Is This Your Next AMERICAN IDOL?

Zach D’Onofrio is good at keeping secrets.

For years, he was a squeaky-voiced kid who sang quietly in the church chorus, who ran the lights at his family’s Dreamhouse Theatre, a kid happy to work behind the scenes in the midst of his song-happy family of performers.

Then one night, at the age of 15, he called his family into the living room of their Seven Oaks home.

“Mom and Dad, I want you to hear something,” he told them.

Sensing something dramatic was about to happen, Darci, his mother, pulled out her phone and started recording.

Zach started singing. Frank Sinatra’s “The Way You Look Tonight.”

Everyone’s world changed that night.

“When I heard his voice like that, I started bawling, just crying,” Darci says.

His sister, who was in her room, heard her brother sing and started screaming, and came rushing into the living room.

“It was like, whaaaaaaat?,” says Bryan, his father.

Zach has always been afraid of what people would say if he sang for them. He told his parents he wasn’t sure he should share his voice.

“You need to share this with the world,” Darci tearfully told him.

And he has, from one “American Idol” audition to the next, from Wesley Chapel to Orlando to New York.

But, how about Hollywood? Well, no one is saying.

Zach D’Onofrio is good at keeping secrets.

Zach and Darci, before he entered the room to sing for the celebrity judges.

Once America’s hottest television show, “Idol” is back for the start of its comeback season this Sunday. March 11 , 8 p.m., on ABC-TV (WFTS-TV Channel 11 locally).

At the D’Onofrio home, friends and family will gather in that living room again, this time sharing Zach’s voice with the world. Everyone will see the audition for the first time, including Zach.

“I am kind of nervous about how I’ll look,” he says, sitting under a green shade at the Starbucks on S.R. 56 near the Shops at Wiregrass, surrounded by a caffeinated crowd that has no idea that, possibly, the next “American Idol” sits among them.

A junior at Wiregrass Ranch High, Zach was one of the hundreds to audition for “Idol” at Florida Hospital Center Ice back in August 2017. He was one of 25 to continue on to auditions in Orlando two weeks later. And, he also was one of 16 who flew to New York City in October for a chance to sing in front of this season’s “Idol” judges — pop/soul legend Lionel Richie, country star Luke Bryan and perky pop performer Katy Perry.

“I can post about it now (on Facebook) that I auditioned, and can tell people that I have gone to New York for the show,” Zach says. “A lot of kids know that, like my close friends, but they don’t know anything past that. Some kids sitting next to me in classes don’t know. People don’t know that I danced with Katy Perry.”

* * *

Wait…what?

His father just shakes his head and smiles. Yes, it really happened. It only took 10 seconds of “The Way You Look Tonight” to drop open the jaws of the judges, and another 10 seconds after that, Perry was dancing her way towards Zach. Richie stood and danced as well, and Bryan couldn’t help but join in.

Zach maintained his poise, and continued singing, even as he and Perry danced together.

“I just kept going,” he says. “We were dancing. I twirled her, I dipped her, things like that. Kept singing.”

“Dipped her,” says Zach’s dad, shaking his head and beaming proudly, with maybe a tinge of jealousy. “My man!”

If it wasn’t his voice that prompted Perry to dance with Zach, maybe it was his “socks appeal.” Socks are kind of Zach’s thing. He has a collection of 50 pairs or so of uniquely designed footwear. He brought pairs for each judge — American flag socks for show host Ryan Seacrest, skulls for Richie, roosters for Bryan.

For Perry, her socks depicted cats sitting on rainbows shooting lasers from their eyes, which sounds like a description of some of her videos. It was, Zach says, the perfect choice, and she wore them on her hands while she danced with him.

“It broke the ice,” Zach says. “It definitely made things easier.”

* * *

It is only natural that Zach would discover his talent for singing.

Bryan and Darci met at a concert at the Happy Gospel Center in Bradenton. Bryan was in a band with other family members called Southern Praise, and they were the headliners that day. He was the eligible bachelor of the group, and his sister joked to the crowd that, “if you can feed him, you can have him.”

Darci thought Bryan was a wonderful singer. When it was her turn to sing later that day, she was nervous thinking he might be watching. She wrote him a letter afterward, he wrote back, and one year later, they were married.

Zach and his older sister, Taylor, were born into music. Taylor embraced it, performing and singing at a young age, and Zach remembers singing “Oh, Holy Night” with his family at a Christmas church service when he was eight.

Bryan, Taylor, Zach and Darci before a Dreamhouse Theatre production.

But, for the most part, he hung back and mostly played youth soccer, even making the junior varsity team at Wiregrass Ranch High.

Four years ago, his parents, who both work full-time at North Tampa Behavioral Health on S.R. 56 in Wesley Chapel, started the Dreamhouse Theatre. They performed shows at various locales before settling at their current location in Lutz.

Zach was working the lights for a production of the “Little Shop of Horrors” in October 2016,  when he was struck by how much fun all the performers seemed to be having. He decided afterward he would surprise his family with a Frank Sinatra song in the living room that night.

After that, Zach took his first role as Benjamin in “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.” Bryan played Joseph, and Darci and Taylor also were in the production.

“Oh my gosh, it was so exciting seeing him getting into it,” Bryan says. “He had a solo in the show, and just nailed it. I was so excited to see him shine.”

Zach took on roles as one of the three little pigs in “Shrek,” and played Lord Farquaad in “Shrek The Musical Jr.,” sitting on his knees the whole show. “That was probably my favorite,” he says. “I wondered why I waited so long to do this.”

At Wiregrass Ranch, he joined the chorus this school year, ready to refine the talent he had unleashed the year before. His teacher originally thought by the sound of his speaking voice that Zach would be singing tenor, until he showed off the rich, deep sound that surprises so many.

“He’s very talented,  but it wasn’t something I heard from the very, very beginning,’’ says Wiregrass Ranch fifth-year choral director Solangi Santiago.  “Every now and then, though, we could see that this kid had something special.”

Then, one day, a friend sent Zach a link to sign up to audition for “Idol” at Florida Hospital Center Ice, where he took his first steps in the hope of becoming the next big thing.

* * *

Given a choice of audition spots after getting through the Wesley Chapel and Orlando stages of the audition process, Zach selected New York, an obvious pick, considering his crooner style and affection for Sinatra, which he developed after buying old vinyl records of the legend on shopping excursions with his father.

It was Darci, however, who got to go on the Sunday-through-Wednesday trip with him, the first trip to New York for both of them, and they stared wide-eyed at everything around them for three days. They visited the Statue of Liberty and the 9-11 Memorial, Facetiming the best moments with Bryan and Taylor.

“I made him sing ‘New York New York’ in the middle of Times Square,” Darci says.

Outside the judges room at the Hotel Pennsylvania in midtown Manhattan, Darci was all nerves, while inside, her teenage son was taking a giant bite of the Big Apple — dancing with a pop princess while impressively, considering the circumstances, remembering all the words to his song.

“I didn’t faint,” Zach joked.

For three minutes, Darci strained to hear her son sing. The television cameras were trained on her, and she looked at them and asked: “Have you ever had a mom pass out before?”

What little she says she could hear of Zach, she liked.

“He sounded incredible, like never before,” Darci says.

Afterward, he told her he thought it was his best audition yet.

Did he have a golden ticket in his hand when he told her?

“You have to tune in March 11,” he says, smiling. “You may see me on the show.”

Zach D’Onofrio is good at keeping secrets.

Freedom’s Gibson Cruising Through High School Competition

Freedom sophomore tennis standout Julianna Gibson has been playing the sport since she was five years old, and so far has been unbeatable during her high school career as the No. 1 player at Freedom High in Tampa Palms. (Photo: John C. Cotey)

Freedom High tennis player Julianna Gibson doesn’t race across the tennis court, she glides.

Her forehand and backhand aren’t harried, they are harmonious.

Her demeanor isn’t delirious, it is docile.

It all works together to make Gibson one of the top high school tennis players around.

Last year, as a freshman, she played line 1 (where typically the best players at each school line up) and went 14-0 in singles, winning District and Regional titles on her way to the State tournament.

She kicked off her sophomore season on Valentine’s Day by winning 8-0 against Gaither in singles, and teaming up with Zoe Rosen for another 8-0 win at doubles. She is 4-0 so far this season.

“I think it’s gone pretty smoothly,” Julianna says of her brief high school career. “A few of the matches were pretty competitive, but I have gotten through most of them pretty easily.”

Gibson has been playing tennis since she was 5. Her parents, Mike and Carri-Ann, say Julianna tried a number of sports, like soccer and volleyball and even earned a black belt in Tae Kwan Do.

“I coached her Little League softball team, and she was a really good hitter and threw really well,” Carri-Ann says. “I thought, “We might have a softball player here.’

But, Julianna gravitated to tennis. Carri-Ann and Mike remember Julianna running around and chasing balls to hit as a toddler while her parents played.

Despite having physical gifts — Julianna is 5-feet, 9-inches tall with a long reach — that lend themselves to almost any sport, none had the amount of action to keep his daughter’s attention like tennis, according to Mike.

“She took to tennis like a fish to water,” he says. “It was a sport she seemed she could really get into. I remember she said in tennis, the ball comes right back to you and you get another chance. It’s a constant engagement. You have to be constantly engaged when you’re playing tennis.”

As an only child, Julianna said she enjoys the individual aspect of playing singles. She started out in playing in the USTA’s Junior Team Tennis leagues, but most USTA junior tournaments focus on singles.

The competition can range from friendly to fierce. Many of the opponents Julianna has faced in her junior career are training 5-6 hours a day at expensive and prestigious academies away from their families.

The Gibsons prefer a more balanced approach. Julianna has hopes for playing in college, and does train with personal coaches, but she says her obsession for being a professional tennis star takes a back seat to enjoying her high school years.

And so far, she says she has been enjoying them.

“It’s nice playing on a team with other girls, and cheering them on,” Julianna says. “I like that part of it.”

Her height and long frame give Julianna an advantage over most opponents when it comes to serving and her forehand, her two strengths.

Still More To Accomplish

That helped catapult her to her unbeaten season last year, and the Patriots advanced to the Class 3A Regionals as the District runner-up.

Gibson won her singles match at Regionals against Largo, with her opponent remarking that she couldn’t believe Julianna was only a freshman.

At States, Julianna lost her first match 7-5, 6-2 to Fort Myers’ sophomore lefty Shani Idlette, still the only blemish on Julianna’s high school record.

“It was a lot more competitive there,” says Julianna, who says she was sick the week of the match. “I lost, but it was pretty competitive.”

Her main goal for this season is to make it back to States, but she doesn’t plan on going alone.

“I want the whole team to go,” says Julianna. “The one thing I thought when I was there last year was that this would be more fun as a team.”

Road Projects In New Tampa Hope To Ease Traffic Flow

As the final segment of the massive Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd. widening project chugs towards its completion, transportation planners are looking at a few other ways to help with traffic flow at some New Tampa hotspots.

District 7 Tampa City Councilman Luis Viera, whose district covers the city portions of New Tampa, says there are multiple projects in the exploratory stages that could provide some relief at busy area intersections, and another that will add a light at the site of the new fire station being built on County Line Rd.

“Some of these could really improve traffic for New Tampa residents,” Viera says.

The most notable of these proposals is a pre-design study — which determines if a certain design is possible — currently underway to potentially add a third left turn lane where westbound Cross Creek Blvd. drivers turn south onto southbound Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd. (see map). According to the project report, there are currently four alternatives being studied.

One would build a third left turn onto southbound BBD, while keeping the two lanes that currently cross over BBD to New Tampa Blvd. and into West Meadows, and the lane that turns northbound onto BBD.

A second option would be to extend the existing dual left turn lanes almost back to Dayflower Dr., to prevent the common bottlenecking that occurs during peak travel hours.

“We need to figure out which option would work best,’’ says Jean Duncan, the city’s director of transportation and stormwater services.

Viera, who travels along that stretch of Cross Creek Blvd. from his Hunter’s Green home, says he has been pushing for one of these two options since being elected to the City Council last November. “I’m hopeful that the study can conclude that a third left-hand turn lane is a viable idea,’’ he says.

A third option would be to convert one of the two lanes that cross over BBD into the third turn lane, while the fourth option builds a third left turn lane, and takes away one of the two lanes crossing BBD and converts it to a second right turn lane for those trying to turn right (north) on BBD towards Pebble Creek.

There are currently no plans, however, to add another right turn lane on BBD for those turning east on Cross Creek Blvd., another thorny spot for rush hour travelers. Viera says that problem, however, may be mitigated by studying and tweaking traffic signal patterns.

A New Tampa Mobility Enhancement Project, a $306,000 study, is looking into ways to maximize the benefits of the Advanced Traffic Management System (ATMS), which uses real-time data from things like speed sensors and cameras to determine if any action needs to be taken (light timings, re-routing, etc.) to improve and enhance traffic flow.

When Cross Creek Blvd. and BBD were widened, Duncan says, the intersections were built with the ATMS, which included upgraded cabinets that house the guts of the signal system, and uses fiber optics instead of copper. New Tampa is fortunate, she says, because 3/4 of the city is still using the less effective copper-wired cabinets, which are DOS-based and not as intelligent.

“New Tampa was one of the first to get it,” she said, adding that the city is working with the Florida Department of Transportation to upgrade the rest of the city over the next five years.  Duncan says the city actively manages traffic signals, whereas the county does not.

The Mobility Enhancement also includes a roundabout feasibility study to identify possible locations for modern roundabouts in our area.

Three intersections in New Tampa are being considered.

The first is at the junction of Compton Dr. and Commerce Palms Dr. in Tampa Palms, where a stop sign on Compton Dr. and another across the street at the B.J.s Wholesale Club handle a busy flow of traffic.  The second is just down the road at the intersection of Compton Dr. and Tampa Palms Blvd., where traffic currently is monitored by a four-way stop.

Also being considered for a roundabout is the intersection of Highwoods Preserve Pkwy. and Highwoods Palm Way, which runs through the Highwoods Preserve Corporate Campus, a mile or so from BBD.

Duncan says that there is a big national movement towards roundabouts, which have proven to be cheaper, safer for drivers and pedestrians and more sustainable than lighted intersections.

Lastly, the city is working on adding a traffic signal at County Line Rd. and Trout Creek Dr., to accommodate the needs of the new Fire Station 23.

Viera says he has been told the fire station will open by the end of the 2018, and the first design submittal and review for the signal has already taken place and is on an accelerated pace to be completed at the same time the fire station is expected to open.

FLY EAGLE FLY

Former Liberty Middle School standout Nelson Agholor celebrates a catch against the Washington Redskins last year. Photo by Keith Allison, Hanover, MD.

Liberty Middle School’s Joe Merritt remembers the best flag football player he ever coached scoring four touchdowns on four straight plays — and none of them counted.

It was overtime, against Benito he thinks, and his Liberty Eagles were on the 2-yard-line. His best player rushes for what Merritt says was a sure touchdown, before the refs ruled he was down at the 1.

On the next play, the same kid throws for a touchdown, but the refs said the receiver was out of bounds. And, the play after that, the very same kid lines up at wide receiver and catches a touchdown pass, although the ref said he didn’t land with his feet inbounds.

Twice. Seriously.

Years later, Merritt couldn’t help but remember that game as he sat and watched that same player, Nelson Agholor, catch nine passes for the other Eagles, of Philadelphia, in a thrilling Super Bowl win over favored New England.

Merritt has taught and coached the boys flag football team since Liberty opened, and his list of former players include Matt Patchan and Jordan Sherit (both of whom went on to the University of Florida in Gainesville out of high school), Matt’s brother Scott Patchan (currently at the University of Miami, FL) and Chaz Neal (who signed with Florida State University in Tallahassee on Feb. 7).

The night of the Super Bowl, however, was the first time Merritt says he had chills watching a former player, sitting on the couch at his parents’ house, jumping up and yelling every time Agholor grabbed a pass on his way to 84 yards receiving.

“It’s like you knew he was going to be a good athlete, but with each passing year, there was a new accolade that made you just feel happy for him,” said Merritt, who had Agholor in his sixth grade reading class. “He reached the pinnacle in high school, he reached the pinnacle in college, he was a first-round draft pick out of college, and he wins the Super Bowl? I mean, come on. That’s what every kid dreams of, holding up that Lombardi Trophy.”

A Humble Beginning…

Agholor, who was born in Nigeria, grew up in northeast Tampa, in the Suitcase City area near the University of South Florida. He attended Liberty from 2005-08, where he starred on both the football field and the basketball court. In fact, his overtime performance aside, some remember Agholor as a better basketball player initially than football.

“I didn’t see the talent as much in football as in basketball,” says Phil Lana, who taught Agholor in his sixth grade science class. “He was an incredible basketball player in middle school. I thought that would be what he ended up going to college for.”

Merritt agrees. “I thought his older brother Franklin was the better football player,” he says, laughing.

In previous stories written about him, Agholor has talked about avoiding the trouble that dogged many of the friends he grew up with in northeast Tampa. The temptation to take the wrong path when that fork in the road presented itself was hard for many to resist.

It was at Liberty, some teachers who remember him say, that Agholor had help in fighting those urges.

“Nelson was a bit of a knucklehead coming in here,” Merritt recalled. “There were some teachers that took him under their wing, to get him right. He was smart…great personality…athletic. And, we started preaching to him how far those things can take you in life.”

“He was a genuinely nice kid, very charismatic,” says Brendan Paul, who had Agholor in his seventh grade math class. “He definitely grew quite a bit throughout the time he was here. If you listen to his interviews, he talks a lot about being given opportunities and making the most of those opportunities, and he definitely made the most of his time here. Liberty got him on right track. He had a lot of teachers looking out for him.”

Agholor responded to the mentoring. As an eighth grader, he was one of the most popular kids in school, and was named one of Liberty’s Turnaround Achievement Award winners. “By the end of his eighth grade year, I remember seeing him as more of a leader than anything else,” Lana says. “He was already helping the younger kids then.”

After graduating from middle school, Agholor  went to Berkeley Prep, where he became one of Florida’s top football recruits as both a running back and a defensive back. He rushed for 4,732 yards in four seasons, and added 921 receiving yards, 12 interceptions and eight kickoff returns for touchdowns.

As a senior, Agholor  led the Bucs to the Class 3A State semifinals, rushing for 1,983 yards and 28 touchdowns, and won the Guy Toph award as Hillsborough County’s top high school football player. He chose the University of Southern California at Los Angeles from dozens of college suitors, where he blossomed as a wide receiver and caught 104 passes for 1,313 yards and 12 touchdowns as a junior.

That was enough to make Agholor the 20th overall pick of Philadelphia in the 2015 NFL draft.

“He was one of those kids that stayed in touch,” Paul says. “Before the draft, he visited and spent time with students in a mentoring group here. I had the opportunity to go to his very first game in Atlanta (with Lana), and we met up with him afterwards.”

Agholor disappointed during his first two pro seasons in Philly, before a breakout 2017 campaign that saw him catch 62 passes for 768 yards (more than his first two seasons combined) and 12 touchdowns. In the postseason, he was brilliant, including a 42-yard TD catch in the NFC Championship game. His nine catches in the Super Bowl were a career high.

Few were happier to see Agholor bounce back than his former Liberty mentors.

“It’s definitely surreal,” Paul says. “I think his career thus far just speaks volumes about who he is. He had two really rough years, and just turned it around. It’s just that attitude and effort he has.”

Lana, who is now the Director of Operations and logistics for the Atlanta Football Host Committee bringing the Super Bowl to the Mercedes-Benz Stadium next year, watched Agholor’s performance in person.

“It really added to the whole experience, knowing I was actually watching someone I knew playing in the game,” says Lana, who wasn’t shy about letting everyone know about Agholor’s days at Liberty.

“Pretty much everybody around me knew I had taught him in sixth grade,” Lana says. “I sat in a section heavy with Patriots’ fans, but they knew when I stood and cheered every time he caught a pass.”

Agholor comes back to Liberty a few times a year to preach to kids, many from the same rough-around-the-edges neighborhood he grew up in, the same message he was taught — make good choices, listen to your teachers and school administrators, and they will help you reach the goals that you strive for. His words will carry added weight, as a newly-minted Super Bowl champion. 

“The fact that he does come back, and does impact other kids and that’s something that’s important to him, that just tells you the kind of dude that he is, the kind of character he has,” Merritt says.

Agholor has purchased shoes, helmets and other equipment for kids who can’t afford them. He has given them his cell phone number and told them to text him if they need something, even just a little advice. Merritt says Agholor reaches out to kids that he sees a little of himself in, to do what he can.

It is that connection, more than a decade later, that makes it easy to cheer for Agholor, to tune in on Sundays and root for the former Liberty Eagle.

“The whole school is super proud of him,” Merritt says. “There’s a lot of pride that Nelson used to go here. The fact that he turned out to be great kid, and did great things, it’s just icing on the cake that he won a Super Bowl. When I watch, I still see that 12-year-old kid.”