Category: Sports

Football Preview 2019: Cypress Creek

When Cypress Creek Middle/High School (CCH) head coach Mike Johnson looks out across the field during a typical practice these days, he can’t help but harken back to just three years ago.

Then, he had little more than a handful of kids show up for his first practice. Now, he sees more than 50.

“It’s amazing,” says Johnson, who is 3-17 in two seasons at the helm of the Coyotes. “I think this is a year we can definitely break out of that ‘You’re a first-year program’ image. We are ready to turn that corner and start climbing that mountain to run with all these other teams.”

Here’s how the Coyotes, who open their season tonight at Wesley Chapel at 7:30 p.m., are looking for Year 3:

QUARTERBACK: Jehlani Warren is the old man at quarterback this season — the senior is the only QB among Wesley Chapel’s three high school football teams that already has had any varsity starts entering 2019. Last year, Warren was 81-for-142 passing (57 percent) for 1,163 yards and eight touchdowns. This year, Johnson expects him to better those numbers.

“He had a decent year,” Johnson says, “and I think he’s really ready to (break out).”

Junior Justin Lavine and sophomore Owen Walls will provide depth under center.

RUNNING BACK: Senior Jovanni Anderson (156 yards, 2 TDs) is the top returning rusher and will start. His ground-and-pound style will be complemented by sophomore scatback Andrew Burgess (photo), and junior Issac Walker is a combination of both styles.

WIDE RECEIVER: Explosive senior Jalen Warren, Jehlani’s twin brother, returns after leading the team with 32 catches, 498 yards and six touchdowns last season. The Coyotes may have graduated four players who combined for nearly 1,000 receiving yards last season, but sophomores Dontrell Clerkley and Merrick Simmons are expected to replace those stats this season. Junior Brycen Hernandez will slide into the slot after playing fullback last season, and junior Colin Ostapchuk will contribute there as well. “It’s a deep group,” Johnson says.

OFFENSIVE LINE: Senior Kyle Cantwell (6-3, 250) can start at either tackle position and will anchor the line. Junior Paul-andre Tre’ also is a versatile tackle. Junior Jake DiMarco is the starting center, and seniors Kyle Florey and Noah Smith “have come a long way,” according to Johnson, and will start at guard, with junior Matt Lodge pressing hard for one of those spots as well.

DEFENSIVE LINE: Cantwell will start at tackle, and Hernandez and senior Brody Gommier will be the starters at defensive end, but Johnson’s hope is that he won’t have to play his offensive line starters too much on the other side of the ball.

LINEBACKERS: Jalen Warren and Addison will be the starters at outside linebacker, and are coming off a season in which the duo finished 1-2 in tackles (77 and 73 respectively) for the Coyotes. Nine of Warren’s tackles were for a loss of yardage. Sophomore David Willins has earned one of the middle linebacker jobs, along with senior Sebastian Bramonte. Defensively, Johnson says his unit is coming together and playing faster and reacting this season instead of overthinking their assignments.

DEFENSIVE BACKS: Simmons, Clerkley, Jehlani Warren, Ostapchuk Walker and junior Jonathan Garcia can all play defensive back, and Burgess and Clerkley will split duties at safety.

KICKER: Senior Trace Wolden and junior Colton Corrao will handle the kicking duties.

THE FINAL WORD: The Coyotes graduated many of their playmakers, so guys like the Warren brothers and Burgess will play have to play bigger roles on both sides of the ball. Johnson isn’t ruling out a playoff berth, but a more realistic goal might be a .500 season, even though the Coyotes’ schedule only includes two teams (Wesley Chapel and Mitchell) that won more than four games last season and six opponents that won three or fewer.

cypress creek football

Football Preview 2019: Wesley Chapel Wildcats

Jelani Vassell led the Wesley Chapel High (WCH) football team last season in rushing yards, receiving yards, kick return yards, interception return yards and scoring. He even found time to throw 19 passes.

To say Vassell had a target on his back when lining up against the opposition is a sizable understatement.

So, what is this year’s goal, according to Wildcats’ coach Tony Egan?

“We need to take the target off his back,” he says.

He thinks he has enough players to do just that, which in turn will make the Wildcats a better team and one that should contend for a playoff berth. Here’s how they stack up:

QUARTERBACK: Junior Owen Libby is the new starter, and recent Wiregrass Ranch High (WRH) transfer Matt Helms, a sophomore, is right behind him. Egan said he’s never had depth at quarterback, so having two interchangeable signal callers is definitely a bonus. Neither has yet thrown a varsity pass, but Egan says they have both looked good this summer in 7-on-7 play and have a plethora of talented targets this season.

RUNNING BACK: Senior Isaiah Cole was the starter last year (332 yards, two TDs), but he suffered a knee strain in camp and may be out for a while. Senior Quay Jones, a physical, downhill type runner, will step in and start the season in the backfield.

WIDE RECEIVER: Vassell, a senior, might be the best player in Pasco County, if not the most versatile. He averaged 30 yards a catch last season on 20 receptions, with six touchdowns. He also ran for 541 yards and eight scores, and returned two interceptions for 70-yard TDs.

“He’s a tremendous player,” Egan says. “When we need something to go our way, he makes that play for us.”

Vassell will have lots of help this season, as junior Jon’tavius Anderson (more than 120 yards receiving in the spring game) and sophomore Nehemiah Morgan will line up alongside him. Another WRH transfer, junior Tyler Stinson, who is the younger brother of former WCH and current Florida State University player Isaiah Bolden, is expected to make an impact as well.

“We’re pretty loaded at the skill positions,” says Egan.

OFFENSIVE LINE: Wharton junior transfer Tyre’ Brooks (6-0, 300) and junior Tyree Thomas (6-0, 285) give the Wildcats some serious beef at the guard positions, along with junior Logan Jeffrey, while Xzavier Owens starts at center and Kaleb Rivera mans the right tackle spot. The left tackle position is still open, although Egan says there are some solid candidates.

Egan was formerly an offensive line coach at River Ridge, which set county records for rushing when he was there, and others with offensive line experience, like Matt Smith (Sunlake), Tom McHugh (Pasco) and Brian Colding (Pasco), have joined the staff from schools that historically have had strong lines. So, hopes are high that the offensive lines will be coached up in 2019.

DEFENSIVE LINE: Smith is the new defensive coordinator, and the switch to a defense that employs only three lineman will help keep the Wildcats from having to play so many of their offensive players both ways. Sophomore defensive tackles Gavin Paul and Jayshaun Bell are moving up from junior varsity and have shown promise.

LINEBACKERS: Senior Brenden Maddox, who Egan says “is a beast,” led the Wildcats with 95 tackles, 17 for a loss, last season, and returns as a starter on the outside. Sophomore Jordan McCaslin, the son of former Florida Gator Eugene McCaslin, will start at inside linebacker, along with Ramsey, and senior Steven Mira and Stinson will share time at outside linebacker.

DEFENSIVE BACKS: This might be the best group in Pasco County — Vassell and Anderson will start at the corners and Jones is the safety, and a host of others will rotate in.

“Our two corners are hands down the best in the county,” Egan says. “There is no doubt in my mind.”

KICKER: Four-year starter Fletcher Martin handles both the kicking and punting duties.

THE FINAL WORD: Wesley Chapel has an exceptional amount of playmakers on both sides of the ball, and will put up some points this season. The last three seasons, however, they have been in the playoff hunt heading into their last two games, but have gone 0-6 down the stretch while getting outscored 252-61. If the ‘Cats can finish stronger, playoff football could be the reward.

Freedom Sophomore Qualifies For Olympic Trials!

Michelle Morgan started swimming competitively when she was 7.

By the time she was 8, she knew she wanted to go to the Olympics.

Now, at the age of 14, the Freedom sophomore will get her chance.

Morgan, one of the top distance swimmers in Florida and a member of the Pipeline Swimming Club that trains at Tampa Palms Golf & Country Club, last month became the first swimmer in the Tampa Bay area to qualify for the 2020 U.S. Olympic Trials, making the cut in her marquee event, the 400-meter Individual Medley.

At a meet in Orlando, the New Tampa resident swam the 400 IM in 4 minutes, 51.42 seconds, just under the Trials cutoff of 4:51.79.

“It was pretty exciting,” said Morgan, who will be one of the youngest competitors at next year’s Olympic Trials, which will be held in June in Omaha, NE. Only the top two finishers in each event at the trials make the U.S. Olympic team.

Morgan, the top-rated mile swimmer in the country in her age group, said she expected to make the cut at some point this year, but still didn’t believe it when she touched the wall and looked up at her time. Swimmers from a number of other clubs were there to congratulate her as she exited the pool.

“When she hit the time, my wife went crazy and a whole bunch of families around us went crazy,” said Glynn Morgan, Michelle’s father. “It was exciting for her. We knew at some point this was coming, but it’s nice that she won’t have to chase it from meet to meet frantically trying to qualify.”

She is not done yet, however. Morgan missed the trials cut in the 800m freestyle at the same event in Orlando by less than half a second, swimming her race in 8:48.50; the cut is 8:48.08, a time Morgan seems poised to better.

Pipeline coach Rene Piper thinks Morgan also has a chance to make the Olympic Trials cut in the 200 IM, the 400 and 1,500 freestyle and the 200 butterfly, although the coach admits the last event is not Morgan’s favorite.

Morgan could eventually have some local company at the trials — Piper says fellow Pipeline member Carly Joerin, also a sophomore at Freedom, has an outside chance of posting a qualifying time between now and June 2020.

Setting aside the long odds of making any Olympic team, just making it to the trials is an impressive milestone.

There are roughly 400,000 swimmers registered with USA Swimming. At the 2016 trials, there was an average of 120 swimmers per event.

In the 400 IM qualifying races, there were 125 swimmers. Morgan’s time would put her in the top 30 of that group.

A daunting challenge, to be sure, but Morgan is the complete package, Piper says. She’ll have her choice of colleges next year when coaches are allowed to begin recruiting her, and her ceiling appears to be unlimited.

“She’s super smart academically, a super great student, and has a high swimming IQ, too,” Piper says. “Her focus is just incredible, and she is determined.”

Piper also says that Morgan’s work ethic is unmatched, and she never misses a practice. The one time she was late, everyone was so surprised and worried they couldn’t start the practice until she got there. Piper jokes that they have a saying at the club: “If Michelle isn’t at practice, she’s dead.”

Morgan, who finished third at the Florida Class 3A State championships last year as a freshman in the 200 IM and the 500 free, is currently chasing more Olympic trial cuts — particularly in the 800 free — at the 2019 Speedo Junior National Championships in Stanford, CA — her first big national meet.

“I’m just trying to see how good I can do in my other events,” Morgan says. “I’m trying not to jump ahead too far.”

That could be tough, with the Olympic Trials on the schedule. While the 2024 games in Paris, when Morgan will be 19, may be a more realistic goal, the experience next year will be a big boost to the promising young swimmer.

“It’s so tough to make the Olympic team,” Piper said. “But, we have already made the hotel reservations, and I am so excited for her to go and experience this. It will be great.”

olympics

No Pads? No Problem, As 7-On-7 Helps Prep Teams For Fall!

Traditionally, high school football players have generally filled their summers the only way they can — by throwing the ball around, studying the play book, keeping in shape and hitting the weight room.

They aren’t allowed to wear pads in the offseason, so there is no hitting or tackling, and as a result, nothing to play.

But, 7-on-7 football has changed all that. What began as a simple practice drill, ubiquitous from high school all the way up to the pro level, has evolved into a highly competitive sport of its own.

These days, the 7-on-7 “season” is red hot, offering a full-speed, no-contact (really, no more than light contact) way for athletes to hone their skills, build team camaraderie and even attract college recruiters. Increased participation has led to increased organization, and what began as a few local/regional tournaments here and there has evolved into a high-stakes competition that goes all the way to the national level.

.Promising Wesley Chapel High defensive back Jon’Tavius Anderson (left) goes up for an interception during a 7-on-7 game at Fivay High. (Photo: Andy Warrener)

Elite area 7-on-7 teams like Team Tampa compete in a national circuit of tournaments, and have a few national titles to show for it.

Wiregrass Ranch High (WRH) quarterback Hunter Helton, getting ready to enter his first year as the Bulls starter under center, led Team Tampa to a title at the Adidas East Coast Regional earlier this summer, and two weeks ago, Team Tampa made it to the elimination bracket at the national tournament held in Tampa before losing 17-14 in the first round.

Current NFL star Cam Newton, the quarterback for the Carolina Panthers, and NFL Hall of Fame defensive back Deion Sanders both coached teams in the event, which was crawling with analysts from recruiting websites. Some of the bigger events also receive cable television coverage.

What is 7-on-7?

The game of 7-on-7 football is exactly that — seven players against seven players. The offense is run by the quarterback, there’s usually a running back or two and then four or five receivers. On defense, 7-on-7 teams mixes usually mix in one or two linebackers and five or six defensive backs.

Quarterbacks have four seconds to unload the ball or it’s whistled as a sack. The teams play on a short field. The offense starts at the 40-yard line and can gain first downs at the 25-yard line and the 10-yard line. You either score, or you turn the ball over.

There are no running plays. Games are 21 minutes long and the clock runs continuously until the final minute. A player is considered downed or tackled by a simple one-hand touch, though it can get very physical during intense match-ups.

The origins of the sport can be traced back to a drill called, “Pass Skel,” or “Skelly,” as some former players recall it. Pass Skel (pass skeleton), aka 7-on-7, is a mainstay practice drill.

Many coaches eschew the 7-on-7 format, saying it invites bad habits and does little to mimic the actual game. Others have embraced it and say keeping their players active, competitive and together is a big payoff.

If you’re are working in a new quarterback for your high school team, the summer circuit of 7-on-7 can be invaluable.

“First, it allows you to practice with the football all year,” says Wesley Chapel High (WCH) head coach Tony Egan. “You develop chemistry between your quarterback and receivers and it helps you get your timing down.”

Egan and the Wildcats are hoping junior Owen Libby steps into the starting quarterback position in the fall of 2019, and they are getting him all the reps they can. The Wildcats played in the second annual King of Kings Tournament at One Buc Place, and currently field two teams in Pasco County’s summer 7-on-7 league held at Fivay High in Hudson.

The competition also allows coaches to add more dimensions and levels to both pass play packages and to their defensive schemes.

“The passing game in high school is 10 times more sophisticated now than when I played (in high school),” says former Tennessee Titans linebacker Ryan Fowler.

“Back then, if you faced a good quarterback, you might not have answers for him unless you had a good pass rush. The NFL has become more of a passing league, and college has followed that, so it’s natural for high school to follow it, too. (7-on-7) offers you months to work on things that you just don’t have time to work on in the fall.”

Coaches like Egan and WRH’s Mark Kantor have embraced the 7-on-7 game, and, with both their teams starting the fall with new starting quarterbacks, building that chemistry on offense will be a significant bonus.

But, they are quick to point out, it’s not “real” football and they often have to remind their players of that.

“The quarterback gets used to taking free drop backs,” Egan says. “We try to do things in practice to simulate pressure like have guys put their hands in the quarterback’s face or hit him with a blocking pad.”

Playing 7-on-7 also gets defensive backs conditioned into a pass-first mentality, and provides a test for linebackers, who often have to drop into pass coverage as well.

“It can take time to break that habit,” Fowler said. “I’ll sometimes make them (defenders) do up-downs after the ball is snapped to slow them down so that their drops are more accurate.”

Egan makes his defenders take a forward run-step before he allows them to drop into coverage.

Coaches have to be wary as well of not falling into a 7-on-7 trap of calling plays and running a defense completely different than they will in the fall.

“We try to run the same coverages we would run in a real game,” Egan said. “It might hurt us in 7-on-7 but we want our kids to know our coverages in the fall.”

SPRING FOOTBALL RECAP Wharton 10, Freedom 0.

It may have lacked the sizzle of a regular season match-up, but the two New Tampa rivals squared off for two quarters of football looking to answer some questions and end the spring on a high note. In the end, it was the Wildcats pulling out a 10-0 victory at Hillsborough High School.

WHARTON

Biggest Question

The Wildcats had to answer the typical questions surrounding any team’s spring, but chances are, there were more of them to answer than in years past, following an abysmal 2018 season in which Wharton went 1-9, the program’s worst record since the school’s first two years of existence (1997 and 1998). The ‘Cats will have someone new under center, someone new in the backfield and some new pieces on defense, all questions head coach David Mitchell hoped to settle, or at least get closer to settling.

The Answer?

Well, there weren’t really many answers at the spring jamboree against Freedom, as the Wildcats outscored the Patriots 10-0 in two quarters of football.

Daveon Crouch (4) outjumps teammate Michael Reddin Jr. (20) to make the interception.

At quarterback, 6-foot, 2-inch rising junior Emery Floyd got the reps but only attempted one pass and it was out of bounds. However, the Wildcats have yet to test out Tampa Bay Tech transfer Pete Stuart, who saw limited action in three games as a junior. Because he transferred in January, he was ineligible to play in the spring game. Mitchell hopes to settle the quarterback position over the summer during 7-on-7 work. In the backfield, the coach has already committed to rising sophomore Johnnie Cason and rising senior Benyon Williams. Cason picked up 19 yards on four carries, including a three-yard touchdown, while Williams ran five times for 31 yards, against Freedom.

On defense, linebacker Michael Zellem seemed to have a strong command of the play calls and a nose for the football, and made a big stop on fourth down to force a Freedom turnover on downs.

Defensive end Cole Essek, a rising junior, had a very strong game, creating quarterback pressure and making solo tackles, even ending the jamboree with a sack-forced fumble. Mitchell would like to see the 6-7, 170-pound Essek put on some weight this summer but feels confident both Essek and Zellem will be major factors this season.

Stars of the Game

Essek was a force to be reckoned with on defense. He even flips around and plays offensive tackle next to a couple of behemoths in Xavian Bivens (6-2, 350) and Dorian Lewis (6-1, 325)….Kicker Zach Godbold nailed a 29-yard field goal with ease. Also a soccer player (and state javelin champion), Godbold should be a reliable point-maker when Wharton’s drives stall….Receiver/defensive back Daveon Crouch had a big punt return and an interception….Edwouens Marcelin blocked a Freedom punt and had a sack on the night.

FREEDOM

Biggest Question

The Patriots had a slightly better season than the Wildcats a year ago, and a 10-6 victory over Wharton in September 2018 during the regular season was part of their 4-6 record. But, with the loss of 25 seniors, Freedom hoped that a number of their new players would be able to step up into roles vacated by graduation.

“We wanted to see how some of the younger kids handle adversity,” said Freedom head coach Henry Scurry, who is heading into his second season. “We wanted to see who responded in various situations. All jobs are available at this point; we’re trying to see who can do the jobs consistently.”

Freedom’s Edwin Greene goes low to catch a pass for the Patriots, who fell 10-0 to its New Tampa rival Wharton in the spring jamboree. (Photos by Andy Warrener).

The Answer?

“The jury is still out,” Scurry said. “There’s a lot of room for improvement. There’s a lot of things we have to clear up, like the quarterback-center exchange, and we weren’t able to establish a rhythm.”

The Patriots looked a little lost in the 10-0 loss to Wharton, unable to control any aspect of the game. They established a school record last year for fewest points scored with 83, and don’t have anyone returning who scored a touchdown last year.

Scurry did say that his defense, however, which allowed only 143 points (third-lowest in school history) is pretty much where he’d like it to be, although he is looking for someone to step up at linebacker. The coach says he felt good about his defensive line play, but linebacker remains one of the Patriots’ biggest question marks.

Stars of the Game

One of the team’s few returners, rising senior Dontae Johnson, got some looks at quarterback in the spring game, as well as some reps at defensive back. Rising sophomore lineman Tawfia Thomas is another returner. Scurry also mentioned rising senior Edwin Greene as having a fairly good spring. Rising junior Joel Pierrelus ran for 19 yards on two carries as the “wildcat” quarterback in the spring game, and Scurry said that Pierrelus could end up playing a number of different positions.

jamboree Wharton