Feb 1, 2001 - 04:57 PM

Gaither gears up fo district tourney
ERIK ERLENDSSON
of The Tampa Tribune

NORTHDALE - Gaither finally has a reason to get excited about its boys soccer season.

Adrian Bush has seen it before. That tired, glazed-over look from his players.

It might be referred to as post-Holiday syndrome. Or even post-Sun Bowl concussion, a condition in which high school soccer players come off of a club soccer tournament two days after Christmas and forget the high school season resumes almost immediately after New Year's Day.

Though not a medically proven fact, the effect has caught up to the Cowboys the last two seasons.

``I think everybody just comes out of the Sun Bowl forgetting about what it takes to get ready for high school again,'' senior captain Norris Hartzog said. ``It just seems that we lose some of our focus when we come back.''

Last year Gaither came out of the Winter Break and lost 4-1 to River Ridge, the worst loss of the season for the Cowboys. The loss coincided with the death of Bush's cousin and was the low point of the season. The team was able to refocus before the season ended, however, and went on to capture the Class 4A state championship, beating Coconut Creek 3-1 in the final.

This year, it happened again.

Coming out of the break, Bush scheduled a four-team tournament which included Bloomingdale, Jesuit and Land O' Lakes. Gaither won the prestigious Puma Tournament just before Christmas and was ranked No. 3 in the nation, according to Fox Student Sports.

Then it happened. The symptoms appeared when the Cowboys took the field minus Bush, who was taking classes to earn his Class B Coaching license, for the first two games after New Year's Day.

Gaither went out and lost two consecutive games - 2-1 to Land O' Lakes and 5-1 to Jesuit - for the first time in more than a year.

``I take the blame for those two losses because I wasn't there and that is a big distraction,'' Bush said. ``But I was not upset over the two losses, I was more disappointed in the effort the guys gave for [assistant coach Greg] Zak and [backup goalkeeper James] Cobb.''

Bush is hoping the team regains its focus in time for this week's Class 4A-District 7 tournament. Gaither was scheduled to play Durant in the semifinals Wednesday night.

``The hard part about this year is everybody wants to go by what we were able to do last year. Then we clinched the top seed in the district and the spot in [Western] Conference so it was hard to keep the guys motivated.

``We have really been sitting back and waiting for this time [of the season] to arrive.''

Bush said that only twice this year has he sensed his team was excited to play, the first was for Bush's 100th coaching victory and during the Puma Tournament.

``But they know, and I've drilled it into their heads enough, that nothing else matters right now. The Puma and Western Conference championships are nice trophies to have and that championship teams need those kind of things, but they are not the big prize,'' he said.

That prize is another state title, a prize worth getting excited over.

``Now is the time of the year to realize that every team you play is capable of beating you and if you lose one, your season is over,'' Hartzog said.