Venice not conceding City to Birmingham

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Angelo Gasca acknowledges his Venice team hasn’t won ‘the big one’ yet, as in a City Section championship. And, he said, defending champion Birmingham deserves all the attention and respect it has received for its performance so far in 2007.

But Gasca also wants some attention for his undefeated team, especially after the Gondoliers overcame a 28-9 halftime deficit Friday to defeat Oaks Christian, 41-35, on the Lions’ home field.

‘We won a game we probably should have lost,’ said Gasca, as Venice improved to 4-0. ‘We down big at halftime, arguing among ourselves. The game, the season, could have easily been torn apart at the seams.

‘But we come out, have a 17-play, 91-yard drive, and score a touchdown to start the third quarter. It took up 10 minutes. We score a touchdown to start the fourth quarter. We wound up scoring 25 points in the fourth quarter.’

Pulling out a road win against a defending Southern Section champion gives Gasca another reason to believe Venice is a legitmate threat to Birmingham’s reign.

But he and his coaching staff will do everything possible this week to keep the Gondoliers from feeling too satisfied with what they have accomplished.

‘Beating Oaks Christian was a big win for our program,’ Gasca said. ‘I felt if we didn’t beat Oaks Christian, people wouldn’t be talking about us for a long time. People have grudgingly given us some respect. But if we want to be in the conversation with Birmingham we have to do something special.

‘We want to do well in our league, try and get to the finals and take a shot. But there is so much more football to play. We will not look past Banning this week, who is playing well. I guarantee we will not be flat or down for Banning. Because we know a loss to Banning will negate a lot of what we’ve done.’

- Mike Terry