Florida Sports Wires

From Florida SportsTicker TAMPA  (www.thefloridasportswire.com) – South Florida junior kicker Nico Gramatica has been named to the preseason watch list for the Lou Groza Collegiate Place-Kicker Award, the Palm Beach County Sports Commission announced Friday. Gramatica is one of three American Conference players named to the 35-player watch list. The 35th Annual Lou Groza Collegiate Place-Kicker Award, presented by the Orange Bowl, recognizes three finalists during a celebration in Palm Beach County, culminating with a banquet gala on December 7th in West Palm Beach, Florida.   The Award is named for National Football League Hall of Fame kicker Lou “The Toe” Groza, who played 21 seasons with the Cleveland Browns. Groza won four NFL championships with Cleveland and was named NFL Player of the Year in 1954.  Gramatica earned Second Team American All-Conference honors last season, his first as the Bulls’ starting kicker. He went 18-of-24 (75%) on field goal attempts, ty...

 HONOLULU, HAWAI‘I, - Paradise! And a Christmas miracle for the USF Bulls! USF Football (7-6) won Tuesday night’s Hawaii Bowl with an astounding 41-39 five-overtime thriller, the longest bowl game in history, against the San Jose Spartans (7-6) in a game that ended at 12:24 a.m., Tampa time. USF victory was assured in the fifth overtime when Bryce Archie hit wide receiver Keshaun Singleton on a 3-yard pass. On the San Jose State possession, linebacker Mac Harris knocked down Walker Eget’s pass to the end zone, sending the USF sideline into a madcap celebration. Coach Alex Golesh’s Bulls, making their second straight postseason appearance, won a marathon game for the ages against the Mountain West Conference’s Spartans. “Heck of a game,’’ Golesh said. “I thought so many guys contributed today. It’s a really good way to finish a season that was filled with so many ups and downs. And this will really get us some momentum going into this offseason. “We tried to end this game so many d...

TAMPA ( www.sportsdayjax.com )    –   Longtime University of South Florida women’s soccer head coach Denise Schilte-Brown, a winner of six American Athletic Conference titles, has been selected as the first head coach of the new Super League Tampa Bay team that will begin play in August of 2024. Brown will complete her 17 th  season leading the highly successful USF women’s soccer program this fall before assuming her new position following the completion of the Bulls’ 2023 campaign, which gets underway with an Aug. 5 exhibition match vs. Jacksonville. Super League Tampa Bay will be the Bay Area’s highest-level women’s professional sports franchise and be part of a 10 to 12 team league in the first season of the USL Super League. The USL is headquartered in Tampa and also oversees the men’s professional league, which includes the Tampa Bay Rowdies.   “We are saddened by Denise’s departure from the USF program, but also excited for her tremendous opportunity to c...

  TAMPA (April 4, 2023)   – The University of South Florida (12-18) entered Tuesday night ranked 52nd in the NCAA in fielding percentage, but four errors led to three unearned runs and the Bulls dropped a 5-4 decision to the UNF Ospreys (16-13) in 10 innings at USF Baseball Stadium. South Florida trailed 4-3 heading to the bottom of the ninth inning when a one-out triple by Rafael Betancourt  gave the Bulls life. The tying run eventually crossed the plate on a wild pitch to force extra innings.   In the top of the 10th, USF’s fourth defensive miscue of the night ultimately led to the fifth UNF run.   Trailing 5-4, the Bulls once again put up a fight in the bottom of the 10th.   Nelson Rivera led off the inning and was robbed of an extra-base hit at the warning track. With one out, Joaquin Monque singled, and his pinch runner, Stanton Leuthner, moved into scoring position on a balk. A groundout moved Leuthner to third base with two outs.   Eric Snow who...