The Tampa Tribune from Tampa, Florida • 16

4- Pasco THE TAMPA TRIBUNE, Tuesday, February 9, 1982 TODAY PREP BASKETBALL Chiefland at Dunnellon (3): Groveland at South Sumter (3): Wiinston at Bronson (3): Crystal Biver at Lake Weir (3): Mount Dora at wndwood (3): Hernando at Hudson 3): Land Lakes at Zephyrhills (3): Pasco at Gull (3); Tarpon Springs at Springstead (Boys 2). Triple-headers begin at m. Double-headers start at 6 30 COLLEGE BASKETBALL St. Leo at Rollins. 7:30 m.

PREP SOCCER Springstead at Hudson. 7 m. MEN'S COLLEGE TENNIS St. Leo College at Florida Southern College. 2 m.

TELEVISION a.m. Gymnastics (Japanese Ad-Stars vs. Nebraska). USA. 7 ajn.

Sports Center. ESPN. Bam. College Basketball Replay (Syracuse vs. George town), ESPN.

10 a.m. Sports Center. ESPN. 11 a.m. Tennis Replay (Canadian Invitational Finals).

ESPN. 2 pro. Ice Skating (1981 Ennia Cup Competition). ESPN. 3:30 m.

College Basketball Replay (California vs. Oregon State). ESPN. 5 30 Sports Woman. ESPN.

6 pm A. Soccer. ESPN 7pm. This Week Trie NBA. ESPN.

7:30 p.m. Sports Center. ESPN. 7 35 m. NBA Basketball (Los Angeles Lakers vs.

Atlanta Hawks). Channel 1 7-A. 8pm- NHL AB-Star Game. WOR-9. 8 30 College Basketball (Missouri vs.

Kansas). ESPN. 10:30 m. NFL Films (The NFL SymFunny), ESPN. 11 pm.

NBA Basketball (New York Knicks vs. Seattle Su-'" perSonies) WOP-9: Sports Center ESPN Boinfl USA Sports Slate Pasco-Hernando-Citrus "This most certainly has to be the highlight of my athletic career. It ranks right along with finishing second in the Dixie Youth Majors World Series last summer." Eddie Looper 1 4- tars II 1 .11 die Looper Named To Sout the Hernando baseball team and is consid-J ered to be the finest second baseman in th area. He hit .283 for his team as a junior and was selected on The Tribune's All-Area team. He also pitched some his junior year recording a 2-1 record.

AlZ-1 He also "went out for basketball this year and has earned a starting spot as a guard and has helped Hernando post a 13-X record. "I'm really happy for Eddie," said Palmer about his star, who shared Player of the Year honors in the Gulf Coast ence in football with R.J. McKenna of Land: O' Lakes and Mark Hardy of Tarpon Springs. "It's quite an honor to be chosen to play in this game." for touchdowns. Both came against archrival Springstead.

Eddie also was credited with 38 solo tackles, assisted on 15 others, caused one fumble and knocked down 12 passes. He averaged just over 43 yards as a punter. The two-year starter in the secondary for the Leopards also did an outstanding job of directing the Hernando offense. He completed 46-of-84 passes (55 percent) for 698 yards and six touchdowns. He had only two passes picked off.

Hernando finished the year 10-2 with Looper at the controls. His first varsity action came in his sophomore year. Palmer called him up to play in the secondary after the junior varsity season was completed. Looper is also a three-year starter for along with finishing second in the Dixie Youth Majors World Series last summer. "I'm really surprised I was selected to play for the team.

I am sending in my form tonight (Monday) to accept." Fred Cooley, head coach of Class 4A Miami Killian, is the head mentor of the South All-Stars. Looper is the only area player to be chosen to play in the North-South game. Hernando Coach Dub Palmer took two players with him (Mark Rivenbark and Bucky Young) last year when he was head coach of the South. Rivenbark went as a replacement for Errol Bryant, who was chosen on the original list, but couldn't play in the game, because of an early reporting date to the United States Air Force Acad emy Prep School. Looper played both ways for the 3A-Dis-trict 7 champion Leopards in 1981.

He was the team's starting quarterback, handling the punting and was a defensive halfback. The son of Keith and Jean Looper was selected to The Tribune's All-Area first team as a defensive halfback and to the second team as a punter. The 5-10, 167-pounder set a school record for pass interceptions last fall, picking off 10 enemy passes in 12 games. It broke the school mark held by George Floyd, who is a two-time AU-American defensive back at Eastern Kentucky University. Floyd picked off nine aerials in 10 games and has held the mark for four years.

Looper returned two of his interceptions By WALT RIDDLE Tribune Sports Writer BROOKSVILLE Hernando's Eddie Looper, among the cream of the crop in area high school athletics, has been selected to play for the South team in the annual North-South prep football all-star game at the University of Florida, July 31. Looper told The Tribune Monday afternoon he received a letter from Florida High School Athletic Coaches Association Executive Director Wink Barnette, advising him he had been chosen as a defensive halfback-punter for the South All-Stars. "This most certainly has to be the highlight of my athletic career," said the three-sport star of the Leopards. "It ranks right Springstead In Spoiler Role Against First-Place Spongers '''4 Si A i-s gg The rest of the action has Pasco High at Gulf (3); Land O' Lakes at Zephyrhills (3); Hernando at Hudson (3); Chiefland at Dunnellon (3); Groveland at South Sumter (3); Williston at Bronson (3); Crystal River at Lake Weir (3); and Mount Dora at Wildwood (3): Chip Petro Lionel Brown 1 4J (tor ChMUJ) f-h mS" -A. Jr.

j'" 'l 'JL iillllllllllllft sSJSii'ii: By CRAIG DOLCH Tribune Sports Writer LAND O' LAKES The Springstead Eagles will be out to play the role of spoiler tonight in their matchup with Tarpon Springs to highlight the high school basketball action. The rest of the action has Pasco High at Gulf (3); Land O' Lakes at Zephyrhills (3); Hernando at Hudson (3); Chiefland at Dunnellon (3); Groveland at South Sumter (3); Wil-liston at Bronson (3); Crystal River at Lake Weir (3); and Mount Dora at Wildwood (3). Tarpon Springs, fresh off a 63-61 win over Pasco High Friday night, currently sits atop the Gulf Coast Conference race with with a 9-1 mark. Pasco and Hernando are just one game back at 8-2. If Springstead can spring an upset tonight, the GCC race would once again be wide-open.

However, a victory over the Spongers won't come easy. Tarpon Springs is 16-3 overall, and the Spongers have only lost once in their last 16 games to Pasco by 64-62. The latest surge has Sponger coach Stan Ely looking for some team recognition. "I don't know what we have to do to get into the (statewide) rankings," said Ely. "I feel like we deserve to be in there now.

I guess all we can do is keep on winning." Tarpon Springs relies on the shooting touches of Jamie Kanos, Keith Dudley and Jamie Rousis for their outside puch while 6-5 Lance McCallister provides the inside strength. Springstead, 7-11 overall and 4-6 in the conference, will counter with center Henry Harris, who has been the most consistent player for Eagle coach Greg O'Connell this season. Also starting have been Duane Marks, Chip Petro, Lionel Brown and Nathaniel Hicks. Meanwhile, Pasco will try and regroup from its tough loss tonight against the Cobras. Pasco, 14-10 overall, saw center Shawn Johnson explode for 23 points against Tarpon Springs for her best outing of the year.

The Pirates have depth in guards Marvin Meyers and Anthony Lane with Lonnie Clements also a scoring threat. The Pirates should have an easy time of it against Gulf, which has won only twice in 20 tries this year. Forward Dean Sestok paces the Buc attack with a 20-point scoring average. Hudson, 9-8, depends on the inside play of Kevin Hagood, Tony Marini and Tom Marini as the Cobras continue their quest for a first-ever winning basketball season. Hernando, 13-7 overall, lost a hard-fought 54-51 decision to Crystal River Saturday night.

Guard Tim Sims injured his eye in that game and is listed as "50-50" for tonight's contest Is Sims is unable to play, the offensive burden will shift to Darrell Owens and Johnny Vasquez. Crystal River has been enjoying a recent hot streak which has lifted the Pirates record to 16-3. Freddie McKinnon will be the big gun for Crystal River tonight against Lake Weir. And in another matchup, two teams which haven't enjoyed much success this basketball season Land O' Lakes and Zephyrhills will be going tooth-and-nail in the Bulldog gymnasium. The Gators came alive last week to post two of their three wins this year behind the A- ,4 J-S.

A -A A A A $rA 4 -yAA-z it 4 0" A A i I "1 1 I' 'f I hi iiniM illlilllMwimi nil' i1rrlTIT-J'Ji mii Mi. mil ii il Benefit Tourney strong play of R.J. McKenna and Bob Woodford. Zephyrhills, which has played with only seven players since forward David Eiland was sidelined with an ankle injury, has lost five of its last six to drop to 6-16. Mike Johnson, Mike Middleton and Brian Woodard lead the balanced 'Dog Close to 100 area racquetball players participated in a tournament over the weekend to benefit the Suncoast March of Dimes.

Peter Nehr (in dark shirt) won this match over Dan Burleson in Men's singles action at the Richey Racquet Racquetball Club. Tribune Photo by Mark Turnau Lance McCallister provides strength inside for the Spongers. Tribune Photo by Walt Johnson Monarchs' Remaining Goals: Avoid 20 Defeats, SSC Cellar bility to start strong. "I've done just about' everything I can think of. Maybe I ought to change our warmup routines or All kidding aside, Richert will be trying to get his team to revert back to the slower tempo they showed last week in a near upset of Hartwick College.

The starting five for St. Leo should once again include 6-2 Mike Malatestinic, 6-6 Scott Thatcher, 6-4 Mark Danhoff, 6-6 Tim Lovett and 6-5 Sankar Montoute. However, there is a chance that 6-6 Dennis Prue, who scored 17 points and pulled down 10 re-' bounds against Florida Southern, may move into the starting five. have certain goals they would like to reach. "Our players do not want to lose 20 games and we don't want to finish in the conference cellar," said Richert.

"I haven't given the spoiler role much thought and I don't think our players have, either. We're just worrying about our own goals." Richert knows the first goal will be hard to attain. St. Leo still has the Tars, Biscayne College, Central Florida and Florida Institute of Technology left to play. A 2-2 record the rest of the way would enable the Monarchs to escape without the 20 losses, but St.

Leo is going to have to spring an upset along the way. A win over FIT, though, would all but guarantee the Monarchs a finish out of the ures are Craig Koppelman (13.5), Stewart Colling (11.8) and Theo McWhite (11.8 and six assists a game). Glen Braziel (6.6 points, 5.6 rebounds) rounds out the starting five. Rollins defeated St. Leo, 88-73, on Jan.

16 by exhibiting such balanced scoring. Koppleman scored 23, Fiser 19, Colling 15, Braziel 13 and McWhite 12 as the Tars rolled up to a 56-32 halftime lead in that game. Starting slowly has been a sore spot all year for Richert's team. Against FSC Saturday night, the Monarchs were down early by more than 20 points before rallying back to the final margin of eight. "I really don't know waht to do about it," said Richert, referring to his team's ina By CRAIG DOLCH Tribune Sports Writer ST.

LEO St. Leo basketball coach Gary Richert says his team won't be out to play the role of spoiler tonight when they play Sunshine State Conference co-leader Rollins at 7:30 in Winter Park. The Tars are 15-5 overall and tied with Florida Southern for the SSC lead with a 6-1 mark. The Monarchs, on the other hand, have long since been eliminated from the SSC tournament (only the top four teams advance into tournament play) with records of 5-17 and 1-7. Despite having no championship thoughts to motivate themsleves, the Monarchs, according to Richert, still SSC basement.

Rollins will have to guard against over-confidence tonight. The Tars have won seven straight since losing to Central Florida, and since Rollins plays UCF Friday night in Orlando, maybe the Monarchs can catch their opponents looking past them. "Rollins is very similar to Florida Southern," said Richert, who saw his team lose a 71-63 decision to FSC Saturday night. "Both teams have very experienced players who don't panic on the floor. They're very senior oriented." Rollins boasts a very balanced attack, but the Tars have a potential All-American in Joel Fiser (20.4 points, 8.9 rebounds a game).

Other Rollins players in double fig.