5 Teams To Keep An Eye On In Local High School Sports This Winter

The Wiregrass Ranch High boys soccer team, a state semifinalist in 2015, is poised to have its best season yet. (Photo: Andy Warrener)

Below are five teams we’re watching closely this winter high school sports season:

1: Wiregrass Ranch High (WRH) Boys Soccer — Head coach David Wilson says that the 2017-18 team could potentially be the best he’s ever had. That’s saying a lot from a coach who brought his team to the state semifinals in 2015 and hasn’t lost a game against a Pasco County team in four years.

“When you have a strong and talented group of seniors that have played together for three years on varsity, there’s potential for great things,” Wilson said.

A trio of senior veterans coming off All-State seasons form the down-the-middle strength for the Bulls. Center back Jackson Trudel controls the game from the back line. Center-mid Royce Luedde is 6-foot-4 and controls the air, the middle of the field and is great on set pieces. Midfielder Ian Flores is one of the most highly-recruited players Wilson’s ever had, with 60 colleges having contacted him, including Rutgers Univ. in New Brunswick, NJ, which has offered him a scholarship.

The youngsters aren’t bad either – freshman Justin Amis and junior Rafael Silva scored three goals apiece in a 13-0 preseason win over Hernando, with sophomores Noah Leonard and Jake Bierhorst pitching in two goals each.

2: WRH Boys Basketball — The Bulls have had the unenviable situation to be mired in Class 8A, District 8, which is brutally tough, with the likes of perennial New Tampa powerhouses Freedom and Wharton, as well as defending state champion Sickles. If the Bulls continue to build on their 2016-17 arc, they might be ready to pull even with that triumvirate of top-tier teams.

“Eight seniors return for this year’s team,” says Bulls head coach Jeremy Calzone. “So, if there’s a year to do it, it’s this one. It’s the most experience we’ve ever had to start a season.”

Senior forwards Jayden Wilson (6’-9”) and Justin Rush (6’-6”) give the Bulls great size. Junior guard Elijah Howell is the team’s best shooter and leader on the floor. Senior guards Val Garcia and Jordan Miner also are veterans who have been on varsity since their freshman years.

3: Cypress Creek Middle High (CCH) Girls Weightlifting — New program starts from scratch, right? Not so much. Four-year Wesley Chapel High (WCH) girls weightlifting coach Tico Hernandez has 24 girls on the team to start the season.

Like their coach, sophomores Addison Metcalf and Megan Faysash, who is already emerging as the team leader, come over from WCH. Junior Neely Peterson didn’t lift in 2016-17, but is a fierce competitor, according to Hernandez. Freshman Emily Speck is the team’s spark plug and is working to perfect her skills and technique.

4: Wesley Chapel High (WCH) Girls Basketball — The team’s toughest opponent this year likely will be adversity.

Coming off their best record (15-9) since the 2009-10 season with everyone poised to return, the Wildcats lost their top returner to an ACL injury, and CCH’s opening just four miles away took some of WCH’s other key players.

“We lost 80 percent of our scoring from last year,” Livingston said. “We only return three kids total from last year’s varsity team.”

But the toughest adversity will come in the form of getting over the death of a family member. The Monday prior to tryouts, assistant coach Marcellus “Coach Shack” Shackelford was killed in a car accident.

Shackelford was the only assistant four-year head coach Peter Livingston ever had.

“There’s a lot of adversity we’re trying to overcome this year,” Livingston said. “We also want to celebrate him (Coach Shackelford) and try to get ready for the season.”

5: WCH Boys Basketball — Last season was a down year for the typically steady Wildcats boys basketball team. After a 21-8 season two years ago, WCH managed just a 9-17 record in 2016-17.

They should bounce back this season, as they get a shot in the arm from the school’s football team. Division I-A senior football recruits Chaz Neal (who is 6’-9”) and Isaiah Bolden will take to the hardwood for the ‘Cats in 2017-18.

Neal played in seven games for Armwood a year ago, averaging three rebounds.

Dr. Greg Stepanski’s Children’s Dentistry Has Kept Local Kids Smiling For 25 Years!

Dr. Greg and his friendly professional staff will make sure your children smile every time they visit the dentist.

With a visit to Children’s Dentistry in the Cory Lake Professional Center on Cross Creek Blvd., kids get to see Greg Stepanski, D.D.S. — a pediatric dentist with more than 25 years of experience in the New Tampa/Wesley Chapel area — and a demeanor and office that kids and parents alike seem to recommend without reservation.

“I recommend Children’s Dentistry to all my friends,” says Carla Schoolfield. “They’re great. From the minute you walk in, everyone is so nice and greets you by your name. “They are definitely an A-plus in customer service.”

Carla’s not the only one who thinks so. With 142 Google reviews, Children’s Dentistry’s overall rating is 4.9 out of 5 stars.

“I have other friends who went there when they were kids,” she adds. “Now, they’re taking their kids there. I think that’s a testament to Dr. Greg and his staff.”

Carla’s son is five and has been seeing Dr. Greg — as his patients and their parents call him — since he was just one. Her daughter is only nine months old and will be ready for her first visit soon.

Carla is glad she took her son to Dr. Greg early in his childhood.

“I think it’s great because it gets your child used to going,” she says. “It’s not anything invasive. Dr. Greg is so gentle and such a good doctor, and now my son loves going to the dentist.”

Dr. Greg, who earned his Doctor of Dental Surgery (DDS) degree from the Ohio State University College of Dentistry in Columbus, says, “We are encouraging children to have a dental home by the age of one.” He also earned a B.S. degree in Biology from the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, IN.

Dr. Greg explains that age one is now recommended by both the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry and the American Academy of Pediatrics for a child’s first dental appointment.

“It’s preventive,” he says. “Now we’re seeing more and more patients at age one and seeing less problems. We’re also seeing a little bit less tooth decay.”

Dr. Greg says he has a good relationship with many of his peers in the area, and even runs a study club where quite a few pediatric dentists get together for discussion, speakers and continuing education.

“The club has been going on forever,” he says. “I inherited it in 1991.”

That’s when he purchased an existing pediatric dentist office on E. Fowler Ave. in Temple Terrace. He moved that practice to its current Cross Creek Blvd. location 14 years ago.

His many years in practice don’t mean any outdated equipment or procedures, though. Dr. Greg says this year, he added a new, digital panoramic X-ray machine.

“We’ve been using digital X-rays for many years because there’s lower radiation and better clarity,” Dr. Greg says. “The new panoramic machine takes amazing pictures and has the added benefit of allowing us to do bitewing X-rays externally for those kids who may have a gagging response to having the bitewings in their mouth.”

Dr. Greg says the new equipment is so good, some orthodontists send their patients to him to get X-rays taken.

Community Outreach

Dr. Greg’s office is more than just a place to get your children’s teeth checked. He and his staff say it’s like a family, and they host events to build that community feeling, as well.

“They do a lot of things outside of being a dentist,” says Carla. “They do holiday parties and events every year. I think that says a lot. It’s not just them taking my money, but they say, ‘I want to appreciate you for giving me your business.’”

Every year, Carla’s kids and Dr. Greg’s other existing patients are invited to visit Santa at the practice’s annual Christmas party.

“Our families bring their kids all dressed up and take their family Santa photos with our professional photographer,” says Dr. Greg, who adds that there also are fun activities for the kids, such as face painting, a balloon artist and crafts. “It’s become quite an event.”

This year, Dr. Greg says, “We have to expand the venue because so many of our patients have said they’re coming.” He says there will be tents in the parking lot, but it’s important that he holds the party inside the office, too.

“We have it here so the kids can see that it’s a fun destination,” he says. “They can interact with me and the staff while we’re having fun, not trying to do a filling or fix a tooth that was knocked out.”

In addition to the Christmas patient appreciation party, Dr. Greg and his staff typically also host a spring bowling party, which is open to the community, too.

“It’s an opportunity for our patients to bring their friends and introduce us,” he explains. “They get to see me not with a mask and a mirror in my hand, but like a normal person.”

Besides his office’s events, Dr. Greg reaches out to the community in many other ways. He brings “Tommy the Toothbrush” — a character who stresses good dental hygiene — to visit local schools during February, which is Dental Health Month.

“We give toothbrushes to all the kids,” he explains, “Some of them might not have one.”

He also has provided dental care for migrant children and does a program each fall where he donates a Thanksgiving turkey to Metropolitan Ministries in the name of any pediatrician or dentist who refers a new patient to him.

“We like to give to Metropolitan Ministries,” he says.

Dr. Greg also is a charter member and past president of the New Tampa Noon Rotary Club, an active church member at St. Mark the Evangelist Catholic Church and a fundraiser for Corpus Christi Catholic School in Temple Terrace, where his wife Sue has taught kindergarten for 15 years.

For appointments and more information about Children’s Dentistry (10317-B Cross Creek Blvd.), call 973-3100, visit DrGreg-ChildrensDentistry.com, or see the ad on page 28. Most major dental insurance plans are accepted.

Epperson’s Highly Anticipated Crystal Lagoon Right Around The Corner

The first of two Crystal Lagoons in the “Connected City” is getting closer to completion in Metro Development’s Epperson community off Curley Rd. (Photos courtesy of Metro Development Group)

If the Greater Wesley Chapel Chamber of Commerce (WCCC) was looking for someone to end its 2017 series of Economic Development Briefings with a bright, energetic look to the future, the Chamber found the right man.

Kartik Goyani, the vice president of Metro Development Group, painted a picture filled with Crystal Lagoons, autonomous cars, hyper-fast internet speeds and even better education, health care and solar-, wind-powered and WiFi-enabled street lights.

While it isn’t exactly the flying cars many of us thought we’d be driving by now, Goyani’s presentation to local business leaders created a buzz that has many looking forward to the new year
and beyond.

By then, Goyani hinted, the first Crystal Lagoon in North America — at Metro’s new Epperson development off Curley Rd. — will be filled with water and frolickers.

He showed some drone video of the current state of the lagoon, but it was a picture of someone with a large hose standing in the lagoon, with its inner lining in place, filling it with water, that drew a few audible gasps.

“We are hoping to stay ahead of schedule so the lagoon opens up early next year,’’ Goyani said.

The new year also will see the hi-tech community project, billed as the first smart giga-bit development in the country — with lightning-fast internet speeds 200 times faster than most homeowners receive now — finally get an actual name. Goyani said the project was dubbed “Connected City” by the Florida Legislature after approving it as part of a 10-year pilot program, but that name was always just what Goyani called a “placeholder.” In January, it will be branded with a different name.

While the Crystal Lagoon is driving sales of homes “through the roof” in Epperson, it is just one of many amenities that Goyani says will make the Wesley Chapel community one the rest of the country will try to mimic.

The “Connected City” is a 7,800-acre area running north from Overpass Rd. in Wesley Chapel to S.R. 52 in San Antonio, and east from I-75 to Curley Rd., that will one day feature thousands of new homes and much more.

While Epperson will have as many as 3,000 homes upon completion, the “Connected City” project, which is expected to take 7-10 years to complete, will have as many as 37,000 new homes, up to 12-million-sq.-ft. of office space, a second lagoon in Metro’s Mirada development, and hundreds of dedicated miles for autonomous vehicles.

“I don’t think I’ve seen a project anywhere else in the U.S. that has that,’’ Goyani said. “We are creating something really really exciting in Pasco County that will draw people from everywhere.”

But, the Crystal Lagoons are the crown jewels of the “Connected City” project.

“We didn’t want to build a larger clubhouse, or a bigger golf course, we wanted to totally reimagine it,” Goyani said. “That’s what we did with Crystal Lagoons.”

As for the most commonly asked question about lagoon access — “Can we go, too?” —Goyani says that Epperson homeowners take precedence. Over the next 7-10 years those 2,000 homeowners in Epperson will pay for the maintenance of the lagoon.

While there are currently only 30 homes or so in the community, Metro Development will be picking up some of the tab to keep the homeowners’ maintenance bills low.

That may create some opportunities for controlled access to the lagoon, as members of parties or events held there.

The ‘Brawner Bunch’ Says The Family That ‘Wobbles’ Together, Stays Together

The Brawner clan after the 2016 Wiregrass Wobble Turkey Trot

Meadow Pointe resident Keith Brawner wasted little time signing up for the first-ever Wiregrass Wobble Turkey Trot when he saw it was coming to Wesley Chapel.

On Oct. 8. 2013, he issued a challenge on Facebook:

“Hey, we signed up, who else wants to do this?”

Keith was ecstatic, however, when his entire family — and his wife Diane’s family, even some of those living out of state — took him up on his challenge.

“I knew this was something we had to do,’’ says Diane. “I used to live in Tampa Palms and I remember when getting a Super Target (in Wesley Chapel) was a big deal. I’m the one that always gets excited for new things, and when this came to Wesley Chapel, I was happy to have something for the community that we didn’t have to drive to Clearwater for.”

Five years later, the “Brawner Bunch” is now 15 strong, all signed up to run, walk and laugh their way Thanksgiving morning through the fifth annual Wiregrass Wobble Turkey Trot 5K Race and 1-Mile Fun Run at the Shops of Wiregrass.

“It has grown into a wonderful family tradition,’’ says Keith, who will be joined at the Wobble by Diane and their 7-year-old daughter Kaitlyn, who will try to run the mile by herself this year despite fighting the flu recently.

Kaitlyn was only three years old when she first took part.

“She would be on my shoulders as I ran, then I’d put her down and she’d run as far as she could, then she would go back on my shoulders,’’ Keith says. “But, she wanted to cross the finish line on her own.”

Kaitlyn, now a second-grader at Sand Pine Elementary, will have plenty of company, as cousins Caleb (13), Hunter (11), Kaden (9), Alex (9) and Austin (6) will join in this year’s festivities.

For Caleb and Hunter, and their parents Kevin and Kelly Brawner, they will be making the trip from West Memphis, AR, for their first Wiregrass Wobble.

Kaden will be driving down from Marion, AR, with Keith’s parents, Gary and Shiela. The trio has never missed a Wobble, and say they don’t plan to. In fact, Kaden’s parents are headed on a cruise this Thanksgiving, but given the choice, Kaden chose running in Wesley Chapel over saling the high seas.

“The first year, Kaden was just 4, so I’d carry him for most of it, but now he runs it,” said Gary, who is 63. “He’s faster than me now. My knees aren’t what they used to be.”

He adds that the Wobble has become a family tradition everyone looks forward to. Everyone wakes up in the morning, “eats a donut or something sweet to get some carbs in us,” and starts Thanksgiving Day out running. When the run is over, they all head back to Keith and Diane’s for some fried turkey.

Gary says the morning run is worth at least one, maybe two, extra slices of apple pie later. “Although really,” he said, laughing, “we should all be running after we eat the dinner.”

This year, Keith says he will be frying three turkeys — flavored with a Cajun spice injector — as additional family members who don’t run but come to cheer the others on will make for a packed house.

“Trust me,” Keith says, “fried turkey is the way to go.”

Diane’s mother Patsy, 72, will make the trip from Carbondale, PA, to run in the 5K, and Diane’s sister Dawn Zendegui, her wife Stephanie and their sons Austin and Alex complete the Brawner Bunch.

Diane, who describes herself as more of a “survivor of runs” than a runner, despite competing in the past in half-marathons and one full marathon, said previously that she ran the Wiregrass Wobble 5K to see what kind of a time she could post. Now, she focuses more on the fun aspect.

“Let’s put it this way — I won’t be setting any records this year,’’ Diane says. “This is a really nice way for my family and his family to come together. I never thought it would become what it has. It’s really just become a great tradition, right up there with buying the peanut oil for the turkey.”

All proceeds from the Wiregrass Wobble Turkey Trot events go to local charities, including FITNiche Foundation, Feeding America Tampa Bay, the Florida Hospital Wesley Chapel Foundation and the Rotary Club of New Tampa Foundation, which provides funds for 25 local charities. More than $110,000 has been raised since 2013, and nearly 7,300 people had participated in the event.

Race organizers are expecting their largest-ever field ever next week.

Those wanting to participate in the Wiregrass Wobble Turkey Trot can register at WiregrassWobbleTurkeyTrot.com. Pre-registration (by Nov. 22) is $35, and race day registration is $40.

There will be a 2017 tech shirt for all runners, ‘Ornamedal’ medals for all 5K finishers; school team competitions; Corporate & Friends & Family competitions and 1st-, 2nd- & 3rd-place awards for all 5K age groups; and all 1-mile Fun Run finishers will receive medals. The races will be accompanied by music and festivities, including a post-race party.

Despite Winds, The 2017 WC Fall Festival Was The Biggest Ever!

Anyone who thinks the number 13 is unlucky obviously did not attend the 13th annual Wesley Chapel Fall Festival at The Grove at Wesley Chapel shopping center the weekend of Oct. 28-29.

In its second year since taking the event over from the Greater Wesley Chapel Chamber of Commerce (WCC), Pinellas County-based event organizer Simply Events reports that there were at least 1,000 more cars that visited the Fall Fest this year than last year, when the two-day crowd was estimated at 10,000 people.

“Since there’s no admission fee, the only way to judge the attendance is by the number of cars that showed up, because we have our security people counting those cars,” says Sonya Bradley of Simply Events. “But, Saturday this year was definitely the biggest crowd we’ve seen so far.”

Unfortunately, with the winds gusting to 30-40 miles per hour early Sunday morning, many of the 110 vendors and crafters who were on hand on Sat. shut their booths down on Sun.

“We know our attendees were not happy with Sunday,” Bradley said. “We lost 18 tents & 25 total vendors before we opened on Sunday because of high winds. The Pumpkin Pageant set the right tone for Sunday, but the winds really hurt us.”

The pet costume parade and the Trunk or Treat events kept big crowds on site all day Sat.

“Our Chamber group ran out of 500 pieces of candy in less than an hour,” beamed proud WCCC CEO Hope Allen after the event. “In fact, all of the vehicles that gave out candy for Trunk or Treat pretty much ran out of candy, too. We will definitely partner again next year with Simply Events. What a great job they did!”

For more pics and a recap of the contest winners and sponsors at this year’s Fall Fest — which already is scheduled for the same pre-Halloween weekend (Oct. 26-27) next year — visit SimplyEventsFL.com. — GN