Joy Allee hits a forehand during the combo tennis season. The 6.5 combo team Allee plays on, along with three menâs combo teams from Hunterâs Green Country Club, will help break in the brand new $70-million USTA National Campus in Lake Nona next week.
When the sparkling new U.S. Tennis Association (USTA) national campus in Lake Nona (part of Orlando) is unveiled this week, much of the Hunterâs Green Country Club (HGCC) tennis community will have the best view of the beautiful $70-million facility â right from the service lines of some of the campusâ 120 courts.
HGCC produced four league championship teams that will compete for a State championship the next two weekends.
The USTA, which was headquartered in Miami Shores for many years before moving to Daytona Beach in 2002, will host sectionals for the first time at the new state-of-the-art complex.
This weekend (Jan. 6-8), the clubâs menâs and womenâs 6.5 teams â which combines 3.0- and 3.5-rated players â as well as the menâs 8.5 team (combining 4.0- and 4.5-rated players), will compete in Lake Nona.
For the 6.5 men, it is their third straight trip to Sectionals.
The following weekend, HGCCâs 7.5 men (combining 3.5- and 4.0-rated players) will travel to Lake Nona seeking a championship banner.
âI think the last time we sent four teams to one championship was 2002,ââ said head tennis pro Allegra Campos. âIt is a pretty incredible accomplishment.â
A number of HGCC men will be playing for at least two of the three mensâ teams competing the next two weekends: Erik Hajek and John Slatniske play for both the 6.5 and 7.5 teams, while Greg Morrissey, Rudy Paul, Chris Baker, Mike Bitting and Richard Helme all played for the 7.5 and 8.5 teams.
The three menâs teams combined for a 19-3 record during the regular season in the best-of-3 doubles format against other clubs in Tampa Bay, including West Meadows, Tampa Palms and Arbor Greene.
Helme (7-0), Hajek (5-0), Ron Reiter (5-0), Jim Dicesaro (4-0) and James Hann (3-0) were among those posting perfect records.
The 6.5 women, who advanced to the semifinals last year, return after going 6-0 during the regular season. The ladies only lost three lines all season, and six different players â Cherie Smith, Marisol Casablanca, Trina Hoyrod, Marisa Martin, Julie Sakre and Nini Torres â finished with team-best 3-0 record.
Casablanca, Hoyrod, Martin and Torres also played on the womenâs over-50 combo team that went 3-1 at sectionals in early December, just a tiebreaker away from the championship match.
Most Outstanding Defensive Lineman Christian Austin rushes the quarterback in the second annual Pasco County East-West All-Star game, which was played on Dec. 8.
Wesley Chapel High (WCH) defensive lineman Christian Austin wreaked havoc on the West teamâs offensive line to earn Most Outstanding Defensive Lineman, but it wasnât enough to lift his fellow All-Stars to victory Dec. 8 in the second annual Pasco County East-West Classic, which was played at Sunlake High in Land OâLakes.
The East team, with Austin and 13 other players from WCH and Wiregrass Ranch High (WRH) on the roster, fell to the West 27-21 on a quarterback scramble in overtime.
WRH and WCH had seven players each named to the team, which is comprised of only seniors. The event was sponsored by the Fellowship of Christian Athletes and Florida Hospital Wesley Chapel.
âThis is a great thing, what weâre doing here,â said WRH head coach Mark Kantor, who was the head coach of the East team. âWe should keep it rolling. Itâs fun to coach the kids (from other schools) and just to be part of this.â
Wesley Chapel-area players showed up early and heavily on defense for the East squad. WRHâs 6-foot, 180-pound linebacker Ryan Scamardo made a touchdown-saving tackle and had a quarterback pressure on the Westâs opening drive, but the West still found the end zone on a third-and-goal for the gameâs first score.
A fumble recovery then set up a short field for WCH quarterback Jacob Thomas and the East offense. Thomas completed a first down pass to the 13, and then Zephyrhills Christianâs Mykhâael Chavis ran it in from there to tie the game.
Austin, who is undersized for an interior player at 5â-10â and 190 lbs., but able to use his edge in quickness to make plays, was a menace from his defensive line position. He beat behemoth 6-8, 350-pound lineman Darrin Bright of Ridgewood for a tackle-for-loss on the Westâs fourth drive, forcing a punt.
On the next West drive, they tried a halfback option play, and Scamardo was there to break it up for a loss of yardage and force a fourth down.
Scamardoâs WRH teammate and fellow LB Jason Winston, tripped up the West quarterback on the ensuing drive to force another fourth down. Another Bulls player, safety Dylan Bryan, made a huge play on the next drive, intercepting the ball and returning it to the West 36.
In the third quarter, the West took a 13-7 lead but local defenders kept making plays, as Winston and Bryan combined to force another West fourth down.
The offensive players from WCH and WRH began making their marks, as well. On first-and-goal from the 5, Thomas ran a bootleg to his left and beat the West defense to the corner for a touchdown to give his squad a 14-13 lead.
And then, Austin logged another sack on the Westâs ensuing possession.
With time winding down, the East got in the end zone again to take a 21-13 lead with 1:12 left to play, but the West charged right back with a touchdown and two-point conversion with 18 seconds left to send the game into overtime.
But, even though the West team fell short, WCH coach Tony Egan, who served as an assistant for the East squad, said, âThis was an awesome experience, mixing it up with other coaches, no one wanting to give up any secrets, keeping it very vanilla. Itâs also another chance for some of these players to get something on film.â
Egan mentioned that Thomas had finally received his first of what Egan expects to be multiple scholarship offers, from Ave Maria University near Naples, FL.
The Wiregrass Ranch boys and girls cross country teams both captured their respective Sunshine Athletic Conference championships on Oct. 8. It was the second straight title for the boys, and for the girls in was their eighth title in the last nine seasons.
Senior Julia Blankenbaker didnât just beat a muddy course to help her Wiregrass Ranch High (WRH) team win the Sunshine Athletic Conference (SAC) cross country meet on Oct. 8. She also beat some pretty sizable odds.
Diagnosed a month ago with anemia and running on a sloppy course, the Bulls runner somehow looked to be back in top form, finishing the 5K (3.1-mile) course in 21 minutes, 33 seconds, as WRH won its eighth conference championship in the schoolâs 10 years of existence.
The Bulls boys also won, earning their second straight SAC title.
Blankenbaker led the charge for the girls, finishing fifth overall at the SAC meet, tops among the pack-oriented Bulls. She was followed by junior Reis Ehman (21:50), freshman Kylee Ehman (22:07), senior Lauren Payne (22:09) and Abbie Dodge (22:10), who finished eighth, ninth, 10th and 11th, respectively.
The top five finishers at the SAC for WRH all finished within 37 seconds of each other, which Bulls head coach Don Howard calls a recipe for success.
A month ago, Blankenbaker couldnât imagine running such a good race, much less in harsh conditions. The course was beat up by heavy rains and winds from Hurricane Matthew and, as a result, most of the runners posted slower times than usual. âIt was really muddy at the start,ââ Blankenbaker says. âPeople were kind of shocked. You could here people gasp when the race started.â
However, Blankenbaker said once she reached the paved portion, âIt felt like you were flying.â She finished only two seconds off her best time despite the conditions…and her condition.
âAt the very beginning of the season, I was running a lot slower,ââ Blankenbaker says. âI was so tired during the meets.â
A trip to the doctor for some blood work revealed that Blankenbaker had anemia.
âSince then, she says, âIâve been taking iron supplements and getting better. I had a lot more energy (at the SAC meet). I donât know what 100 percent will feel like until I get there.ââ
Sheâs pretty close now, says Howard.
âShe is ready to run,ââ he said. âSheâll be ready to go in the postseason. That was the first time she ever ran No. 1 for us, and it was the best race of her career.â
As a team, the Bulls girls scored 43 points, bettering Land OâLakes, which was second with 55. Wesley Chapel was sixth. The WRH team reclaimed a title it had won seven straight years before being upended by the Gators in 2015.
âWe wanted to get our title back,ââ said Howard. âI know youâre probably not supposed to say that, but it felt like ours after winning it seven straight years.â
Howard thinks Blankenbaker is ready to make her mark in the postseason.
Howard has once again proven his mettle as arguably Pasco Countyâs top cross country coach. He went into this season without his two best runners because of injuries â Kerry Reilly, who was fourth at the SAC in 2014, and Brenna Moran, who was sixth and fifth the past two years, respectively â because of injuries. Without a front-of-the-pack runner, which he has had almost every year at WRH, Howard molded his current roster to run together in a tight pack.
âWe have had a really good year and have won a couple of invitationals,ââ Howard says. âNone of the girls are super elite, but all of them are good, good solid runners who run together. We have two (injured) No. 1 runners walking our halls, but we have depth. We benefit from having a large school, and I think weâve created a program that good athletes want to be a part of.â
That pack mentality suits Blankenbaker perfectly. She qualified twice for the state championship meet as a diver on the Bulls swim team, but she was the only diver on the team. The solitude of the sport made her decide to focus on cross country this year.
âI love the team atmosphere,ââ Blankenbaker says. âEveryone is out there pushing each other, not just running their own race.â
Boys Not Shabby, Either
The boys team at WRH scored 45 points, outdistancing runner-up Sunlake, which scored 81. Senior Joseph Salerno was the Bullsâ top runner, finishing fourth in 17:16. Salerno was followed by juniors Kevin Jaquez (sixth in 17:34), Giovanni Duran (eighth in 18:04) and Carlos Cruz (12th in 18:14).
Sophomore Christian Velez round out the WRH scorers, with a 15th-place finish and a time of 18:21.
Note-Wesley Chapel High senior Dominic Moreno, the defending individual champion, was the top finisher for the Wildcats, taking third in 17:16. The Wildcat boys team finished seventh overall.
left to right, DB Isaiah Bolden, QB Jacob Thomas and RB Dexter Leverette.
Anthony Egan knew his first head coaching job wouldnât be easy.
He was inheriting a Wesley Chapel High (WCH) team that had gone 7-33 the previous four seasons. Five of those seven wins were against teams that were either 0-10 or 1-9.
In 2013, the Wildcats only scored 68 points all season en route to a winless campaign.
âChange Chapel?â
Yes, please.
âWhen I first came to Wesley Chapel, I heard guys like (senior running back) Ellrie Allen and some of the seniors saying, âChanging Chapel,ââ Egan says. âWe cut the âingâ off and made it our own.â
The âChange Chapelâ mantra is paying dividends, as the Wildcats head into the toughest stretch of the season, starting with tonight’s home Class 5A, District 8 game against Anclote.Â
The Wildcat players have clearly bought into shedding their image as a losing football team. In fact, Wesley Chapel is now 6-0, the Wildcats’ best start since posting back-to-back 10-0 regular seasons way back in 2001-02. The Wildcats are 4-0 in 5A-8, tied for first with upcoming opponents Zephyrhills (Oct. 21) and River Ridge (Oct. 28).
Wesley Chapel won its first two 2016 games against two teams with the deepest tradition of playoff football in Pasco County, knocking off Land OâLakes 13-3 in the season opener on Aug. 26 and following that up with a 34-21 win over Pasco on Sept. 9. It was the first time since 2007 WCH had beaten the Pirates.
The Wildcats were just warming up. In its next three games, it outscored opponents 137-28, beating Ridgewood (42-22), Gulf (50-0) and Fivay (45-6). Last week, the Wildcats rallied from a 28-20 fourth quarter deficit to beat Hudson 39-34.
âWeek one, we had about 90 percent buy inâ Egan says. âNow weâre at 100 percent,â Egan said.
New Coach, New Attitude
It started with Egan. He had two coaching runs, at River Ridge High as well as a short stint at Hudson. Heâs a 2003 River Ridge graduate. Last season, when Egan was still at River Ridge, the Royal Knights devoured the Wildcats in the first half, 35-0.
âWe were up big but Wesley Chapel came out in the second half and outscored us 21-7,â Egan says. âI saw a lot of athletes, a lot of guys moving around fast and I knew this was a place I wanted to go.â
Tony Egan talks to his team at a recent practice.
Egan was set on finding a head coaching job somewhere after serving as a defensive coordinator and line coach for several years. It wound up that the only place he applied was Wesley Chapel; he was hired in January.
âWhat I saw right away was a good group of respectful kids ready to work,â Egan says. âWe had 40-50 kids in the weight room, 40-50 all through the summer.â
In the spring game, Wesley Chapel thumped Weeki Wachee 54-20, showing off the steady running game that was the hallmark of the Knightsâ attack the past few seasons. The Wildcats seemed to be on their way.
âAs soon as Coach Egan came in, you could feel it in the air â there was that hunger,â senior quarterback Jacob Thomas said. âThis was not going to be the same Chapel. We werenât going to do what weâd been doing for years and years.â
A Perfect Mix…
A few new players have been contributing to the Wesley Chapel turnaround, including highly-regarded junior defensive back Isaiah Bolden, a Florida State verbal commitment and 4-star recruit, according to the Rivals.com.
Though he transferred in from Jacksonville-area Bartram Trail (to be with his father), Bolden is not new to Wesley Chapel â he went to Thomas E. Weightman Middle School and played football for the Weightman Wildcats. He had moved to the Jacksonville/St. Johns area for high school to be with his mother, where he developed into a top recruit.
âIt was different, real different when I came back from Bartram Trail,â Bolden says. âI just wanted to see where Iâd fit in.â
He has fit in just fine. Last season, Bolden had a 108-yard interception return for a touchdown for the Bears, and those skills were in full effect against Pasco, when Bolden ran a kickoff back 95 yards for a TD.
First-year running back Dexter Leverett is another transfer having a big impact. Leverett played for Eastside High in Taylors, SC, as a freshman but spent a whole year on the sidelines, waiting for his chance. After transferring to Wesley Chapel for 2015, he was on the team but ineligible to play.
He now leads Pasco County in rushing, with 906 yards (7.6 yards a carry) and six touchdowns. Leverett’s 906 yards is more than the Wildcat team rushed for the entire season in 2013, 2014 and 2015. Teammate Malik Melvin is tied with Leverette for the team lead with six rushing touchdowns, while contributing 297 yards.
Thomas, the senior leader at QB, continues to excel, even if he isnât throwing the ball as much as he is used to.
Last year, Thomas threw an average of 33 times a game for a county-best 1,825 yards and 17 touchdowns as a junior for the Wildcats, but he has sacrificed his prolific numbers, throwing only seven times a game this season, for the sake of the team.
The 6-foot-4, 180-pounder has completed 17 of 42 pass attempts, but almost half his completions — eight, to be exact — have gone for touchdowns, including three to junior WR Justin Trapnell and two to freshman RBÂ Keith Walker.
âIf I donât buy in (to Eganâs gameplan), then who does?â Thomas said after the win over Pasco. âWe are going to run his style (of offense), I knew how it would be but he makes the calls and we execute them.â
âJacobâs been great, heâs been patient,â Egan says. âHeâs a big kid thatâs still waiting on that first (college) offer. He can really hit receivers when theyâre open and thatâs what the running game (sets up). He is such a good leader, he could hand off 60 times and pass two. Itâs all about winning. Heâs worried about the team and winning.â
Thatâs what it is all about at Chapel these days.
Colin Eke (center) gives out âgolden bootsâ to the MVPs from two of his adult soccer leagues in our area. Eke is now starting a âwalking footballâ league in our area.
Wesley Chapel resident Colin Eke grew up playing soccer. He says that in Ipswich, England, where he was born and raised, âfootballâ was more than a game, it was a passion.
The older Eke got, however, the harder the game got. Factor in injuries to his hips, knees and Achilles tendon, and Eke turned to refereeing games. But now, heâs turning to a whole new game â âwalking football,â or as itâs called here, soccer. He jokes that this way, âYou can play soccer on Sunday afternoon, and when you go to work on Monday, youâre not on crutches.ââ
Eke, who is 60, is trying to start what he believes will be Floridaâs first-ever over-50 Walking Football League right here in Wesley Chapel and New Tampa. He held a clinic last week at the Benito Middle School soccer fields on Cross Creek Blvd. in New Tampa, and is hoping to attract enough players for a 4-team league.
Eke says the concept is no joke â walking football is one of the fastest growing sports in England. He says that everyone should check out YouTube to see how the sport is played. âItâs quicker than you think,â he says.
There is an official organization in England that holds regional and national tournaments â Walking Football United â and the United States Adult Soccer Association will include the game in its Adult Soccer Fest in Denver, CO, July 13-17.
âA good friend in England told me about it,ââ he said. âMost people over the age of 50 canât run anymore, theyâve chosen to hang their boots up or not play anymore, whether itâs weight, injuries or theyâre not fit enough. This game just involves a new mindset.â
Eke is trying to persuade people to that new mindset, hoping to have enough teams for his planned league by sometime later this month â after the COPA America tournament has ended and the Euro Cup is nearing its finale.
âIâve had some people say ,âYou must be kidding,ââ Eke says. âI just tell them, after five minutes in (of regular soccer), if youâre over 50, youâre either walking anyway, laying on the ground exhausted or wanting to come off for water.â
In walking football, as you might imagine, no running is allowed. You can power walk, but are not permitted to jog, lest you end up being sentenced to two minutes in the âsin bin,â equivalent to hockeyâs penalty box.
The game is still quicker than you might imagine (again, check out the YouTube videos if you donât believe it) and the players need to possess good footwork and solid ball striking skills. Instead of 11-on-11, walking football features 6-on-6 play.
The game is open to men and women. The goals and field are smaller, no one is allowed in the penalty area in front of the net, and there is no offsides, no slide tackling and no over-the-head throw-ins.
âThe goal is to let people who love the game to keep playing,ââ Eke says. âItâs still great physical fitness, itâs a great social game and thereâs (much less) chance of injury.ââ
Eke has run the New Adult Premier Soccer League (APSL) along with partner Miguel Herrera since 2012. Roughly 200 players from the Wesley Chapel, New Tampa and Dade City areas have competed at places like Benito Middle School on Cross Creek Blvd. in New Tampa, the Wesley Chapel District Park on Boyette Rd., and the New Tampa Community Park in Tampa Palms during menâs and co-ed leagues on Wednesday and Friday nights and Sunday afternoons.
Eke hopes the addition of walking football is as successful as the rest of his leagues have been. âThe whole point is to get players who are older to be healthy and active,ââ he says. âItâs like a stroll on a Sunday afternoon, so why not kick a ball at the same time?â
For the 6.5 men, it is their third straight trip to Sectionals.
The 6.5 women, who advanced to the semifinals last year, return after going 6-0 during the regular season. The ladies only lost three lines all season, and six different players â Cherie Smith, Marisol Casablanca, Trina Hoyrod, Marisa Martin, Julie Sakre and Nini Torres â finished with team-best 3-0 record.
