If, before the football season began, you had told coach Jerry Hughes about the injuries and suspensions his Key West team would experience this season and that the Conchs would still finish with 6 wins against 3 losses, he probably... wouldn't have taken it.

After all, he's a football coach who expects to win every game no matter what.

But, I bet there are a lot of Key West fans out there who would have accepted a 6-3 record, a mark that is the school's best in five seasons.

About the only question Hughes or fans would have had preseason would have been, "What happened to the 10th game?" Well, it was canceled by lightning.

Key West lost to three state playoff teams: Miami powerhouse Booker T. Washington, another strong team in South Dade and District 16-3A rival Miami Jackson. Maybe, with every player for every game, the Conchs wouldn't have defeated any of those three. We'll never know, of course, any more than we would know who would win a Homestead-Key West matchup, the game that was canceled.

In my opinion, the team performed admirably, particularly in Friday night's thumping of Class 6A playoff-bound Miami Ferguson.

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Wide receiver Terrance Moore is tearing them up at California University of Pennsylvania. The junior from Key West (and Mesa Community College) made All-Conference, as he has caught 41 passes for 712 yards, completed a 32-yard pass for another a touchdown, rushed four times for 55 yards and a touchdown and returned four kickoffs for 93 yards.

The Vulcans are 9-3, including Saturday's 42-13 win over Fayetteville State, in the opening round of the NCAA Division II playoffs. California won the Pennsylvania State Conference West and captured an at-large spot in the playoffs.

California will play at Shippensburg in the second round at noon, Saturday. The Vulcans lost to Shippensburg, 42-35 a week ago in the PSAC championship game.

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Reidier Gonzalez got his first start of the Arizona Fall League Wednesday, but only lasted 2⅔ innings, as he gave up three hits and a pair of runs.

The Key West grad, pitching for the Toronto Maple Leafs at Phoenix, is 2-0 with an earned run average of 3.60 over six games and 15 innings.

Sports Editor Ralph Morrow's Armchair Comment appears exclusively each Sunday in The Citizen. He can be reached at 305-292-7777, Ext. 264, at Rmorrow@keysnews.com and by Fax at 305-295-8016.