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TC Seniors Thought This Day Could Come

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By MATTHEW POSTINS Tribune correspondent

Published: December 8, 2007

TAMPA - Marco Mendoza remembered one day that stunned him his freshman year.

With the entire team in full pads and on the field, Mendoza - then a member of the junior varsity - sat with his teammates and listened to the coach talk about the previous week's game.

"We talked for an hour and a half about that game," Mendoza remembered. "The work ethic is a lot better now."

When Tampa Catholic faces Madison County in the Class 2A state championship game tonight, 15 seniors will take the field in the Florida Citrus Bowl in the school's first state title game. Most of them can remember that day and the 1-9 season the varsity endured in 2004.

Many of those seniors will start, including Mendoza at defensive end, P.J. Broidy, Blair Harvey and Will Greaves at linebacker, Eric Gerken at wide receiver, Drew Zink at running back, Daniel Lee at cornerback and Alex Espinosa, Trevor Funk, Justin Carter, A.J. Noto and Mario Quevedo on the offensive line.

They also remember that as part of the JV they went undefeated and beat Jesuit in their final game. They came away optimistic that, one day, they could be part of turning the program around.

"It's hard to explain what this means," Broidy said. "This group has had this in our mind since we were freshmen."

This? A state championship game three years after the varsity barely won a game?

"Mention that to us three years ago and people would have thought you were crazy," Zink said.

But here they are, and this senior class has helped the program make steady progress every year since they joined the varsity in 2005.

That year, the Crusaders lost in the first round of the playoffs to Clewiston. Last year, they reached the second round and lost to Clewiston, 10-7.

That loss deeply affected this team to the point where coaches had T-shirts made and yelled out "Clewiston 10, Tampa Catholic 7" during wind sprints.

After beating Clewiston two weeks ago, they heard something new.

"This is what you worked for," Broidy said. "That's what they yell now."

These seniors have worked for this since almost immediately after Bob Henriquez returned as coach in 2005. He saw that final JV game against Jesuit, and even though he didn't know he would coach them at the time, he saw potential.

"I was impressed with a nucleus that could be the catalyst for rebuilding this program," Henriquez said. "They've been the foundation."

Mendoza said Henriquez told them they would be in the weight room within a week of his arrival, and they were. To the seniors, Henriquez was the perfect coach at the perfect time, and he and his staff were like "night and day" compared to what they were used to as freshmen.

"We knew we had the talent," Zink said. "We needed someone to guide us. He knows what he's doing."

Henriquez said he saw their work ethic as program-changing. He hoped they would rekindle the traditional success the Crusaders had in the 1990s. Turns out they've added to it. The Crusaders' 11 wins this season are the best of any TC team.

Now the Crusaders have not only resurrected the program, the seniors said they're intent on leaving something their predecessors could not - a legacy.

A championship.

"It would mean everything right now," Mendoza said. "That's all that's on my mind."

Correspondent Matthew Postins can be reached at mpostins@

pop.tampatrib.com.

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