Author: John Cotey

Wildcats Put Last Season In Rearview Mirror

When it comes to all of the 18 baseball teams coach Scott Hoffman has had at Wharton High, last year’s version had the potential to be one of the best.

The Wildcats started out 8-1, with every win but one by four runs or more, outscoring their opponents 73-19. It was a great start.

But then, Covid took hold, and the season, as well as the Wildcats’ hopes for a State championship, faded away.

“When you look back, we thought last year might have been our year,” Hoffman says.

However, thanks to this year’s team, the coach hasn’t had to do much lamenting. The Wildcats picked up right where they left off in 2020 and are 20-4 this season following a 6-2 win over Alonso to send them to the Class 7A, District 7 district championship game this Friday at 7 p.m. against Sickles.

The Wildcats, who win or lose in the 7A-7 final have already clinched a spot in the regional baseball playoffs, will see if they have a deep playoff run in them. They returned most of the starters from last year’s team, the pitching has been better than expected and three of their four losses — including a 6-5 loss to nationally-ranked Jesuit — have only been by a single run.

Hoffman says his squad still hasn’t put together the perfect game — although it does have two no-hitters — and thinks the 2021 Wildcats may be due. He has high hopes for this postseason.

“When we’re trying to think of the teams (we’ve had) that have gone on and done something in the postseason, I’d say we’re right about there (with them),” he says.

Pitching has been a major key. Junior starters Ryan Fry and Evan Chrest are a combined 13-2 with an ERA under 2.00, while senior Jackson Perkins is 5-0 with a 0.89 ERA.

Last month, Fry, a University of Miami commitment, threw what is believed to be the first seven-inning no-hitter in Wharton history, which also happened to be the second of back-to-back 15-strikeout games for the hard-throwing righty. Fry threw a complete game 3-hitter with nine strikeouts against Alonso in the district semifinal.

“Pitching has been the key,” says Hoffman, joking that every Wharton team he thinks will pitch well ends up hitting well, and vice versa. This year is no different, as he thought the hitting would be the team’s primary strength.

And, it hasn’t been bad. Hoffman said one hole to fill this year was developing a swing guy who could play multiple positions, and that turned out to be junior David Limbach, a backup catcher who showed more athleticism than Hoffman originally thought he had. In his utility role, Limbach has played in both the infield and outfield and is fourth on the team with a .343 batting average and tied for third-best with 20 RBI.

*Dylan McDonald leads the Wildcats in a handful of offensive categories and thinks this team could be a State championship contender.*

That puts him right behind Wharton’s formidable 1-2 punch at the top of the lineup — senior centerfielder and Saint Leo University signee Dylan McDonald and senior shortstop Zach Ehrhard, who is bound for Oklahoma State.

McDonald, who bats leadoff, leads the team with a .410 average, 10 doubles, three home runs, 33 hits and 22 RBI, while Ehrhard is hitting .440 with 12 doubles, three homers and a team-high 24 steals. Ehrhard has gotten hot at the right time the past two weeks, going 10-for-18 with two homers, three doubles and eight RBI.

“I feel like we are definitely a pretty good 1-2 combo,” McDonald says. “When I get on, I know the 2-3-4 guys tend to get me in. And, when we start out quick, we seem to do pretty well.”

In fact, the Wildcats are 15-1 when they score first, with the only loss coming to Jesuit.

The Wildcats also have flexed their muscles this season, with seven different players combining to blast a school record 17 home runs in 24 games.

In the previous five seasons combined, Wharton hit 16 homers in 111 games.

Although the Wildcats have hit well in spurts, Hoffman is still looking for that stretch of offensive consistency — they are averaging nearly nine runs a game during their current 5-game win streak — that will elevate the team to a true playoff contender. If that happens, last year could become even more of a distant memory.

“We had a really good team last year, but is this team better?,” asks McDonald. “I think we kind of flip-flop on that every day. We could have won State last year, can we win State this year? We have a lot of chemistry this year, so it’s possible. Either way, these have been two of the best years Wharton has ever had.”

baseball wharton high school

Wharton’s Warren Among District’s Budget Casualties

This is not how Jas Warren, Wharton High’s theatre teacher and director, expected the curtain to close on his long career.

Warren, who has been at the school since it opened in 1997 and helped lead the theatre department to dozens of awards and State competition appearances, is one of many teachers caught in the crosshairs after budget cuts were announced last week by Hillsborough County Superintendent of Schools Addison Davis in an effort to chop down a $100-million deficit.

The cuts mean that more than 1,200 positions in the country’s seventh-largest school district are being eliminated.

In New Tampa, Warren was far from the only teacher to be affected, but was one of the most senior among teachers who found their positions eliminated as the District continues to struggle with finances. Wharton’s theatre program has been one of the District’s best for many years.

“I guess I’m kind of a little bit sad, a little bit angry and kind of surprised,” says Warren. “I’ve done nothing but exemplary work for 31 years. I thought that meant something. I’ve been at Wharton for 24 straight years; I stood here when it was nothing but a dirt floor, and we’ve had award-winning theater productions, won at the District level and went on to the State level where we have received superior ratings. But, I guess that doesn’t seem to matter much.”

It does matter to parent Kelly Miller, whose daughter went through Warren’s program and whose son also attends the school. Miller says she was disappointed to see the program lose its founder.

“The school is known for its award- winning theater programs,” Miller says. “I’m very shocked at this. Without him, the program will collapse.”

Warren, like many of those who have seen their positions eliminated in the most recent round of cuts, was moved into the teacher’s pool — where he could land another job, although there will be few theatre positions available — because there were fewer students to teach these days.

A Hall of Fame inductee for the international Educational Theatre Association, Warren says he has been told he was being let go because he didn’t have enough students — although he still has about 50 kids in his program now, which is down from 110-120 pre-Covid.

He says he has been overwhelmed with the level of support and outrage from former students and parents, and will keep on fighting “until there is nothing to fight for.”

The theatre program will go on at Wharton, under the direction of a new teacher who also teaches other classes. The same goes for the band program at Benito Middle school, where 10-year veteran Staisy Kibart was told she no longer would run the program (but would be guaranteed a job somewhere else in the District) and it would be taken over, presumably, by another teacher.

Kibart says that when cuts were made last fall, she was told something was coming down. This time, she says she was caught off guard. “We were told something could happen in the fall when cuts were coming in October, but that conversation was never had this time around,” Kibart says. “I was pulled in Wednesday afternoon (April 14) and the bomb was dropped. They said we have to let a music teacher go, and it’s you.”

Benito will have a net loss of 8.08 positions, while Liberty Middle School will lose 6.88. Turner-Bartels K-8 School, however, is losing 16 positions, including five positions in grades 1-4, three Exceptional Student Education (ESE) positions and a music teacher, believed to be chorus.

At the high schools, Wharton actually gained some key positions (including two in reading) and will suffer a net loss of only 3.48 positions, while Freedom High will lose 12.32 positions.

However, Freedom principal Kevin Stephenson says those numbers don’t equal teachers. When vacancies that will go unfilled are unaccounted for, he “only” expects to lose 5-6 teachers.

Stephenson says the cuts will hurt everyone, but are needed.

“It’s something our District really needs to do to get into alignment financially,” he says. “There are challenges, but we have those every year. You have to make payroll, and that means doing things that are really tough.”

The cuts come after dozens of meetings between Davis, the School Board and principals and assistant principals this year.

District 3 School Board member Jessica Vaughn, a Tampa Palms resident, says the cuts are hard on so many but she feels Davis and his staff tried to be as thoughtful as they could, by including school administrators in the process.

But, in order to avoid a state takeover of the District for not meeting certain thresholds in the county reserves, as well as payroll, Vaughn said the action had to be taken.

“I don’t see any way around the cuts to avoid the State taking us over,” she says. “We have to stay out of receivership. I don’t trust the intentions of the State when it comes to doing what’s best for the District.”

Instead of directing her ire at Davis, Vaughn pointed a finger at the State legislature, which she says has continued to vote against providing more money for education and has instead focused on charter school expansion.

Necessary or not, “I think that these cuts drastically, drastically hurt our School District, and that we will feel it for a long time to come.”

hillsborough county schools wharton high school

Double Branch: Finally Cooking!

The kitchen at Double Branch Artisanal Ales (DBAA), the first business to sign a lease at the new Village at The Grove development, is finally open.

Travis Glenn and his wife Tammi (photo) are renting the space from DBAA co-owner Ryan Clarke and will manage the food side of the micro-brewery, which is called “Omnivorous.” Travis has been a general manager of various restaurants in his 30 years in and out of the business, including eight years at the Dark Horse Brewing Company in Marshall, MI.

Travis has been with DBAA since the day it opened, working as a bartender, but when the original kitchen manager backed out, he applied to take over.

That’s good news for the pub, which has weathered Covid-19, and the lack of a kitchen, from the day it opened. Travis says you could just see the money floating out the door as patrons stopped by for a beer on their way to dinner somewhere else. “It’s been a huge loss,” he says. “People pop their heads in and ask if we have food. I feel like I’ve turned away 30-35 people a day. It happens all the time.”

The menu at Omnivorous features wings, burgers and “good, honest, straightforward bar-type food” with some personal touches, like amazing Brussels sprouts. Everything is made from scratch, his brisket is smoked in-house, the burgers are smash-style and one of Travis’s goals is to have the best chicken wings in the area, with some unique sauces.

One of his fryers is dedicated to only vegan and gluten-free options, like French fries and those delicious Brussels sprouts.

DBAA has other plans as well. There’s a new brewer, Robert Hunt, who used to work at Tampa Beer Works, in charge of the beers. Ryan says they will continue to produce the wide variety of pilsener, IPA, Hazy and Sour beverages, including a soon-to-be released Grove Gold Florida pilsener, named after Grove developer Mark Gold.

Ryan also had added video and board games to the selection of entertainment, and is already hosting events like yoga, where an hour of Sunday yoga is followed by a beer. The first yoga class was held last month, drawing 23 people. And, while Omnivorous isn’t currently open on Sundays, adding brunch on the weekends also is being considered.

Ryan also would like to put together a Father’s Day beer festival.

“The (Covid) delays have definitely created challenges,” Ryan says. “We’re still very excited about the things coming to The Grove, like the container park, and the new apartments across the street, and looking forward to what this can be.”

For more information about Double Branch Artisanal Ales (5956 Wesley Grove Blvd.), call (813) 492-8800 or visit DBAA.com. — JCC

DBAA food

Wesley Chapel Rotary Stays Busy With ‘Grease,’ Eggs & Golf!

Despite the still-looming spectre of Covid-19, the Rotary Club of Wesley Chapel (which meets Wednesdays at noon at Omari’s Grill at Lexington Oaks Golf Club) is still hosting special events for the community in our area.

On Mar. 13, the club put on an awesome “Pasco 911 Grease is the Word” singalong event that featured Pasco Firefighters and Sheriff’s Deputies singing songs from the Broadway hit (and hit movie of the same name) “Grease” for a $5,000 Grand Prize, donated by T-Mobile, at Land O’Lakes Heritage Park. The event, which also featured an Elvis impersonator, a Classic Car Show and at least 200 socially-distanced spectators, was a tremendous success, with Pasco Dep. Christina Demas named the winner of the $5,000 Grand Prize. The firefighters and deputies in attendance announced that the money would be donated to the families of fallen law enforcement officers Michael Magli (Pinellas Sheriff’s Office) and Jesse Madsen (Tampa Police Dept.).

Two weeks later, on Mar. 27, the Wesley Chapel Rotary held a unique Drive-Through Egg Hunt event at the Wesley Chapel District Park, with more than 250 vehicles driving past decorated vendor vehicle booths, where they were given brightly colored eggs with candy and other kids’ treats. There were even gift baskets with prizes like gift cards and scratch-off Florida Lottery tickets for adults won by many of the attendees. Club president Jodie Sullivan was excited about the turnout and the event itself.

Rather than rest on those laurels, the Wesley Chapel Rotary also will host a Charity Golf Open (to benefit the Pasco Sheriff’s Office Charities & WC Rotary community projects) on Friday, April 30, at Lexington Oaks Golf Club (26133 Lexington Oaks Blvd.). The event will feature lots of great prizes, including a car courtesy of Parks Ford, a Sandals vacation, trophies and more. The cost to enter the 4-person scramble is $100 per player.

For more information, visit WCRotary.com.— GN

Plans Ongoing For The Median South Of BBD/54 Intersection

Residents were assured during a sparsely attended virtual public hearing hosted by the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) in February that the plans to redesign and modify part of Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd. south of its intersection with S.R. 54 are ongoing.

Construction on the median project is expected to begin in early 2022.

The project centers around the northbound and southbound median just south of the actual intersection.

The median currently has an opening allowing motorists to cross from exits between the Sonny’s BBQ and Sun Trust Bank adjacent to the Publix-anchored Hollybrook Plaza to southbound BBD or straight across to the west, to the Village Market shopping center, and from the Village Market to northbound BBD or across eastbound to the Hollybrook Plaza.

The plan is basically to extend the median and eliminate any cutting across BBD from either side.

The medians along this stretch will be combined into one.

It is not an uncommon sight to see an accident at the northbound side in front of the Sonny’s BBQ or Taco Bell.

According to FDOT, the median project was initiated by an intersection study that showed 233 “crashes” had been reported in that area from 2011-15.

A Neighborhood News Reader Survey in 2017 voted the BBD/54 intersection as the second-worst in Wesley Chapel, behind the I-75 and S.R. 56 intersection (which will have a new Diverging Diamond Interchange by the end of 2021).

The plan to make the location safer centers around closing what is now a split median and constructing one long median from Eagleston Blvd. to the south all the way north to S.R. 54.

Under the current set up, the northbound far left turn lane, when filled during busy traffic hours, extends beyond the median opening and blocks those trying to cross BBD.

Now, with a single, longer median, that left turn lane will be extended to accommodate more vehicles, which will reduce congestion.

There also will be a new traffic signal installed at Eagleston, and new roadway lighting added to the northbound lanes, as well as some resurfacing.

At the southbound end of the new median where the light will be installed, a dedicated U-turn lane will be built for motorists wanting to get to Hollybrook Plaza (this also can be achieved by merely driving east through the BBD/54 intersection and entering via two entrance points off S.R. 54).

FDOT says it plans to let the project out to bid in October, with construction beginning a few months later.

BBD median S.R. 54