Goddard School Of Wesley Chapel Celebrating Two Years Of Getting Kids Ready

Running a textile business in Baroda, India (500 kilometers south of Bombay), Dinesh Patel never considered a career in early childhood education. He loved children, their smiles and their laughter. But, aside from the joys of raising his own children, the possibility hadn’t crossed his mind. 

He moved to the U.S. in 1987, by way of Fort Pierce, FL, and got into the retail business, running a convenience store and later a motel. Then, a close family friend invited him out to Houston to look at a franchise he’d just obtained — The Goddard School. 

The rest, as they say, is history, as he now owns The Goddard School of Wesley Chapel, located on Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd. across the street from the AdventHealth Wesley Chapel hospital.

Patel says his business experience and his love of kids made him a natural fit for a Goddard School, which uses a dual management system, incorporating both a business manager and an education manager at each school. 

Also to Patel’s liking was the school’s track record — The Goddard School is a 30-year old national franchise with 500 schools in 37 states (and in Washington, D.C.). 

“(Goddard) gives you knowledge and all directors have to go through the training,” Patel says. “Goddard (corporate) even assigns someone to your school for support.”

The Goddard School of Wesley Chapel opened in May of 2017. Patel brought on his second education director, Christie Lemar, in August of 2018. 

Lemar was the Director of Youth Development at Brandon Sports & Aquatic Center’s child care center, where she ran a Voluntary Pre-Kindergarten (VPK) and after school programs, which consisted of roughly 180 children. The skill set lined up perfectly with the direction Patel was already taking the school. 

The Goddard School of Wesley Chapel added VPK classes in 2018, and recently acquired a small bus in order to expand into after-school care. 

“This spring, we hope to have three VPK classes,” Patel says. “VPK is important to prepare a child for kindergarten. It helps make for a soft transition. They go (into kindergarten) with computer time, sight words and math (knowledge) already.”

VPK is a free program for any family in Florida. All parents need to do is fill out an application with the Department of State’s Office of Early Learning. Patel also has applications at the school.

“The classes are for three hours, Monday through Friday, and the state pays tuition for anyone,” Patel says. “Normally, middle class people don’t qualify for any benefit, so this is a great opportunity.”

The Goddard School of Wesley Chapel offers three different times for VPK classes to accommodate parents’ schedules. There’s also a wraparound program that offers hours beyond the VPK time. 

There are even full-day options, that go from 6:30 a.m.-6:30 p.m. The school also is open during many public school holidays. 

Patel says the summer camps, which were offered for the first time by The Goddard School of Wesley Chapel in 2018, will be expanded in 2019. 

The Education Side

“I believed in the quality of the instruction and I saw the activities that were planned,” says homeroom mom Faye Adams. “I saw how well organized they were. They had fun things for the kids to do. It’s not just child care; you know that they’re learning.”

Adams’ son Christian, who is 5, took VPK at The Goddard School last fall. Even as a third-grade teacher with more than a decade of experience and teacher ambassador & spokesperson for the Foundation for Excellence in Education, Adams was impressed with what Christian got out of his experience at Goddard. 

Now, Adams is the local Goddard School’s education specialist.

“I help teachers with their lesson planning, and help make sure they are hitting their standards,” Faye says. “There are seven domains, including science, math, motor skills, art, music and movement and our task is to find engaging activities, books and resources that will help target those skills and meet state standards.”

There are 14 teachers at The Goddard School of Wesley Chapel, and every lead teacher must have a Child Development Associate (CDA) credential, and oversight from the The Goddard School’s Quality Assurance program can be rigorous. The program stays in contact with the school on a weekly basis, assisting in every aspect, from the building to staffing to curriculum. 

Goddard representatives also stop by to ensure corporate standards are being met and to offer hands-on assistance. 

“At any level, if we have a problem or need guidance, they (Goddard) can always help us get through it,” Patel says. 

Additionally, there are bi-annual assessments from the state for the VPK program. Three months ago, Patel joined the Accredited Professional Preschool Learning Environment (APPLE) program, a national early learning program accreditation. In Florida, APPLE is accepted as one of Florida’s Gold Seal Quality Programs.

“APPLE has monthly training for teachers, helps with restructuring classrooms and also strengthens academics,” Patel says. 

Having Fun With It

Enrichment programs specific to Goddard include Spanish, sign language, yoga and B.A.S.E. (Balance, Agility, Strength and Endurance) for Fitness, which is specifically designed for preschool children with those four curricular goals, all of which address physical fitness.

Lemar and the teachers come up with fun ways to teach the programs.

“You wouldn’t even know we’re working on it,” Lemar says. “For instance, in our 12-to-18-month-old class, we use the word, ‘agua’ instead of ‘water.’ We use signs for, ‘more food’ or ‘I’ve had enough.’ This works particularly well for those who are non-verbal.”

It works well for those in between verbal and non-verbal, as well, she adds.

“Four months into the program and I’ve already noticed the progression,” Goddard Wesley Chapel mom Brittany Williams says. “She (daughter Savannah) was pretty much non-verbal when she got here. Now she knows all her colors and numbers.”

The FLEX Program, a Goddard standard, stands for Fun Learning EXperience. In the program, teachers are given the freedom to create their own lesson plans.

“They can create fun activities to achieve those goals,” Patel said. 

Extras…

The Goddard School of Wesley Chapel also uses the Tadpole app, an application parents can download to their computer or smartphone that shows lesson plans, snapshots of what their child did during the day, even on down to what they ate for lunch.

“The parent can still ask how the child’s day was but now they can actually look at the report,” Patel says. 

For additional costs, Mr. Tommy’s Mobile Music Bus comes to the school every Tuesday. 

Soccer Shots, a soccer program that is, according to its website, consistently recognized by Entrepreneur magazine as the top Children’s Fitness Franchise in the U.S., also comes in once per week. 

And, this past December, the school hosted its first Angel Tree Program, providing gifts for nearly 20 needy children. 

The Goddard School of Wesley Chapel is located at 2539 Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd. The school’s hours are Mon.-Fri., 6:30 a.m.-6 p.m. and prospective parents are welcome any time during business hours to schedule a tour of the school. For more information, call (813) 603-6100, or visit http://www.goddardschool.com/Tampa/Wesley-Chapel-Bruce-B-Downs-Boulevard-Fl. Or, see the ad on pg. 28. 

Medi-Weightloss Center In Lutz Can Help You Keep Your New Year’s Resolution!

(L.-r.) Angela Wild, Patty Pinson, Dr. Andrew Weitzman & Erin Jones can help you keep your New Year’s resolutions when you sign up for a program at the Medi-Weightloss Clinic on S.R. 54 in Lutz.

According to a survey done by Statista, the top three New Year’s resolutions for Americans in 2019 were: diet or eat healthier, exercise more, and lose weight. 

An earlier survey, conducted in Dec. of 2018, said that just 16 percent of respondents stuck to some of their 2018 resolutions, while 13 percent said they kept none of them. While those three resolutions are obviously intertwined, in order to make lasting changes to one’s health via weight loss and diet, one must adopt lifestyle changes.

Those changes can be easier to make and keep when you have the help of professionals.

Since 2006, Medi-Weightloss of Lutz, one of more than 100 locations nationwide, has helped clients make lifestyle changes that stick. To date, the office located on S.R. 54, two miles west of S.R. 56, has helped patients lose 107,877 pounds. 

“I started going to Medi because I couldn’t stick with a diet longer than a week,” client Danielle Crowley says. “I have now been going to Medi for two months, and have lost 20 pounds and nine inches from my waist.”

The professionals at Medi-Weightloss focus on three phases.

The first is the acute phase, also known as the weight loss phase.

The initial visit is a 60-90 minute consultation. Professionals will take weight measurements, do blood work, take an electrocardiogram (EKG), present informational handouts that go into a binder and start a detailed journal where the client will log eating, drinking and sleeping data. 

During the acute phase, clients come in once a week until they hit their target weight. Medi-Weightloss has many ways to help during this difficult phase. You’ll get two injections, one called a Methionine Inositol Choline or MIC Combo injection that puts B12 vitamins and amino acids right into your bloodstream. The lipotropic substances help with fat metabolism, liver function and fat excretion. 

“The MIC injections are good for everyone and we never charge for them if you’re on the program,” Lutz Medi-Weightloss owner Gerri Willett says. “While you’re on the program, you can come in twice a week and get the MIC Combo for free.”

The second shot is a Vitamin B6 and B1 injection that helps reduce water retention and helps your keep energy up while battling food cravings. In the first phase, clients also will have help with vitamin supplements, a good multi-vitamin as well as calcium and Omega 3 supplements. You’ll also receive a food scale to help with portion control and ketone sticks to detect your level of ketosis.

“Ketosis is a state where your body burns fat faster,” Willett said. “The ketone stick will reveal what level of ketosis you are in. Some don’t get there but it’s okay if they just get close.”

Once you reach your target weight, you’ll move on to Phase 2: the maintenance phase. Clients meet with Andrew Weitzman, M.D., who is Board-certified in Internal Medicine. Dr. Weitzman will try to slowly take you off any medications you may be taking. 

“One of my favorite things is getting someone off of blood pressure medications,” Dr. Weitzman says. “You lose 20 pounds and all of a sudden, your blood pressure goes down.”

Phase 3 is the wellness phase. At this phase, clients need only come in once a month.

Shannon Terkoski says she came to the Lutz Medi-Weightloss weighing 250 pounds on Jan. 16, 2018. She now weighs 143.2 pounds, for a loss of 106.8 pounds.

“Week-to-week, they were encouraging but also made real suggestions on what I could do to improve things like the way I go grocery shopping and not just pushing their own products, even though I still take some of their proprietary products,” Terkoski says. “I stopped going on a weekly basis, but I continue to maintain what they have shown and taught me about making better lifestyle choices”

And, it’s okay to come back later. Medi-Weightloss has clients return after completing the program, sometimes 10 years later, sometimes to share their success, sometimes because they are in need of additional help.

“They can always come back,” Willett says. “If it’s 10 years or 13 years later, I want them to be able to come back in. I want success for my patients. They shouldn’t feel guilty about coming back in. Losing weight is a lifestyle change. If it was easy or just a pill you could take, no one would be overweight.”

A Staff That’s There for You

Some clients are so happy with their results, they join the Medi-Weightloss team, like Erin Jones.

“I lost 25 pounds in the first month-and-a-half and ended up losing 50 pounds overall,” she says. “I liked the program.”

Jones, who affectionately goes by “The” Erin Jones in the office, lost her husband in 2010 and then, “I ate for a year” she said.

She started coming to Medi-Weightloss in late 2011. By April of 2012, not only had she met her goals but she took a job interview at the clinic after her weight loss appointment. She started off working 10 to 12 hours per week and is now a full-time medical assistant and the office manager at Medi-Weightloss of Lutz. 

“Patients can take comfort in knowing that we’ve been down their road before and that we can truly say we know what they’re going through,” Jones said. 

Medical assistant Patty Pinson has been with Medi-Weightloss for a decade and is a retired Registered Nurse (RN).

“This is a good place to work,” Pinson says. “Everyone gets along, we get to know the patients and it makes us feel good when we’re able to help them — it’s a win-win all the way around.”

Medical assistant Angela Wild is the newest member of the staff, but comes with 14 years of experience in the radiology field. 

“This is definitely a happier field than radiology,” Wild said. “People come here because they want to be here and I don’t dread coming to work. I really enjoy it.”

Dr. Weitzman earned his Doctor of Medicine Degree from Tel Aviv University in Tel Aviv, Israel, and completed his residency in Long Island, NY. He operated a primary care practice in New York for three years and ran one out of Manatee County prior to coming on board at Medi-Weightloss two-and-a-half years ago. 

“There aren’t as many dissimilarities as you’d think (between primary care and weight loss clinics),” Dr. Weitzman says. “The main difference is with primary care, you’re already treating a patient’s disease. Here, we’re working strictly with prevention.”

He stresses the three legs to the weight-loss process: diet, exercise and appetite suppression. 

“The diet we choose for you is sensible,” Weitzman said. “It’s not some newfangled diet. It should be possible for you to eat this way for the rest of your life.”

Dr. Weitzman and the staff at Medi- Weightloss also will help develop an exercise program that fits your capabilities, and he has a lot of experience prescribing appetite suppressants.

“You must do all three in order to succeed,” Weitzman said. “Journaling helps a lot with diet. We also have supplements to help you.”

In the office and also in the startup bag clients receive is a menu of different supplements. From flavored powders for shakes, to snacks and vitamins, you’ll have all the tools for success at your fingertips. 

While not at the Lutz location, Medi-Weightloss also employs a full-time dietitian who works at the corporate office in Brandon.

Jeff Cervero is available for consultation and has added valuable information to the company website, like recipes, exercise tips and information. Cervero even went through most corporate restaurants’ menus in the area and came up with a list of options that fit with the Medi-Weightloss program. 

“We have no competition that does all the things we do and we do them very well,” Willett says. 

From the research and development coming out of the corporate office, to the experienced and well-trained staff, to the emerging technology in the field like a step counter called the Fit-Stik that comes in your initial bag of goodies, all of the tools you need to reach your weight loss goals are available at Medi-Weightloss of Lutz.

“I have done lots of other diets before and none of them worked for me,” Terkoski says. “It has been exciting to follow a plan that actually works. They helped me get over the physical symptoms early in the process and were proactive in dealing with issues. It was all very smooth”

New Tampa and Wesley Chapel residents are invited to stop in at the Lutz Medi-Weightloss Clinic at 24420 S.R. 54. The office is open five days a week: 6:30 a.m.-noon on Monday; 9 a.m.-6 p.m. on Tuesday, 6:30 a.m.-2 p.m. on Wednesday; 1 p.m.-7 p.m. on Thursday; 6:30 a.m.-1 p.m on Friday. For more info, call (813) 909-1700 or visit online at MediWeightloss.com/locations/lutz/

Wesley Chapel’s Todd Yonteck Is Hoping To Bring Filmmaking Back To Florida

Wesley Chapel’s Todd Yonteck

The motion picture industry in Florida has had its ups and downs.

For example, Florida was a boomtown in 2011 when “Dolphin Tale” was being filmed in Clearwater. 

But, more recently? Consider Ben Affleck’s 1920s gangster-era film entitled “Live By Night,” which premieres worldwide on January 13. The movie is set in Ybor City.

There’s only one problem, however — it was shot entirely in Brunswick, GA, which was able to offer the film’s producers as much as 30 percent in tax credits on expenditures. 

Cities in Florida couldn’t match that, and therefore lost a golden opportunity to bring revenue to the area and build the filmmaking industry in the region and state.

When state funds for film incentives dried up in 2012, the onus fell to local production companies to pick up the mantle. 

Guys like Wesley Chapel’s Todd Yonteck, the CEO of his production company called Digital Caviar.

The Red Carpet 

If you happened to have been promenading downtown St. Petersburg on December 7, you might have seen a red carpet rollout at the AMC Theatres Sundial on 2nd Ave. 

(l.-r.) Catrina Patti & Todd Yonteck, “Bernie the Dolphin” co-writer Marty Poole, Kristen Yonteck, and St Petersburg Film Commissioner Tony Armer.

Decked out on the carpet were acclaimed actors Dahlia Lagault (“The Walking Dead” Seasons 5 and 6) and Patrick Muldoon (“Starship Troopers”) for the premier of their new film, “Bernie the Dolphin.”

Actors, producers and writers huddled together for photos, took interviews and later filed into Theatre 1 for the film’s first theatrical screening, its world premiere. 

“Bernie the Dolphin,” which Yonteck helped produce, was shot entirely in Pinellas County and at Marineland Dolphin Adventure in St. Augustine. 

Yonteck is a Seven Oaks resident and an emergency room physician at AdventHealth Wesley Chapel. You could call film production his side hustle, although considering the amount of work involved, it’s much more than that.

“I have two jobs that are full time,” Yonteck said, after the premiere of “Bernie the Dolphin.” 

In 2010, Yonteck and a friend, Paul Prator, began dabbling in film production. Initially, they took on a lot of commercial work. In 2013, they opened a storefront in Ybor City. 

By 2015, a second office had opened and Prator stepped away from the company. 

The commercial work was steady, Yonteck says. He booked and produced commercials for Verizon and USF. 

But, something was missing. 

“You don’t get to have as much creative fun with commercials,” Yonteck says. 

His transition to more creative projects began slowly in 2013, when Digital Caviar had begun to produce some short films. 

Todd Yonteck at his Wesley Chapel studio.

Staffers like partners Michael Brown, Victor Young and Conrad De La Torres came on board. Staffers Josh Long, Brandon Hyde and Brittany Hoppe also joined the company. 

Digital Caviar’s first feature film came out in April of 2015, when “Crazy Lake,” a slasher film shot almost entirely in Brooksville, was released.

In December of 2015, the company embarked on a comedy, “Tropical Paradise 2.”

In 2017, Yonteck and Digital Caviar were hired to help on a joint production between Sarasota’s Ringling College of Art & Design and director Kevin Smith — famous for the cult film “Clerks” — called “Killroy Was Here.” 

“The project started as a short in order to help the students get hands-on experience, doing the actual jobs in a production and also deliver the film,” Yonteck said. “It went so well and Kevin (Smith) was so excited after the shooting experience that he wanted to turn it into a feature.”

Smith came back in January of 2018, and then again over the summer, to finish principal shooting. The film is currently in post-production under Smith. 

Before the chance to work on “Bernie the Dolphin” came along, Yonteck had seven producer credits — six for short films — to his name, as well as others for camera and electrical equipment, editorial, sound and production manager. 

The concept for “Bernie the Dolphin” began circulating in 2017 when Yonteck, a longtime attendee of the Cannes Film Festival in France, could not attend. 

“We either go or we send someone (to Cannes) every year,” Yonteck says. “It’s a great place to search for source material and to network. People see you, hear your name a few times and they’re more comfortable working with you.”

Yonteck wasn’t in attendance at the 2017 festival, but St. Petersburg Film Commissioner Tony Armer was. 

Yonteck says that Armer got into conversation with reps from Grindstone, a branch of Lionsgate. The Lionsgate reps were talking up a concept that involved dolphins and oceanside locations. 

Armer worked to convince them that Florida, Pinellas County in particular, had the locations they needed and the production companies to interview to make it happen. 

By May of 2017, Grindstone and Digital Caviar were in contact and a local Clearwater-based writer, Teri Emerson, was tapped to write the script.

“The project was pretty much green lit by August of 2017,” Yonteck said. “We started finding the people to put it together and we had most of it solidified by the end of the year.”

Principal shooting began in January of 2018.

Keeping It Local

Yonteck was happy to work on a project filmed in Florida. Many film projects have left the state for better incentives elsewhere, reducing the number of opportunities for local producers.

The 2012 film “Magic Mike” was made in Florida, but the 2015 sequel, which is partially set in Tampa, was shot entirely in South Carolina. And, the 2017 drama “Gifted,” which is set in St. Petersburg, was actually filmed in Savannah, GA. 

Georgia, thanks to its 30-percent tax incentive, now ranks third in the nation for film and television production and, according to an April 2017 story in the Atlanta Business Chronicle, had an economic impact of $7 billion in 2016. 

“People talk about the Ben Affleck movie a lot, how it was written for Tampa, it was a story about Tampa and Ybor City, but they ended up building Ybor City in Georgia,” Yonteck says. “They just got so much value in incentives.”

The effect a movie can have on local business and a local economy often cannot be understated.

When the first “Dolphin Tale” movie was released in 2011, after having used the Clearwater Marine Aquarium for a major location, it bolstered tourism in Florida by more than $2 billion, according to a March 2015 article in The Hollywood Reporter. 

Attendance at the aquarium spiked from 76,000 to 750,000 annually the year after the film’s release. Unfortunately for industry workers in the area, the film’s production company, Warner Brothers, isn’t based in Florida. 

“A lot of the money in incentives that we did have went to big projects like ‘Dolphin Tale,’” Yonteck said. “I think it’s better to give the incentives to companies that stay and don’t pack up and leave when they finish shooting.”

The cast and crew for “Bernie the Dolphin” was almost entirely Floridian. The same holds true for the cast and crew of “Bernie the Dolphin 2,” which will be released in 2019.

“A lot of the actors were locally cast and the entire crew was Florida-based,” Yonteck says. “People are going to where the work is. We’ve been able to keep some people here in town but it’s hard to find good talent and when you train people up, they often go elsewhere but we’re going to keep trying to shoot here.”

The production shifted back and forth between St. Petersburg, Clearwater and St. Augustine. What worked for “Bernie the Dolphin” was the production value of the ocean access in Pinellas County, as well as at the ocean park in St. Augustine. The film was shot in January, taking advantage of the mild winter in Florida. However, Yonteck says a couple of cold blasts made for some funny moments in production.

“One day of shooting it was super windy and cold on the beach,” he says. “It was kind of funny because the actors were freezing and we had to make it look like it was warm.”

With “Bernie the Dolphin 2” already in post-production, Yonteck and Digital Caviar continue to support the film industry in the region and state in their efforts to make Florida competitive and more attractive for filmmakers. 

Oh, and by the way— Yonteck provides a tip of the cap to his current hometown in “Bernie The Dolphin” as well.

An Easter egg — generally an inside joke hidden in a film or video game — in the film comes in the form of Yonteck’s boat, “Impulse Buy,” which acted as a platform and support boat, and it also was featured as the boat belonging to Kevin Sorbo’s character, Winston Mills. 

Only a local might catch “Wesley Chapel, Florida” emblazoned on the boat’s stern, during an aerial drone shot, but we sure did. 

Want To See It?

Bernie the Dolphin is currently available in On Demand options for cable/satellite  customers that include Frontier and Spectrum. It also is available through iTunes. Yonteck expects an electronic copy or Blu-Ray option to be available for purchase by February.

Soccer Preview: New Coach, Keeper, Era For Wharton Girls

The 2018-19 Wharton Wildcats girls soccer team is facing some new challenges — long-time coach Dennis Vukorep, who won more than 100 games coaching the Wildcats, took a job with county powerhouse Newsome, while all-county keeper Caroline DeLisle, who set school records with 538 career saves and was 44-17 with 28 shutouts in her prep career, is now playing for the University of Central Florida in Orlando. The Wildcats’ top goal scorer from a year ago, Alisha Deschenes, also has graduated.

First-year head coach Jason Rohr takes over, and has some rebuilding to do. But, he also has some talent to work with.

Replacing DeLisle, who started 76 games the last four years, is a big hole that will be filled by Callisha Wrensford, a junior, and sophomore Paityn Arroyo, who played in five games last year, including a 4-2 win over King. Rohr is hoping what he calls “one of the best back lines in the region” will build a proverbial, and protective, wall around the new starting netminders.

Wharton’s last line of defense consists of sophomore Brooke Dekle on the left side, senior captain Callista Ferrin, who plays alongside senior Sierra Rohr at center back, and freshman Brooke Rohr splits time with newcomer Maude Castonguay on the right side.

“The center backs are the centerpieces of that back line,” Coach Rohr says.

Ferrin is 6-foot-1 and can venture into the offensive side to help on set pieces; she was first-team All-Western Conference last year. Sierra Rohr, a ball-hawking center back who’s not afraid to throw her body around, was a United Soccer Coaches High School All-American selection for Florida and second-team all-conference. What better way to protect your new keeper than to place two of your best players in front of her?

Brooke Rohr, Dekle and Castonguay have no problem covering both ends of the field and should coalesce as the season progresses. In a tough district with high-scoring teams, the Wharton defense is likely to face a tough test every night. How the D handles those tests could determine the fate of the Wildcats.

Wharton Girls
Head Coach: Jason Rohr
Last season: 15-4-1
Key Returners: Sierra Rohr (Sr., D), Ferrin (Sr., D), Sydney Hubbard (Sr., MF), Payton Jones (Jr., MF) and Vanessa Lopez (Jr., F).
Who’s New?: Maude Castonguay (Jr.), Haley Chambers (So., D), Brooke Dekle (So., D), Melanie Copeland (So., F), Izabella Avila (So., D).
Outlook: Hubbard is coming off of an all-conference season in which she scored 15 goals and had 15 assists, and is the Wildcats’ leader on offense. Jones and Lopez both had three goals in 2017-18, but should improve on those numbers. Avila, who had four goals and three assists as a freshman, already has two this season, as does Copeland. The Wildcats are 1-2, beating Berkeley Prep and losing to Newsome and Largo, though Newsome and Largo are a combined 10-1. The Wildcats will have to navigate a tough Class 5A, District 7 schedule, where favorite Palm Harbor University High made it to the State Class 5A final four and the six teams in the district were a combined 57-12-4 outside of 5A-7.

Freedom Girls
Head coach: Jennifer DeMik
Last season: 6-9
Key Returners: Grace Alexandro (Jr., GK),  Kelsey Skendziel (Sr., D), Bethany Green (Sr., D).
Who’s New?: A strong freshman class has landed at Freedom this season. There are nine freshmen on the team, and five of them start, including center-midfielder Camryn Bliss and striker Anna Gore.
Outlook: Alexandro makes the full-time transition to soccer this season, after splitting time between soccer and basketball in 2017-18. Skendziel and Green are the captains and anchor the back line for the Patriots. Freedom’s Class 4A, District 8 is not too deep, but getting around State runner-up Mitchell High is a tall order. With an experienced defense and some new firepower up top, it’s reasonable to think the Patriots, who beat King 4-1 and lost to Strawberry Crest 2-1 in the preseason, could sneak into the playoffs if they can overcome their 0-3 start “I was not expecting this incoming freshman class but I’m very excited about them,” Coach DeMik says. “I think this is the best team I’ve had since I’ve been here.”

Wharton Boys
Head coach: Scott Ware
Last season: 8-8-1
Key Returners: Andy Ilken (Sr., GK/F), Luke Rowe (Jr., D), Leo Silva SR., MF).
Who’s New?: After scoring only 17 goals in 17 games last season, the Wildcats are putting more emphasis on the attack this year. Newcomers Ore Deen and Roger Rodriguez add some much-needed speed on the outside.
Outlook: Ilken, Rowe and Silva are the team captains. Ilken, who also is the punter for the Wharton football team, is a four-year starter. Ware will try to maximize his talents as both a keeper and as a dangerous 6-foot-3 striker. Rowe is a three-year starter lining up at outside back and Silva, who scored a goal in a 2-1 preseason win over East Bay (with junior defender Zach Godbold assisting), holds down the center-mid position. Like the girls, Class 5A, District 7 is a tough district to navigate. Perennial powerhouses Wiregrass Ranch and Palm Harbor University High have won all of the 5A-7 District titles stretching back to 2015.

Freedom Boys
Head coach: KC van der Luit
Last season: 6-10-1
Key Returners: Caden McCoy (Sr., CB), Leo Batista (Jr., MF), Sungura Sadiki (So., F).
Who’s New?: Junior Matt Moore arrives to bolster the squad, but van der Luit has high hopes for senior Andres Ojeda, a seasoned club player and scorer playing high school soccer for the first time.
Outlook: McCoy moves back from the midfield because van der Luit wanted a bigger body to stop balls. Batista is the vocal leader of the team. Sadiki, a second-year player from Tanzania, will take on a much larger role up top this season. The Patriots have been a middle-of-the-road team for the last few years, going 59-84-11 since their State runner-up season in 2008-09. But, this could be the year that they break out, with the added punch up top. The Patriots toppled Strawberry Crest 6-1 in the preseason and are 1-0-1. Mitchell, just like on the girls’ side, is the team to beat in Class 4A, District 8, but that is where van der Luit has his sights set.

 

Wiregrass Ranch LB Dylan Ridolph Racks Up Sacks

Wiregrass Ranch linebacker Dylan Ridolph tracks down Wesley Chapel’s Jelani Vassell during the Bulls’ 43-14 victory back on Aug. 28. Ridolph had four sacks in the game. (Photo: Andy Warrener)

Wiregrass Ranch High (WRH) junior linebacker Dylan Ridolph is a physical force, a hard-hitting 6-foot, 200-pound missile in the center of the Bulls’ defense.

However, it is Ridolph’s mental approach that makes him one of the Tampa Bay area’s top linebackers.

A self-professed bookwork and history buff who is flirting with a 4.0 grade-point average, Ridolph often spends his free time watching history videos on YouTube, because, “it’s fun to see how in history, things connect. One event has a ripple effect that causes something else.”

In football, sometimes those events, like a missed block or blown assignment, have a ripple effect like, well, in Ridolph’s case, a sack.

Through six games, Ridolph is second in Florida’s Class 7A with 17 sacks, according to MaxPreps.

That’s just two behind the Class 7A leader, Winter Garden Foundation Academy’s Warren Sapp — yes, the son of the other Warren Sapp, the former Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ Pro Football Hall of Famer.

What jumps out even more than the number of sacks Ridolph has is the impact they have had on WRH’s opponents. His 17 sacks have resulted in 159 yards of lost yardage, more than nine yards per sack. By comparison, Sapp averages 6.5 yards lost per sack.

Pair Ridolph’s 17 sacks with his 26 tackles for loss, and you have a drive-killing specialist.

“Tackles for loss and sacks are great but they depend on the yardage lost — is it a one-yard or a nine-yard loss?,” says WRH head coach Mark Kantor. “There’s a big difference between 3rd-and-3 and 3rd-and-12. It’s also frustrating (for an offense) when you get a negative play on 1st-and-10. It puts you behind the sticks.”

Ridolph, who had 15 sacks last season and has received college letters from Harvard, Yale and the University of Cincinnati, credits much of his success to his pre-game habits. He says that as much as he loves studying history, he loves breaking down game film.

“I’ll call out where the play is going and who I would be going against on that play and I might watch that same play over and over again to see where the tackle is going, see how the blocker will set himself,”

Ridolph says. “It gives me an easier time to predict them and make my read (in the game) from there.”

Ridolph puts his homework to the test in games, and his analysis continues in live game action.

“In the beginning, I won’t give them a full-force rush, I’ll wait for them to make their move on me,” Ridolph said. “Before long, I’ll know what they are going to do before they get to me.”

Ridolph says he gauges if the offensive tackle he’s going against is a passive or an active blocker. It dictates which type of rush he’ll put on them. He’ll watch their stance. Do they lean a certain way? Are they in a balanced position?

Ridolph will even look at the way their feet are pointed as an indication of how the tackle will try to block him or tip off which way the play is going.

“By the lineman’s first two steps, I usually know where the play is going to go,” Ridolph says.

This acumen for the game and attention to detail also makes it difficult for the Bulls’ offense to run plays against Ridolph in practice. The fact that Ridolph knows no other speed but full-throttle makes it even more difficult.

“Dylan goes 100 miles per hour, no matter what the situation,” Kantor says. “There are times in practice when we’re trying to get a look on offense, that we have to ask him to turn it down.”

It’s a good problem to have.

“If I had 39 guys that go like that every day, we’d be a pretty darn good football team, even better than we are now,” Kantor said. “He makes the other guys a lot better.”

Ridolph’s highlight reel shows a linebacker intent on getting to the ball carrier. He lines up in a three-point stance and gets around the right tackle for one sack. He lines up on the other side and bowls over the left tackle for another. Ridolph stands poised on either edge and is on the quarterback before he can even set his feet in the pocket, and when he does escape, Ridolph has the speed to catch him from behind.

And, his ability to fend off blockers to be a force along the line of scrimmage and stymie the opposing running game is another attribute that likely makes offensive coordinators go batty.

“I don’t just go upfield on every play, I try to do what’s best for the team and not just myself,” Ridolph said. “Getting sacks is great but I’ll take a win over sacks.”

WRH is 6-3 this season (and 4-2 in Class 7A, District 8) heading into this Friday’s regular season finale at home against Auburndale. The Bulls are in the hunt for a third-straight playoff appearance but will need a strong finish.

 

Ridolph hopes the Bulls can keep moving forward, and plans on his doing his part by knocking the competition backwards.