes.com SECTION TUESDAY, JANUARY 24, 2006 THE TIMES SIDELINE 0 J.

Spiller, a running back from tiny Lake Butler, has been wowing football fans for a very long time. Union County's CJ. Spiller will decide among Florida, Florida State, Miami, Clemson and Southern Cal. County High, just north of Gainesville in Lake Butler, has been pursued by every major college program. And with signing day eight days away, the Times Blue Chip Prospect of the Year is weighing offers from Clemson, Florida, Flor ida State, Miami and Southern California.

Spiller, recruiting analysts agree, has all the tools, but his tremendous speed (he says he runs the 40-yard dash in 4.28 seconds) is his forte. Rivalsl00.com ranks him eighth among all recruits nationally, ahead of players such as Ponte Vedra Beach Nease quarterback Tim Tebow and heralded Fort Lauderdale St Thomas Aquinas offensive lineman Sam Young. Please see SPILLER 5C By KEITH NIEBUHR Tlmn Staff Writer CJ. Spiller was special. Union County football coach Buddy Nobles knew that the moment he first saw him play.

Spiller had amazing speed and the ability to make defenders miss. If he found an opening, he was off to the races. When there wasn't a hole, he dodged defenders until one opened up. He was only 8. "I remember watching him and thinking, That kid can Nobles said.

"He was just a little guy, but he had a burst that nobody else had. It was almost like he was playing touch football and wouldn't let people touch him. He was definitely the talk of the town." Still is. The dangerous 5-foot-ll, 190-pound tailback, a senior at Union INSIDE Each year, the Times ranks the top high school football prospects in the nation, state and bay area based on a survey of recruiting analysts. The top player in the state, in our estimation, is the Times Blue Chip Prospect of the Year.

The list: 4C. NEWEST ARRIVAL AND RIVAL r. -f I I I 'J a Getty Imagst COMING ON STRONG: Martina Hingis, above, continues her strong comeback from a three-year layoff, advancing to the quarterfinals of the Australian Open.3C RETURNING RAY: The Rays avoid arbitration with Casey Fos-sum, signing the pitcher to a two-year deal. But the team's chances of acquiring a top Red Sox third-base prospect likely have ended. 8C 1 DOWN: No.

2 Duke routs top-ranked Tennessee 75-53 in women's basketball. 2C MAKING NEWS DOG DAYS: For the first time in its 81-year history, Derby Lane will feature matinee performances seven days a week. Officials at the St. Petersburg greyhound track said the new early spring schedule will include 14-race matinee races beginning at 12:30 p.m., Monday through Sunday, and 15-race evening races beginning at 7:30, Friday and Saturday. The change begins Monday, OUT OF BOUNDS NOT SO HOT FOR TEACHER: A 17-year-old high school student in Beaver Falls, said he was humiliated when a teacher made him sit on the floor during a midterm exam in his ethnicity class for wearing a Broncos jersey.

The teacher, John Kelly, forced Joshua Vannoy to sit on the floor and take the test Friday two days before the Steelers beat the Broncos 34-17 in the AFC Championship Game. Kelly also made other students throw crumpled up paper at Vannoy, whom he called a "stinking Denver fan," Vannoy said. Kelly said the junior at Beaver Area Senior High just didn't get the joke. "If he felt uncomfortable, then thafs a lesson; thaf what (the class) is designed to do," Kelly told the Denver Post, "I can't believe he was upset." Vannoy said he wants put of Kelly's class. "I'm going to (lave to deal with him for two more nine weeks (school quarters) and he's going to want revenge somehow," Vannoy said.

Big Beaver Falls Area School District Superintendent Donna Nugent said she was aware of the situation, but said rules prevent her from commenting. QUESTION OF THE DAY The 49ers' Joe Montana completed 83 passes, with 1 1 for touchdowns, in four Super Bowls. How many interceptions did he throw? Answer below. QUOTABLE "Al will probably be saying Shut JOE GIBBS, Redskins coach, who is giving up play-calling but remains part of game-planning, on new offensive coordinator Al Saunders CHECK IT OUT UH-OH: Anna Benson, the former exotic dancer and highly outspoken wife of new Orioles pitcher Kris Benson, is scheduled to appear today on the Dan Patrick radio show (1470-AM, 1 4 p.m.). ANSWER None.

UP NEXT Lightning vs. Panthers, 7:30 p.m. today, St. Pete Times Forum, Tampa jjTViRADIO: Sun Sports; 620-AM TICKETS: (813) 301-6600 or tampabaylightning.com mm o) jw 1 worn IV moving forward? Curses to cost coach his job 0 The Pinellas superintendent wants the coach banned in the county for profanity. By BOB PUTNAM Tlmw Stiff WrltT Dustin Bengston's tenure as Palm Harbor University High School's football coach is apparently over after one season.

In a memo sent to the Pinellas County School Board, superintendent Clayton Wilcox has recommended suspending Bengston without pay for 10 days as a teacher and permanently banning him from coaching in Pinellas County schools, saying that Bengston used profanity and intimidating remarks and exposed students to unnecessary embarrassment The School Board is scheduled to hear his case today, but Bengston has asked for an administrative hearing to fight the recommendation and the accusations. That means the School Board will transfer his case to the state Division of Administrative Hearings. Until an administrative law judge rules on the case, Bengston will remain as a special education teacher at the school but will not coach. Regardless of the outcome of the appeal, Palm Harbor University athletic director Bob Heintz has decided to move on, hiring assistant coach Pete Just as the school's coach. Just was coach for one season at Dunedin, going 4-6 in 1995.

'The hearing process can take a while and we just couldn't wait that long," Heintz said. "We needed to have someone in place, and Oust) was already on staff. But well still see how the appeals process plays out regarding Dustin." Bengston, 29, declined comment but his attorney, Mark Herdman, said the accusations were "way over the top." Please see COACH 6C than one bad game. A crisis had been building, and the San Jose game was merely the breaking point. "A mind-set crept in," Lightning coach John Tortorella said.

"(It's like we thought), We're the defending Stanley Cup champions, and you're not supposed to hit me and we're not getting It was about anything except playing hard." It went even deeper. The lightning dressing room had become divided in the wake of the waiving of captain Dave An-dreychuk and floundered while veterans tried to find their voices within the team. Sensing this, Tortorella Please see LIGHTNING Back page The Japanese automaker, with a bit of a vagabond racing's top two series. By BRANT JAMES Tim Staff Writtr NASCAR truck series since 2004, will be a good partner when it begins racing in the Nextel Cup and Busch series beginning next season. Mechanisms are in place to make sure all teams have a fair chance to compete, NASCAR director of competition Robin Pemberton said.

Team owners such as Jack Roush hope Pemberton is right "We've recognized that competition here is all about the teams," said Toyota Racing Development USA CEO Jim Aust, introducing the Camry as the company's "It's not about the manufacturers up and competing." foreign-based manufacturer has not a race in NASCAR's top series rules limit competition to companies racing brand is constructed in States. The Camry is built in doesn't doubt Toyota's credentials. worries the company's history of Please see TOYOTA 6C CONCORD, N.C. Two major auto racing series failed in their association with Toyota. NASCAR doesn't think it will have that problem.

NASCAR's top two stock car series hope to reap the benefits of an association with the successful Japanese automaker without being consumed and discarded like Champ Car and the Indy Racing League before it Dave Illingworth, a Toyota executive, said the company, which has raced in the Kobe's 81 heats up talk of VUilfs 100 Trio of meetings has helped solve Lightning's problems John Tortorella and Sean Burke led the talks that preceded the current three-game win streak. history in tow, joins stock car Kobe Bryant shot 60 percent from the field, including 7 of 1 3 from 3-point range, en route to 81 points. I i jf 8 AP racing brand. all lining A competed in since 1963. NASCAR whose the United Kentucky.

Roush He The Lakers star says "if unthinkable" but his performance Sunday has some thinking otherwise. INSIDE A shot chart breaks down Bryant's 81. EC product of a bygone era when Chamberlain was bigger and stronger than anyone he faced, the lane was more narrow and defenses weren't nearly as sophisticated. It's one of those feats, along with Joe DiMaggio's 56-game hitting streak, revered as untouchable. "When a man scores 81 points in a regulation game, that speaks volumes," Al Attles, Golden State's vice president and assistant general manager, said Monday.

Attles was the Warriors' starting point guard that night in Hershey, Please see BRYANT 5C Timet wlr Now that he has flaunted the laws of physics and NBA box scores, it's only natural to wonder if he can do more. Kobe Bryant isn't constrained by the mundane boundaries of reality and history. He's one of those rare athletes who tempt you to believe the impossible may be possible. This is what the Los Angeles Lakers guard has done with his 81-point game Sunday night against Toronto. He has forced people to examine the assumption that Wilt Chamberlain's record will never be broken.

The 100 points the Big Dipper scored for the Philadelphia Warriors on March 2, 1962, are the By TOM JONES Tlm Stiff Wrltr TAMPA The Lightning held three meetings in 18 hours last week following a ghastly 3-1 loss to the Sharks. While the loss initiated the timing of the meetings, troubles on and off the ice had been brewing for weeks. The problems finally boiled over in three brutally honest meetings two led by the coaching staff and another involving only the players. While the loss to the Sharks, which players referred to as "pathetic," "embarrassing" and "disheartening," was Exhibit A in the case against the up-and-down Lightning, the issues were rooted much deeper.