Jan. 22, 1998
SEMINOLE -- St. Petersburg (8-1-1, 4-0-1 in the PCAC South) tied Osceola (5-0-2, 4-0-1) in a 1-1 game on Tuesday. Because of a quirky PCAC rule, however, the Warriors might be shut out of the PCAC title game despite their identical division record.
When teams used to play two games against each other, the Pinellas County Athletic Conference came up with a tie-breaking system that awards two points for an away tie but only one for a home tie.
Now that teams are required to play each other division team just once in the season, the tie-breaker seems outmoded. But there it is.
"We really got screwed by that rule," Osceola coach Tim Rachford said after Tuesday's game.
The Warriors were happy to salvage a tie after being dominated for most of the game. Harris Ambush scored on a nicely placed free kick early in the first half to put the Green Devils up 1-0.
Rachford pulled back Tony Mione to cover Johnny Oldja. "We felt stopping Oldja was the key," he said. Mione did a good job of that all game, but the Osceola offense suffered for it.
Late in the game, as St. Petersburg's defense looked very solid in turning away any Warriors scoring threats, Rachford pushed up Mione along with talented midfielder Mike Servis.
The additional pressure paid off. Osceola had a flurry of shots in the last five minutes, culminating in Murray Willingham's goal with a couple minutes remaining on a pass from Servis.
Ambush said after the game that he thought the Green Devils did not play up to their potential. "We're a better team than what we showed tonight," he said.