Cypress Creek High Kicks Off Spring Football With A Handful Of Hopefuls

Head coach Mike Johnson (left) goes over a drill with some players at the second practice of the spring.

There may be no harder job in high school sports than being a football coach for a brand new school. Typically, you have no senior class to lean on, you have to build entirely new offensive and defensive units from scratch and you are, almost certainly, facing a debut season in which you will be lucky to win even one game.

That job will be even harder for Cypress Creek Middle/High School first-year head coach Mike Johnson.

At the first practice of the school’s first spring football session — where coaches will put in their offensive and defensive formations and unearth the leaders and identity of the team for the upcoming season, which starts in August —the Coyotes attracted two players.

The second day, there were five. Johnson said he wasn’t sure if anyone else would be showing up.

Because there is no place to practice yet at Cypress Creek, which is still under construction and opens in the fall, the five players — Kyle Cantwell, Kiaus Collins, Tim Ford, Devin Morris and Dylan Nagore — showed up the first week to train on an open field behind Weightman Middle School.

Dylan Nagore receives blocking instruction. The Coyotes will play their first season of high school football this fall.

Although it may have looked more like friends working out on their own than a football team, the future Coyotes earnestly dashed between orange cones, worked on their back-pedals and polished their blocking techniques in near silence under the watchful eye of Johnson and five assistant coaches.

“It’s tough being in the situation we are in,’’ Johnson said, alluding to the fact that many, if not most, of his future players are currently going through spring drills just a few hundred yards away at Wesley Chapel High (WCH), and still others were at Wiregrass Ranch High (WRH) practicing with the Bulls.

Therein lies Johnson’s predicament.

After a long, hotly-contested process that rezoned many of the students at WCH and WRH for the fall, a large number of parents and students are unhappy about having to change schools for a number of reasons. Leaving some of the better academic and extra curricular programs at their current schools is one sore spot.

The same goes for football players. Many now living in the Cypress Creek attendance zone are most likely hopefully awaiting school choice assignments in order to stay with their current teams, rather than become a Coyote.

The timing for Cypress Creek football also couldn’t be any worse — Wesley Chapel is coming off a 7-2 season, its best since 2004, while Wiregrass Ranch won a school record seven games and made the playoffs for the first time since 2010.

“It’s tough on a lot of people,’’ Johnson said. “But we are happy with what we have out here and what we are doing.”

That positive approach is shared by the handful of Coyotes, who despite leaving successful programs for one sure to take its lumps in the fall, are currently receiving what amounts to 1-on-1 football training

Ford, a skills position player for WRH the past two years, says that Cypress Creek offers a fresh start for him.

“It’s a good environment so far,’’ he said. “I like the coaches, they are all real nice.”

And Nagore, a guard for the WRH junior varsity last year before getting called up to varsity later in the season, is attacking the challenge.

“I was mad at first,’’ said Nagore, who also happens to be the sophomore class president at Wiregrass Ranch. “It was hard at first moving from a great program to one just starting out. But, you have to be optimistic and make the best of it. It’s nice being the start of something.”

Other than a few footballs and cones and a rope ladder for running speed drills, Cypress Creek High doesn’t even have any equipment yet. The players won’t do any contact drills, and it will be impossible, for now, to put in any plays.

Johnson, however, hopes all that changes when school choice comes out and his future roster arrives, and he begins a summer-long weight training program — if the new school can complete it in time.

Until then, he will continue to coach whoever shows up as he prepares for the first season.

“I still look at this optimistically,’’ Johnson says. “It’s a fantastic opportunity for myself and the players coming out. And, for a lot of kids, I think it offers a fresh start.”

Wiregrass Ranch High Boys Tennis Falls In State Championship Final

The Wiregrass Ranch High tennis team poses with the state runner-up from last week’s Class 4A state championships in Altamonte Springs.

The Wiregrass Ranch High (WRH) boys tennis team, arguably the most successful athletic program in Pasco County the past few seasons, fell just short of winning a third State tennis championship in five seasons.

The Bulls, champions in 2014 and 2015, fell to Parkland Stoneman Douglas High 4-1 in the Class 4A championship match on April 27 in Altamonte Springs. Noah Makarome, who was undefeated in his previous two singles matches, and Destiny Okungbowa were both playing their first sets when the match was called after Douglas clinched the title with their fourth win (out of seven lines).

Josh Abrams, the Bulls No. 5 singles player, pulled out the only victory for WRH in the final by defeating Jabari Cole 6-1, 2-6, 11-9, to finish 3-0 on the week.

The Bulls fell behind quickly when Douglas captured both doubles matches in convincing straight sets.

Wiregrass Ranch, which is 111-2 in head-to-head matches since 2010, during which time it hasn’t lost a Pasco County match, had to battle hard to reach the finals.

In the state quarterfinals April 26, it defeated Fleming Island 4-1, as Makarome won 6-4, 6-1, at No. 1 singles, Jared and Josh Abrams picked up wins at Nos. 4 and 5 singles and Kanishkh Ramesh  and Okungbowa won at No. 2 doubles with a 4-6, 6-4, 10-2 victory.

The semifinals, played earlier on the same day as the finals, saw the Bulls defeat Tampa’s George Steinbrenner High  4-2 with the same combination of winners.

Makarome, who has signed to play at the University of Pennsylvania next year, defeated Nicholas Cary 6-3, 6-1, at No. 1 singles, and the Abrams brothers both won their singles matches, with Jared winning 6-4, 6-0, at No. 4, and Josh winning 6-0, 6-0, at No. 5.

Ramesh and Okungbowa won at No. 2 doubles 6-4, 6-3. The title was the first for the Douglas High tennis team.

U.S. Fed Cup Team Hoping To Knock Off Champs At Saddlebrook Next Weekend

(From left to right) United States’ Kayla Day, Coach Lisa Raymond, Bethanie Mattek-Sands, Alison Riske, Shelby Rogers, CoCo Vandeweghe and Captain Kathy Rinaldi after clinching the overall victory over Germany at the 2017 Fed Cup tie between the United States and Germany in Maui, HI on February 12. (Photo: Andrew Ong/USTA)

Putting together a Federation Cup team is akin to fielding a lineup in almost any sport.

You find the best players, who are currently playing the best, who have earned the right to be out there, and you put them on the court.

For United State Fed Cup first-time captain Kathy Rinaldi, that means Coco Vandeweghe, Shelby Rogers, Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Lauren Davis.

Rinaldi selected her team last week during a stop at Saddlebrook Resort, which will host the Federation Cup by BNP Paribas World Group Semifinal this weekend in front of what could be a sellout crowd.

A temporary 3,500-seat stadium will be constructed around one of the resort’s Har-Try Classic Green Clay courts.

Kevin O’Connor, president of Saddlebrook International Sports, said Saddlebrook’s reputation, combined with a tennis community buoyed by active USTA programs at Hunter’s Green, Tampa Palms, Arbor Greene and West Meadows, made the area the perfect choice to host the event.

“This is the highest level of team tennis,’’ says O’Connor. “This is like what most of the local community does with the USTA team tennis. Imagine one of the best communities in the U.S. for organized tennis. To have the pinnacle of team events in your backyard, it’s a no brainer and very exciting.”

The best-of-five match series begins on Saturday with two singles matches beginning at 11:30 a.m.. Then, on Sunday, the teams will play two reverse singles matches beginning at 10:30 a.m., as well as the doubles match.

The semifinal showdown will feature one team, the U.S., trying to reclaim its former glory. The 17-time champion hasn’t won the Fed Cup since 2000.

One the other hand, the defending champ Czech Republic is trying to maintain its status as the best women’s team in the world, as winners of five of the last six titles.

The U.S. is 39-6 all-time in Fed Cup ties (or matches) played at home, and is 147-36 overall.

“The atmosphere for these matches will be electric,’’ Rinaldi says. “There’s something about playing for your country that brings out the best in the players. To see the fans, with their faces painted, the colored wigs
 to hear the national anthem, there’s nothing like it.”

A few weeks ago, Rinaldi, whose son Duke Stunkel Jr. is an outfielder for the University of South Florida baseball team, said her team was the clear underdog. But, that may have changed once the Czech Republic revealed it would be sending an inexperienced  lineup of Fed Cup reserves.

Already without two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova, who is still recovering from a December knife attack during a burglary that left her with an injured left hand, the Czechs also go without the other three players who led them to the Fed Cup title last year.

World No. 3 Karolina Pliskova, No. 18 Barbora Strycova and No. 2 doubles player Lucie Safarova have all declined to play, citing minor injuries or scheduling issues.

In their place, the Czech Republic is sending Pliskova’s twin sister Kristyna and Marketa Vondrousova, who will be making their Fed Cup debuts, and Katerina Siniakova and Denia Allertova, who have played one Fed Cup doubles match.

Siniakova is the highest rated of the Czechs, at No. 38, while Pliskova is No. 54. Allertova (107) and Vondrousova (233) are outside of the Top 100.

Ratings matter less, however, when you are playing for your country, Rinaldi says. Last year, the Netherlands, without a single player in the top 100, beat four-time champion Russia, which was competing with three players in the top 35, including Maria Sharapova.

Started in 1963 as the women’s version of the men’s Davis Cup, Federation Cup tennis is the world’s largest annual international team competition in women’s sports, as roughly 100 teams from across the globe compete. It is marked by patriotism and raucous, festive crowds who roundly cheer for their country, and the atmosphere is completely different from the typical intense quiet you might see on television. Loudly celebrating in between points is not only allowed, it is encouraged.

“You can really feel the enthusiasm,’’ Rinaldi said. “In Hawaii (for the U.S.’s 4-0 quarterfinal win over Germany), the fans were loud and behind us, and we expect it to be the same way at Saddlebrook.”

United States’ captain Kathy Rinaldi gets excited about a point at the 2017 Fed Cup tie between the United States and Germany in Maui, HI on February 11. (Photo: Andrew Ong/USTA)

Rinaldi, 49, reached the quarterfinals of the French Open as a 14-year-old and has trained at Saddlebrook.  A three-time winner on the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) tour, and once ranked as high as No. 7 in the world, Rinaldi was working in player development for the U.S. Tennis Association (USTA) when she was tasked with directing the Fed Cup team back to the top of the international heap after years of struggling.

Despite American tennis boasting the likes of Serena Williams, arguably the greatest player of all-time (and 16-1 in Fed Cup action), her sister Venus and more than a dozen top-100-ranked players, its shortcomings for more than a decade in the Fed Cup competition have been magnified in recent years by the absence of the top American women, mainly Serena and Venus currently ranked Nos. 2 and 12 respectively.

Even without the Williams sisters, or No. 10 Madison Keys, Rinaldi has secured the remaining top Americans. Vandeweghe is No. 24, Davis is 36 and Rogers is 49, moving up three spots after beating the top-seeded Keys and reaching the quarterfinals at the WTA’s Charleston stop April 3-5. Mattek-Sands is the No. 1 doubles player in the world,

“You want to try to find those players that are playing their best at the moment,’’ Rinaldi said. “You want to find players that you believe in, and American tennis has a lot of really good players and a lot that are playing really well right now. We currently have 18 in the top 100. That’s quite a number. Women’s tennis has really stepped up.”

The animated and fiery Vandeweghe, certain to be one of the crowd favorites this weekend, is playing the best tennis of her career.

She reached a career-high rating of No. 20 in the world earlier this year after her 2017 Australian Open, where she defeated then-world No. 1 Angelique Kerber before falling to Venus Williams in the semis.

Vandeweghe has won two WTA titles, and a doubles title as well, when she teamed with Mattek-Sands to win at Indian Wells in 2016.

This will be Vandeweghe’s sixth Fed Cup tie (or team match), and she is 3-0 in doubles  and 3-3 in singles.

Davis, who won her first WTA title this year, the ASB Classic in Auckland, New Zealand, is returning to Fed Cup for the first time since 2015, and is 1-0 in doubles and 0-1 in singles.

Rogers, who has reached two WTA quarterfinals this year, is playing in her second consecutive Fed Cup tie. She made her debut in Hawaii, teaming with Mattek-Sands in doubles.

Mattek-Sands became the No. 1-rated doubles player in the world in January with a win at Brisbane, followed by the Australian Open title. Mattek-Sands has 25 career WTA doubles titles, including the 2015 French Open and 2016 U.S. Open. She is undefeated in Fed Cup doubles action, winning all six of her matches, and is 2-6 in Fed Cup singles. She was on the last U.S. team to make the finals in 2010.

The winner at Saddlebrook advances to the Fed Cup final Nov. 11-12. It will meet the winner of the Belarus-Switzerland tie being played this weekend in Minsk, Belarus.

Tickets to the action at Saddlebrook were going fast but still available as of our press time. To try and purchase, visit USTA.com/fedcup or call (888) 334-USTA (8782).

Notebook: Bulls Rule The SAC With Boys & Girls Titles In Tennis & Track

The WRH track teams celebrate their SAC sweeps.

The Wiregrass Ranch High (WRH) spring sports program had a big day last week, when the boys and girls tennis and track teams all took home Sunshine Athletic Conference (SAC)  championships.

The boys tennis team, coached by Dave Wilson, has long been the class of Pasco County, and their SAC title was the seventh straight for the Bulls. In fact, the team hasn’t lost a match to a Pasco County school in that span, going 83-0.

The Bulls have been led this season by senior Noah Makarome, who won the U.S. Tennis Association (USTA)’s Boys 14 Singles National Clay Court Championship in 2013 but has never played high school tennis, and Destiny Okungbowa.

The girls tennis team won the conference title by beating Pasco 4-3.

In track, the host Bulls swept the boys and girls team titles at the SAC East meet for the second straight year.

The girls outscored Sunlake 143-134, pulling past the Seahawks with their dominance in the 800 meters.

The Bulls trailed Sunlake by 24 points heading into the 800. However, Kerry Reilly, Brenna Moran and Kate Moore finished 1-2-3, and Abbie Dodge came in fifth, as the Bulls picked up 26 points and surged to the lead.

Kyra Swain won the next race, the 200 meters, to give WRH some cushion, and then Reis Ehman (fourth), Julia Blankenbaker (fifth) and Lauren Payne (sixth) scored seven points in the 3,200 meters to help offset Land O’Lakes’ 18 points in the race, thanks to a 1-2 finish.

The WRH boys built a big lead in the field events, thanks to long jump champ Rashaun Wiliams and discus winner Dillion Teets, but the Bulls put the meet away with their work in the hurdles races, scoring 36 points.

In the 110m hurdles, Dylan Ridolph and Josia Gadeen finished 1-2, and in the 330m hurdles, Ridolph, Gadeen and T.J. Ridgel finished 2-3-4. The Bulls boys literally ran away with the title with 166 points, followed by Land O’Lakes (80) and Wesley Chapel (79).

WILDCATS SPRINTERS SHINE IN SAC, TOO: Wesley Chapel High (WCH) speedster Isaiah Bolden won the 100- and 200- meter races at the SAC meet, and also teamed up with Dexter Leverett, Nick Merilan and Deion Watkins to capture the 4×100 relay to lead the third-place Wildcats.

Dominic Moreno also was a triple winner, capturing titles in the 800m, 1,600m and 4x400m relay (with Cameron Boger, Raymund Reddick and Leverett).

For the WCH girls, who finished fourth with 77 points, Sydney Parker was a winner in the 100m, and Faith Mercer took the title in the 400. Cache Simmons added a third first-place finish to the Wildcats’ haul in the triple jump.

FOOTBALL COMMITMENT: Evan Hogan, a 6-foot-3, 305-pound offensive lineman and long snapper for Wiregrass Ranch High (WRH), orally committed to Keiser University in West Palm Beach.

Hogan was a starter for the Bulls last season and part of an offensive line that helped the team rush for 2,282 yards (228.2 yards a game) and 29 touchdowns.

As a long snapper, Hogan has been ranked among the top 50 in the nation by the Kornblue Kicking/Snapping Academy.

The son of Florida International University sports information director Mike Hogan, Evan will get a unique opportunity at Keiser, which is starting football in the fall of 2018.

Keiser competes in the National Association of Intercollegiate Association (NAIA) and plays in the Sun Conference against three colleges in Polk County and one near Naples.

Hogan will play for head coach Doug Socha, who was an offensive assistant for the NFL’s Buffalo Bills last season.

Wiregrass Ice Hawks Fall Just Short Of A State Title At FHCI

 The Wiregrass Ice Hawks receive their medals for finishing second at the SAHOF High School Tier 2 finals, the first major championship event held at Florida Hospital Center Ice off S.R. 56.

The Wiregrass Ice Hawks, a high school team comprised of players from Wiregrass Ranch (WRH), Wesley Chapel (WCH), Zephyrhills and Pasco high schools, won their division in the Tampa Bay Lightning High School League.

The Hawks beat two teams to make the league’s championship, the Lightning Cup.

They beat two more teams a week later to make the high school state championship.

The only thing the Ice Hawks couldn’t beat? Mitchell High from New Port Richey.

Playing in the Statewide Amateur Hockey of Florida (SAHOF) final for the first time, Wiregrass ran out of gas and fell to the Mustangs 5-0 on Feb. 26, in front of a packed, boisterous crowd at Florida Hospital Center Ice (FHCI) off S.R. 56.

It was the Hawks’ third loss to Mitchell in eight days.

“We had a tougher semifinal game (than Mitchell did) this morning (Note-both finalists played other teams in the State semifinals earlier the same day; see below) and that took it out of us,” said Gordie Zimmermann, the team’s head coach and the managing partner at FHCI. “Still, to meet and compete in the state title game, you can’t ask for a better season than that.”

The loss capped a great postseason for the Ice Hawks, who won the Andreychuk Division of the Tampa Bay Lightning High School Hockey League with a 16-6 record. They beat Bradenton Manatee and Tampa Jesuit high schools in the playoffs of that league, before coming up short in the Lightning Cup finale, held  at Amalie Arena on Feb. 18, losing 7-4, also to Mitchell.

Wiregrass forward Adam Zimmermann moves the puck against Freedom.

In the State playoffs at FHCI a week later, the Hawks lost a pool match against Mitchell, 5-4 in overtime, but fought back from that loss to earn a third chance at the Mustangs. in the State title game.

Unfortunately for Wiregrass, after the overtime loss to Mitchell Saturday night, the team had to survive a physically tough 7-4 Sunday morning victory over New Tampa’s Freedom High.

Complicating the matter, one of the Ice Hawks’ top players, forward Gehrig Oppenheimer, was ejected from the win against the Patriots and suspended for the championship game. “Missing one of our front line guys really changed our dynamics,” Zimmermann said.

Fatigue and the loss of Oppenheimer showed, as Mitchell scored in the first four minutes and led 4-0 before the end of the first period.

The Mustangs kept up the pace in the second period, outshooting the Ice Hawks 23-11, but were unable to find the back of the net with any of them.

Still, Zimmermann said his players were able to relish the moment in the third period, playing in what will be their new home in front of an appreciative home crowd. He recalled during a timeout in the final, some of his players told him they were having the best time of their lives.

“Guys like Alex Carr and Alejandro Rivera got a couple of shifts in there (in the final),” Zimmermann said. “There were guys that just wanted to be a part of it.”

In its win over Freedom Sunday morning, Wiregrass fell behind 1-0 before cleaning up a puck that ricocheted off Freedom goalie Dominik Rini to tie things headed to the second period.

Physical play was the theme at the State tournament, especially whenever Wiregrass played Mitchell.

Wiregrass took the lead just over a minute into the second period on a shot by Joseph Davis who would earn a hat trick with his three goals against Freedom. Davis also scored two slapshot goals from the point in the Saturday night game against Mitchell to give the Hawks a late 4-3 lead.

Teams from all over the state converged for the two tiers of the State tournament, which was held for the first time ever in our area. As the champion, Mitchell is now headed to the national tournament.

Wiregrass, Freedom, Mitchell and West Boca (Spanish River) competed in the Tier 2 high school division. Tier 2 teams can draw from up to four schools, typically in the same general area (e.g., Freedom‘s team was made up of players from both Freedom and Wharton high schools).

The Tier 1 championships were also held at the same time. Those teams have rosters comprised entirely of athletes that attend a particular school.

North Broward Preparatory won the Tier 1 championship. It was the fourth consecutive year the Coconut Creek-based school captured the Tier 1 title.Â