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.”

Can Walking Soccer take off here?

Colin Eke (center) gives out “golden boots” to the MVPs from two of his adult soccer leagues in our area. Eke is now starting a “walking football” league in our area.
Colin Eke (center) gives out “golden boots” to the MVPs from two of his adult soccer leagues in our area. Eke is now starting a “walking football” 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, “football” 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, he’s turning to a whole new game — “walking football,” or as it’s called here, soccer. He jokes that this way, “You can play soccer on Sunday afternoon, and when you go to work on Monday, you’re not on crutches.’’

Eke, who is 60, is trying to start what he believes will be Florida’s 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 – 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. “It’s quicker than you think,” he says.

There is an official organization in England that holds regional and national tournaments – Walking Football United – and the United States Adult Soccer Association will include the game in its Adult Soccer Fest in Denver, CO, July 13-17.

“A good friend in England told me about it,’’ he said. “Most people over the age of 50 can’t run anymore, they’ve chosen to hang their boots up or not play anymore, whether it’s weight, injuries or they’re not fit enough. This game just involves a new mindset.”

Eke is trying to persuade people to that new mindset, hoping to have enough teams for his planned league by sometime later this month — after the COPA America tournament has ended and the Euro Cup is nearing its finale.

“I’ve had some people say ,‘You must be kidding,’’ Eke says. “I just tell them, after five minutes in (of regular soccer), if you’re over 50, you’re either walking anyway, laying on the ground exhausted or wanting to come off for water.”

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 “sin bin,” equivalent to hockey’s penalty box.

The game is still quicker than you might imagine (again, check out the YouTube videos if you don’t 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.

“The goal is to let people who love the game to keep playing,’’ Eke says. “It’s still great physical fitness, it’s a great social game and there’s (much less) chance of injury.’’

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 men’s 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. “The whole point is to get players who are older to be healthy and active,’’ he says. “It’s like a stroll on a Sunday afternoon, so why not kick a ball at the same time?”

For more information about Eke’s walking soccer league and how to sign up, check out NewAPSL.com or email him at Colin@NewAPSL.com or Miguel@NewAPSL.com.

For additional information about the sport of walking soccer, check out WalkingFootballUnited.co.uk.

Better days ahead for Wiregrass Ranch football team

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Alquonne Brown hands off to fellow sophomore Jacob Hill at a recent Wiregrass Ranch football practice.

One starting running back went down for the season with an injury during the summer, while the other scored three touchdowns against Wesley Chapel and got hurt the next week. Then, the quarterback, two offensive lineman, two defensive ends, one wide receiver, and a linebacker soon were hobbling off as well.

By the time the third week of the season was over for the District 7A-8 Wiregrass Ranch High (WRH) football team, head coach Mark Kantor’s depth chart was seemingly held together by scotch tape and glue and a batch of young sophomores who were called on to mature quickly.

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Wharton's Tate Commits To FSU

Wharton High Wildcats senior wide receiver/tight end Auden Tate committed to Florida State University during a press conference at the school on August 5.
Wharton High Wildcats senior wide receiver/tight end Auden Tate does “The Tomahawk,” after committing to Florida State University during a press conference at the school on August 5.

Wharton High’s Auden Tate has made his decision: he will attend Florida State University (FSU) in Tallahassee on a football scholarship, following his graduation after this upcoming school year.Continue reading