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Closing In On Records

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By BART O'CONNELL Tribune correspondent

Published: December 16, 2007

TRINITY - Though he is a year older, and many of his teammates seem a year younger, Joe Montelongo hasn't changed much during his senior season at Pasco.

He is still the explosive goal scorer who draws a crowd on the field and some raised eyebrows from those who follow the statistics.

If anything, he seems to be getting better despite all the change around him, and he might prove it by breaking some records.

As of Friday, Montelongo had 28 goals in 13 games, including a five-goal and a four-goal game in the past two weeks. Not only is he stalking his school record of 44 goals in a season, he is closing on Novica Maric's 127 career goals at Gulf High, the most for a Pasco County player.

According to Pasco's coaching staff, Montelongo is at 123. He will have three chances this week to break the record - Monday vs. Ridgewood, Wednesday at Gulf and Thursday at Springstead.

"We were hoping he was going to show up this year," said Pirates coach Barry Grayling. "When he gets in his stride, he's tough to stop. There have only been two games this year where he hasn't scored a goal. He's stepped up."

The success doesn't make the constant double-teams any easier to deal with. That's why Montelongo had his own reservations going into the season about this year's Pirates, which lost seven starters from last year's squad that reached the Class 4A regional final.

He fully expected more pressure to be put on him to produce, but several other players have stepped up to lighten the load, led by fellow forward Alex Hollander with 17 goals. Pasco has scored more goals and allowed fewer than last season at this point, and Montelongo likes what he has seen.

"It's been pretty good, with the help of my teammates getting me the ball," Montelongo said. "At first it took a lot of time, the JV players were not as experienced, but we've played harder."
Montelongo comes from a family of athletes. His two older brothers, Gilbert, 24, and Gabe, 21, played soccer and football, and that is where Joe got his start, playing against his brothers and cousins starting at age 6.

By 11, Montelongo was involved in East Pasco club soccer, and he was coached by Warren Lowery, who still is involved with the club and assists Grayling.

At that time, all three brothers were playing club soccer, and Lowery had high expectations for them. But while Gilbert and Gabe began their prep careers at Pasco and later transferred to Wesley Chapel, Joe did not follow along.

"I thought there'd be a better team here," he said. "Besides, why go one place and then switch, try to make new friends or whatever. There's no point."

The decision has seemed to be a good one, as Montelongo is closing on records and is in position to lead his team to another playoff appearance. The Pirates must make it to the final of next month's Class 4A-District 8 tournament to qualify.

"There's a good chance of breaking the goal-scoring records," Grayling said, "but I'm sure Joe would tell you that the main focus is to keep on winning."

Bart O'Connell can be reached at boconnell@pop.tampatrib.com.

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