Prep Notes: Wharton New Field, Spring Football Update

The new artificial field at Wharton is progressing nicely. (Photo: @WhartonWildcats)

Wharton High will be playing its football games this fall on a brand new artificial turf field, with construction expected to be completed by the end of July.

The Wildcats will debut the field for their regular season football home opener against rival Freedom High on August 27.

“Oh yeah, they are excited about it,” says Wharton’s athletic director Eddie Henderson.

According to Henderson, Hillsborough County Public Schools is doing a rotation of 3-5 fields each summer, with the final goal being to install artificial turf at every public high school.

Last year, the first schools in the rotation — Sumner, Sickles and Hillsborough — had new fields put in. This summer, Steinbrenner, Lennard and Blake are getting new fields, along with Wharton. Each field costs roughly $2 million, but Henderson says the District will make up a lot of those costs with what it saves in maintenance and re-sodding.

“I think that there will be a lot of money saved over the long run,” Henderson says.

Plant High was the first county public school to put in an artificial turf field in 2010, after raising $600,000 for the project.

SPEAKING OF WILDCATS: Wharton recently wrapped up its spring season with a 14-0 loss in one half of play against Tampa Bay Tech, but second-year coach Mike Williams wasn’t concerned about the score.

“The spring is about evaluating our kids and seeing who is ready to move up to varsity,” Williams says. “And we liked what we saw.”

Although the Wildcats graduated all of their varsity quarterbacks, Williams was pleased with last year’s junior varsity starter, Tyree Works, who handled all of the spring snaps. But, Works will have more competition in the fall from some promising freshmen and transfers. Williams is hoping to transition from a power-based offense to one featuring more perimeter passes to spread out the game. 

With leading rusher Keith Morris and some key wide receiver transfers ready to beef up the offense, Williams expects to score more than the 19 points per game the team averaged last year.

Almost every defensive player is back, including a linebacking crew that could make an argument for being the best in Tampa Bay and includes All-Staters Daveon Crouch, who recently committed to Boston College, and Henry Griffith and second-team MaxPreps Freshman All-American Booker Pickett Jr.

The Wildcats went 7-2 in 2020 because the defense was top-flight, allowing only nine points per game and posting three shutouts.

“This is going to be a big summer for a lot of the guys,” Williams says.

NUMBERS GAME AT FREEDOM: Freedom High, coming off a winless season, picked up an 8-7 jamboree win over King last month to wrap up spring football.

Quarterback Alex de la Cruz threw a touchdown pass to Greg Underwood Jr., and then found RJ Broadnax for the two-point conversion and the win.

De la Cruz will enter the fall as the starter, after promising freshman and last year’s leading passer Taquawn Anthony said he would not be returning to Freedom.

The Patriots suffered a more serious blow when their best player, Robby Washington, transferred to Eagle’s Landing High in McDonough, GA. Washington led Freedom in rushing, receiving and touchdowns last year, and averaged more than 12 yards every time he touched the ball. He has offers from Alabama, Miami and Boston College.

Third-year coach Chris Short will continue trying to rebuild the Patriots, though only 22 players dressed out for the spring game and very few of them had any previous game experience.

He says a lot of players are waiting on paperwork, but admits that adequately filling a football roster for the upcoming fall season will be a tough chore.

“The hardest thing I’m dealing with right now is the same as when I was an assistant, and that’s getting kids to come out,” Short says. “I’m hoping it’s a cyclical thing with us, but if we can get these kids signed up we’ll be okay.”

Wharton Football Looking To Stay Perfect


Wharton cornerback Fred Jolly has been one of the top players this season on the Wildcats’ fearsome defense. (Photo: Alyssa Cason).

Prior to Wharton High’s game against Plant on Oct. 23, first-year head coach Mike Williams was about the only person around the Wildcats’ football program who could remember the last time Wharton beat the Panthers.

But that’s only because he played in that game, for Plant, which suffered a 15-14 loss on that night — way back in 2000.

Well, it doesn’t take such a long memory to remember such things anymore, because Wharton beat Williams’ alma mater 10-0 — even more impressive considering that Plant had scored 40 or more points in the last five games between the teams.

The win improved Wharton’s record to 6-0 on the season, its best start since going 7-0 in 2006. It can match that start tonight with a win over Durant at Wharton.

“We expected to have a good season, but maybe not to this extent,” says Williams, a former college All-American wide receiver at Southern Cal and first-round NFL draft pick of Detroit. “I knew we had some good players, and some good size, but we also had a bunch of young players competing for the first time.”

Another thing Williams knew — his defense was going to be nasty. And it has been.

The Wildcats have only allowed 23 points in six games. Only one team — Alonso — has scored a touchdown against Wharton, getting two while losing  44-17 to the Wildcats. Wharton has shut out Freedom 50-0, King 14-0, and Plant.

While the offense is still rounding into shape, the ‘Cats have been truly dominant on the other side of the ball.

Junior linebacker Henry Griffith leads the team with 56 tackles, including nine for a loss of yards, and Booker Pickett Jr. has 50 tackles. Only a freshman, Pickett Jr. is already 6’-4”, 200 pounds — “He’s a monster,”  Williams says — and shares the same on-field ferocity as his father, a former University of Miami linebacker.

Junior linebacker  Daveon Crouch, arguably the team’s best overall player and a Division I prospect, has a team-high nine sacks and regularly delivers a wallop, forcing six fumbles.

And, if you can bypass the linebackers, the Wildcats’ defensive backfield will be waiting for you.

“We have elite cover guys,” Williams says. “In my book, we have the best secondary in the county that nobody is talking about.”

Junior cornerback Jairon Dorsey leads the team with four interceptions, and has returned two of them for touchdowns. Junior Fred Jolly has eight passes defended and returned a punt blocked by Pickett Jr. for a TD with five minutes left to beat Palm Harbor University 7-3.

Williams says Junior Jason Cornwell, who returned his only interception this season 70 yards for a score, and senior Markell Dominique are primetime players as well.

Wharton, which had its Oct. 30 game against Steinbrenner canceled due to Covid-19 issues related to the Warriors, will wrap up the regular season tonight, then will host Riverview in the first round of the Class 8A playoffs on Nov. 13.

Williams hopes his offense, directed by quarterback Emery Floyd, and the 1-2 punch of running backs Keith Morris and Johnny Cason, is clicking by then. Along with the defense, he thinks something special might be brewing off Bruce B. Downs Blvd.

“Even though the program may have been up and down, Coach Mitchell really had a group that wasn’t afraid to work hard, wasn’t afraid to be in the weight room,” Williams says. “He had good things going. We’re going to keep it going.”

Mitchell Steps Down As Wharton Football Coach


Long-time Wharton High football (and wrestling) coach David Mitchell has resigned his position as the school’s football coach to spend more time with his family.(Photo: John C. Cotey)

David Mitchell has devoted much of life to coaching football and wrestling.

Now, however, he plans on using that time for something more important – his family.

The longtime Wharton High football coach has resigned after 14 seasons, telling his team at its season-ending banquet on Dec. 5. He finishes his Wharton career with an 83-74 overall record, advancing to the Regional playoffs six times, including twice as the District champion in 2005 and ’08.

“It was hard to do,” Mitchell says, but it is impossible to handle his current responsibilities without stepping back, he adds.

He wants to spend more time with his daughters – Angela, 30, Diana, 26 and Allison, 24. He has a grandson, Alex, he says he is dedicated to spoiling.

His mother, Helen, who is suffering from dementia, is now living with him. And his duties as a deacon at Mount Tabor Missionary Baptist Church, where he teaches Sunday school, require his time as well.

It his wife Amanda’s fight against breast cancer, however, which resulted in surgery last year, that has moved him away from football the most.

He was there when she was declared in remission and rang the bell, but he wants to be there more.

“My wife is the glue that kept the family together, she’s the real hero of this whole family,” Mitchell says. ”People tell me with all the time I spent coaching, I must have a good wife. And I say no, she’s a Queen.”

While he devoted a lot of his time to coaching, it was Amanda who devoted all of her time to the kids. Now, he wants to share in that, he says.

While he will remain the school’s wrestling coach – at age 59, he is still lithe enough to get on the mat to show his wrestlers the proper moves and technique — it is a job he says takes up far less time than being a head football coach, which is a year-round, full-time gig in many cases.

That he is putting family before football is no surprise to those who played for him, since he has spent more than two decades preaching the importance of family to kids he has coached.

Mitchell is known as an “old-school” coach, who accepts nothing but complete effort. 

“At first, I’m going to be honest, it was tough,” says Keyshaun Sarden-Pete, a wide receiver who played for Mitchell from 2016-18. “But it was worthwhile. He is going to teach you character. If you don’t give him your best effort, he is going to let you know.”

A Leto High and Yankton (SD) College graduate, Mitchell has been at Wharton since the school opened in 1997. He was an assistant football coach back then, and was coaching the wide receivers and running backs when he was named coach in 2005 after Melvin Cunningham resigned.

His first season as the Wharton football coach may have been his best.

Mitchell inherited a 2-8 team and behind quarterback Chris Krcmar, running back Joel Miller and defensive standout Josh Jones, guided the ‘Cats to a 10-2 record and a spot in the Class 5A Region semifinals, where Wharton fell 16-14 to Lake Gibson.

Mitchell might have had a better record, and more playoff success, if not for being stuck in a district with Tampa powerhouse Plant during the Panthers’ best seasons. Some of his best teams — with quarterback Chase Litton and current NFL players Vernon Hargreaves (defensive back for Houston) and wide receiver Auden Tate (Cincinnati) — had to settle for second in the district.

Although Mitchell has resigned, he is still trying to help his current seniors land a place in college. 

He also still leaves the weight room open for those who are interested. And, when a new coach is named, he says he is more than willing to occasionally help out.

“I had a lot of great moments,” Mitchell says. “I may have been a little old fashioned, but I always tried to make my players into better grown men. And, I always taught them to remember that family is more important.”

Mitchell says he will always be a coach, even if most of that effort going forward will be dedicated to his 5-year-old grandson.

Mitchell pulls out a cell phone, and looks for a video of Alex fighting with a tractor tire. “Get your hip under it,” he says to the screen, and Alex does just that before flipping the tire over.

Mitchell smiles.“I showed him how to do that.”

Longhorns Make It Three Straight County Championships

Coach Damon Zassenbraker gets a victory dousing after the Longhorns’ third straight Pasco County championship. (Photos courtesy of Valerie Sercu/Celebrate Everything Photography)

John Long Middle School football coach Damon Zassenbraker has an unusual approach to kicking the ball off during games.

He doesn’t.

Instead, he orders onsides kicks, where the ball needs to only travel 10 yards before the Longhorns can recover it, unless the receiving team beats them to the ball, which they usually don’t.

After 23 straight wins, including a third consecutive Pasco County middle school championship on Oct. 28, it’s hard to argue with his strategy.

The Longhorns defeated local rival Weightman 35-6 to cement themselves as an official dynasty in Pasco’s middle school ranks. Behind two touchdowns apiece from quarterback Isiah Williams and running back Gavin Zassenbraker and, of course, some key recoveries of onsides kicks, the Longhorns capped off another undefeated season.

“It feels good, I’m happy for the kids,” said Zassenbraker, a world history teacher at Long and the head football coach for two different stints totalling six years. “We give them a game plan, and they go out and execute it. It’s wonderful to get to this point again.”

The Longhorns were able to attack the outside edges with success against Weightman. Williams, who improved throughout the year, scored the first touchdown around the right end, as Gavin Zassenbraker sealed the edge with a block to clear the way for the 40-yard score, and then Zassenbraker followed that up with his first touchdown, covering 24 yards on an inside run.

Weightman struggled with the Longhorns’ offense all evening. Coach Zassenbraker described his offense formations as a combination of the stuff the University of Oregon and Auburn University run, and it produced early results that put Weightman on its heels.

Kicker Cameron Canard was a key offensive weapon in the championship victory.

Long’s kicker Cameron Canard’s amazing ability to make his onsides kicks hard to recover was more than enough to provide the cushion the rest of the way. Williams and Jayden Ramos recovered two onsides kicks, and with Weightman playing up to defend against it later in the game, Canard — who acquired his kicking skill playing soccer — kicked one deeper that his teammates recovered.

Those kicks limited Weightman to only four offensive possessions in the game.

“Cameron has an amazing ability to make the ball bounce just right, it’s unreal,” Zassenbraker said. “I think we had to recover at least two every game.”

Doesn’t that peeve the other coaches?

“Oh, absolutely,” Zassenbraker said with a chuckle.

Ironically, Weightman’s only score came when Gacanica Armani grabbed one of the onsides kicks and ran it back the other way for a touchdown.

Canard’s foot saved Long’s season at least once this year.

Trailing Pine View Middle 12-6, the Longhorns scored on a great catch by Jaden Ramos in the left corner of the end zone to tie it up with a little over a minute remaining. Canard’s extra point made it 13-12, and then his onsides kick was recovered to seal the win.

Opponents only scored 24 points against Long this season, and only 12 of those were against the Longhorns’ defense. The other 12 were scored on onsides kick returns for TDs.

Can the Longhorns make it four straight? Zassenbraker isn’t sure. Because of school rezoning, he will lose a large number of his players to the new Cypress Creek Middle School. But, he says he can’t wait to try again.

“It’s always satisfying to see the smile on the kids’ faces,” he said. “I always tell ‘em no matter what, they’ll always be my boys.”

Football Preview 2019: Wiregrass Ranch

Keith Walker is a big playmaker for the Bulls.

Like overcoming injuries or a lack of depth, losing players to other schools has become another one of the problems facing high school football coaches across the country these days.

Wiregrass Ranch High (WRH) coach Mark Kantor knows that more than most others. When the Bulls, 7-4 last season, open their season tonight at 7:30 p.m. at home against Zephyrhills, they will do so without two of their spring standouts — quarterback Hunter Helton and receiver Noah Biglow — both of whom have transferred to Armwood.

That will change some things for the Bulls, but it won’t change everything. Kantor says his team is rallying around new QB starter Rocco Becht, and still plans to make it to the playoffs for the fourth straight season.

Can the Bulls do it again? Let’s take a look:

QUARTERBACK: The plan was to prepare Becht for the starting role next season. But, the son of former Tampa Bay Buccaneers tight end Anthony Becht and last year’s junior varsity starter, where he did well, has now been thrown into the varsity fire.

RUNNING BACK: Seniors Nate Miller and Keith Walker will be the starters in the backfield. Miller led the team in rushing last year with 468 yards and was tied with Walker with seven touchdowns. 

WIDE RECEIVER: Walker (pictured, right) is a playmaker in the backfield and in the slot, where three of his five touchdowns in the spring game came on receptions. He will be a valuable weapon on offense. Juniors Tyler Brueckner and Broden Guirl, who is a big target at 6-foot-3, spent last year catching Becht’s passes on JV and will both be varsity starters in 2019. Senior Julian Gonzalez, who tied for the varsity team-high in 2018 with 16 catches, is back as well.

OFFENSIVE LINE: The Bulls have a wealth of experience up front. Connor Lenczden (the biggest lineman at 6-7, 275) and Robert Gibb will start at tackle, Daniel Thompson and Josh Hood will start at guard and Barit Dhugana handles the duties at center. All are seniors. 

“When they get after it, they can be as good as any offensive line I have ever coached,” Kantor says.

DEFENSIVE LINE: Seniors Tyler Hayes and Dylan Ridolph are linebackers who come up and play on the ends for the Bulls — they had 33 and 21 tackles for losses, respectively, in 2018 — and both are excellent pass rushers. Senior Gabe Thompson also will see time at defensive end, while Isaiah Miller, Andres Jimenez and Ian Alford all play inside. Like the offensive line, the Bulls starters are all seniors.

LINEBACKERS: Kantor has a solid crew, consisting of seniors Nick Graziano, Tyler Mesnekoff and Mark Kieper, as well as junior Craig Kailimai, but the best of the bunch and the squad’s leader is Ridolph, who had 82 tackles and 22 sacks in 2018. 

DEFENSIVE BACK: Senior Jonavon Tillis is a big corner at 6-3, and he will start alongside junior Larry Gibbs. Junior Grady Clower is the strong safety, and senior Julian Gonzalez is the free safety.  

KICKER: Adam Mihalek takes over as both placekicker and punter for two-year starter Hayden Wills.

THE FINAL WORD: Losing your quarterback less than a month before opening night can be a devastating loss, but the Bulls’ schedule may be an even bigger obstacle to overcome. WRH has six teams on its schedule that made the playoffs last year, and three of those teams won 11 or more games. Not a single 2019 opponent had a losing 2018 record, and the combined winning percentage of all 10 teams was a whopping .710. Yikes.