2010 NSL High School Cup Kicks Off In Florida
The National Surf League kicked off the 5th edition of its high school team surfing tournament featuring “The Game” format on April 27, 2010 with the Central Florida Regional at Sebastian Inlet in small, but clean “wedging” waves at 1st peak.
In the final Game, it came down to a re-match of last year’s regional final between The Cocoa Beach High School Minutemen coached by John Cangianella and Nick Piette and The Satellite High School Scorpions coached by George Seguna and professional surfer Travis Beckman.
At the start of regulation time in the top of the first period, a flurry of waves hit 1st peak and the Satellite High Scorpions full took advantage with Chris Tucker and Peter Polanski posting wave scores of 8 and 7.5 respectively with the Scorpions posting a 22.5 total 1st period score.
Cocoa Beach answered back in the bottom of the opening period with solid scoring rides from all four starters including a 6.5 from Forest Johnson. The Minutemen finished the first period down 2 points with a total of 20.5.
Satellite High came out in the top of the second on fire with all players scoring 5 pts and above with Peter Polanski earning a 7.8 for a big front side tail blast that won him the Most Radical Maneuver Award. The Scorpions total 2nd period score of 25.8 was the highest of the entire event.
Unfortunately for Cocoa Beach High, the incoming tide slowed the waves considerably, which perhaps left coaches Cangianella and Piette second-guessing their decision after winning coin toss to surf in the bottom half of each period. With not many waves on offer, Cocoa Beach was forced to burn through their remaining 3 of 5 timeouts and the team was only able to post a 13.7 total period score.
With the Game all but decided after the second period, Satellite posted average scores in the dwindling surf in the third period. But, it was enough to seal the victory for the third year in a row.
Satellite High School will now advance to the NSL High School Cup National Championship to be held June 12-13, 2010 at Upper Trestles in Southern California.
The National Surf League would like to thank Sebastian Inlet State Park, Terry O’Toole, CT Taylor, CJ and Damien Hobgood, participating high schools, parents, coaches and the local community for supporting high school surfing.
Final Game Box Score:
P1 P2 P3 Final
Satellite High School 22.5 25.8 18.9 67.2
Cocoa Beach High School 20.5 13.7 16.3 50.5
Most Valuable Player (MVP) – Chad Ellingham, Satellite High School
Most Radical Maneuver (MRM) – Peter Polanski, Satellite High School (Big front side blow tail)
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- http://grandvisite.wordpress.com Brian Edmonston