John, Elaine & Pepper Goacher of New Port Richey were hosted by Wiregrass Ranch High before, during and after Irma rolled through Florida on Sept. 10-11.
When it came time to open more schools as shelters as Hurricane Irma made her northerly turn through the Florida Keys and Naples with a bead on Wesley Chapel, Pasco County Superintendent of Schools Kurt Browning didn’t hesitate to open seven more schools as shelters on Sept. 9, at 3 p.m., 30 or so hours before the storm rolled through our area as a high Category 1 or low Category 2 hurricane.
And pets, surprisingly, we’re allowed at all of them.
That wasn’t an easy call for Browning to make — of the 14 shelters originally opened in Pasco, pets were allowed at just two.
But, Browning knew that many residents would rather suffer “Irmageddon” with their animals in tow than without them, and he knew it wasn’t time to worry about the mess the animals would leave behind.
“We made them all pet shelters because, the fact of the matter is, and I don’t want to be morbid about it is, but it’s a lot easier cleaning up dog poop than it is carrying out body bags,’’ Browning said.
Browning had just left the kennel area at Wiregrass Ranch High (WRH), which he acknowledged wasn’t pretty. He called it a madhouse.
Others agreed.
“Have you been in the pet room?,’’ volunteer Kate Fletcher, a seventh grade civics teacher at John Long Middle School, asked. “It’s a zoo, literally. It’s a menagerie.”
Not only were there cats and dogs, she said, but there were birds, a snake, a ferret and rabbits and hamsters. “Pretty much any animal you can think of as a pet,’’ her daughter Maddy, 15, who also was volunteering, chimed in.
In the open breezeways at WRH, near the gymnasium where the pets were housed, people milled about with their dogs, taking slow walks around the campus while chatting on the phone, as news that the storm was on its way created a stir.
The bond between pets and their owners — or parents, as some pet owners would refer to themselves — is a strong one.
“It’s a fascinating dynamic,’’ Browning said. “We had people calling the EOC (Emergency Operations Center) today, and even shelters, and saying if I can’t bring my pets in, I’m not coming.”
For some, even the shelters were tough to handle. One woman, according to Fletcher, was in hysterics about having to crate her dog in the gym from 9 p.m.-7 a.m.
She cried as she pleaded with anyone that would listen to her, begging for the dog to be left with her. She even threatened to just leave with the dog, so they would not have to be separated.
Fletcher said she stepped in and told the woman that “36 hours of having your dog freaked out, is that worse than one or potentially both of you not getting through this?”
John and Elaine Goacher of New Port Richey sat on a maroon iron bench watching the other dogs while feeding treats to Pepper, their 12-year-old Dalmation/Labrador mix.
They couldn’t sleep the night before, so they left the morning of the 10th for safety. They contemplated heading north towards family, but decided on Wesley Chapel.
“It had to be somewhere we could take Pepper, that was for sure,’’ said John, who noted that he passed up a number of other shelters as they drove east across the county.
It was the Goachers’ first hurricane, but they suspect it wasn’t Pepper’s. They adopted her from a rescue in Alabama, who said she was one of many puppies taken in after Hurricane Katrina, which slammed the Gulf Coast in 2005.
Maybe that explained Pepper’s unusually calm demeanor.
From l. to r.: Audi of America’s Kirk Preiser, Dimmitt Auto Group CEO Scott Larguier, Quinn Porter of Wiregrass Ranch, WCCC CEO Hope Allen and Audi Wesley Chapel general manager Alan Majewski.
When it came time to move to Florida, Kirk Preiser did his homework before settling on Wesley Chapel. The Southern Region area director for Audi, responsible for the dealerships from Naples to Jacksonville, Preiser felt Wesley Chapel was the perfect spot in the middle of his market and an area that was quickly growing and would eventually have a lot to offer his family.
He admits that he had to convince his wife, however.
Then, he set his sights on convincing Audi it should join him in Wesley Chapel by opening a dealership there.
It may have taken a little longer to convince Audi than his wife, but eventually, Preiser was successful — in mid-November, Dimmitt Automotive Group’s Audi Wesley Chapel will become a reality when it opens the doors at its S.R. 56 location just east of Mansfield Blvd.
“I’ve been pitching Wesley Chapel to the president of the company for years,’’ Preiser told a gathering of local business leaders at the Greater Wesley Chapel Chamber of Commerce’s Economic Development briefing last month at Pebble Creek Golf Club.
“If you’re happy,” he joked, “you can thank me.”
Preiser said the opening of the Mercedes dealership on S.R. 56 a few years ago helped make his case, proof that the area was able to support a luxury auto dealer. Lexus also has jumped into the Wesley Chapel market, and will open off S.R. 54 in December.
Audi chose Dimmitt Automotive Group to sell its high-end automobiles.
Audi A3
Dimmitt, a fourth generation company, was founded in 1924 in Clearwater by the late Larry Dimmitt, Sr., selling Fords and Buicks. Because Dimmitt had traded cars for land, becoming the second-largest landowner in Pinellas County next to the county itself, the company was able to weather the Great Depression better than most.
In 1930, Dimmitt became a Cadillac and Chevy dealer, and eventually grew into selling Land Rovers, Rolls Royces, Bentleys, Toyotas, McLarens and now, Audis. Soon, the company will add a Jaguar franchise to the family, said Dimmitt CEO Scott Larguier.
Dimmitt currently has locations in Clearwater, Pinellas Park and Sarasota.
“Most impressive, after 23 years, is that we are still a very community-minded organization,’’ Larguier said, adding that a number of Dimmitt family members serve on local boards and foundations, and host a Community Values Day at the company where employees are paid to do community service.
By landing Audi, Dimmitt will be selling one of the hottest car makers on the planet, Preiser said. It took until 2010 for Audi to sell its 100,000th car in the U.S., but only five years after that, it sold No. 200,000, while adding seven models.
“We have had a tremendous run,’’ Preiser said. “Since 2010, we’ve been taking off like a rocket.”
The new Audi Wesley Chapel dealership promises high-tech services and state-of-the-art architecture, with a luxury lounge filled with leather club chairs.
“We are building the dealership of the future,’’ Preiser said.
It will be just shy of 40,000 sq. ft., and the lot won’t host a sea of cars like other new car showrooms; instead, it will have 125-150 new Audis on hand at all times. The dealership will have 50-60 employees, and promote a progressive and relaxed environment.
It also is offering an “Inner Circle” club, with special bonuses and perks, to the first 100 patrons who buy an Audi.
And, of course, Audi Wesley Chapel will sell high-quality, technologically-advanced cars, which have dominated the Consumer Reports charts for best car in recent years.
Preiser spoke not only of Audi’s current popular models, but also looked down the road to a time when autonomous and electric cars will be the norm, and Wesley Chapel will be one of the best spots to buy what could be the best in those categories.
In May, Audi became the first company to get a license to test Level 3 autonomous cars, demoing the Audi A7 in New York (and also licenses to test cars in Nevada and California). According to Preiser, the A7 already is performing Level 3 autonomous driving tasks, meaning it can drive unassisted at highway speeds when conditions are optimal.
Audi hopes to have its first Level 3 autonomous vehicle to market in the U.S. next year, and hopes to have Level 4 automobiles — which can do pretty much everything, even without prompts from the driver — by 2020.
It also is hoping to make a splash in the electric car market.
“We weren’t the first in the game with electric, but we won’t launch until we’re ready with an electric vehicle that is, in every way, an Audi,’’ Preiser said.
The German automaker is hoping to get the Audi e-tron Sportback to market by 2019, and it has also been revealed that Audi is exploring the possibility of thin, lightweight solar panels on the roof to help save energy and increase the range of its electric cars.
“We’re betting the farm on electric,’’ Preiser said.
The lunchrooms and the walkway and courtyard at Cypress Creek Middle High School were finally filled by students as the new school, while others across Pasco County were back in business on Aug. 14. (Photo: Pasco County Schools)
Among the thousands of students who went back to school in Pasco County on August 14, more than 1,500 of them spent their first day at Wesley Chapel’s newest school, Cypress Creek Middle High School, which is located off Old Pasco Rd.
Cypress Creek Middle High was expected to open with about 1,500 students, but actually had 1,603 students show up on the first day. The school’s capacity is 1,958 students, so it still has some room to grow.
The new school was needed to relieve crowding at not only Wiregrass Ranch High and John Long Middle schools, but also has students who previously were zoned for Sunlake and Wesley Chapel high schools, as well as Weightman and Rushe middle schools.
All students at the new school follow the same bell schedule, from 7:25 a.m. to 1:50 p.m.
“The first few days have been outstanding,” said Cypress Creek principal Carin Hetzler-Nettles. “Our students are enjoying their new environment and are learning the layout of the campus. Other than the normal situation of getting used to the routine, and watching to see where we need to change procedures with car loop or bus loop, etc., we have truly had an amazing first few days.”
Hetzler-Nettles also said that the campus was filled with Parent Teacher Student Association members helping students find their classes, and even Pasco Superintendent of Schools Kurt Browning was on hand to help welcome the students and direct them to their new classes.
Cypress Creek Middle/High. (Photo: Cypress Creek Howler)
“It takes a village to open a new school,” added Hetzler-Nettles, “and our community has just been so welcoming and helpful! We couldn’t have done it without them and are excited for our future!”
Among those who helped get the teachers set up in their new digs at the school on July 26 were volunteers from the Pasco Education foundation and the Rotary Club of Wesley Chapel.
At Long Middle School, one of the schools that lost students to Cypress Creek, principal Christine Wolff said, “You always miss the kids on campus that you have grown attached to, and my wish for all of our former students is to have a good adjustment and get excited for learning, and take that excitement for learning with them wherever they are.”
She says that while Long’s enrollment numbers are down slightly (1,488 students were enrolled on opening day this year, versus 1,810 last year), the school is still over capacity because of all the growth in the area.
“We did have a smooth start to the school year,” Wolff says, “And, just like all of our Pasco County schools, we’re focused on meeting our school improvement goals and making sure they (the teachers and students) are meeting the learning standards in the classroom.”
And at Wiregrass Ranch High (WRH), the 10-period schedule is a thing of the past, as many former students have new homes at either Cypress Creek Middle High or WCH.
A contentious rezoning process last year was designed to ease the overcrowding at Wiregrass Ranch while also filling the new school.
“We had a great start,’’ said WRH principal Robyn White. “We are back to the 7-period day, and while there are a lot of students on campus at the same time, it is manageable. We started day one with a little over 2,200, which was a decrease of 300 from last year.”
CORRECTION: We inadvertently omitted New River Elementary from our chart of Pasco County school grades in our last issue. We’re really sorry about that, because principal Lynn Pabst and the students and teachers at New River earned a “B” grade for the third consecutive year.
Last year was a banner season for high school football in Wesley Chapel. Wiregrass Ranch High went 7-3 and made the playoffs for the first time since 2010, while Wesley Chapel High went 7-2 and just barely missed the postseason. There’s a new kid on the block this year, Cypress Creek Middle High, so expect things to get even more interesting in local “Friday Night Lights.” | STORY and PHOTOS By Andy Warrener and John C. Cotey
WCH’s Isaiah Bolden is a lockdown CB and playmaker at QB.
WESLEY CHAPEL HIGH (7-2 last year, 5-2 in Class 5A, District 8)
If you had to rank the three teams in Wesley Chapel to start the season, the Wildcats would have to be No. 1. They have lots of experience, and while they will likely feel the effects of losing players to Cypress Creek in the coming years, it won’t be this season.
WCH is locked and loaded. The Wildcats lost their two biggest games last season, key district meetings against Zephyrhills and River Ridge in back-to-back weeks, but still won seven games in 2017, or, one more game than they had in four previous seasons….combined!
Head coach Tony Egan enters his second season at WCH with some holes to fill on the offensive and defensive lines, but has some prime talent at key positions.
Oregon and Florida State recruit Isaiah Bolden, a top DB prospect, will also play QB this year. Bolden’s ability to run makes a rushing attack that accumulated more than 2,200 yards and 32 touchdowns on the ground even more dangerous.
But he can throw a little too, and completed all of his spring passes to WR Justin Trapnell, including a 58-yard touchdown.
RB Dexter Leverett, a 1,249-yard rusher last season, could repeat or improve upon his 2016 numbers, though he may not have to, with Bolden and backfield mate Malik Melvin, who also has 1,000-yard potential.
Junior OL Seth Petty, senior LB Austen Wittish and Melvin, who also plays DB, were all All-Sunshine Athletic Conference performers last year.
The icing on the cake, however, could be DE Chaz Neal, a transfer from Armwood, arguably the best high school team in all of Tampa Bay. A 6-foot-9, 270-lb. FSU recruit, Neal will force teams to gameplan around him.
River Ridge and Zephyrhills will again be the teams to beat in Class 5A, District 8, but they have to travel to Wesley Chapel this year; in other words, we wouldn’t be surprised if the Wildcats beat them both of them!
Kwesi Littlejohn
WIREGRASS RANCH HIGH (7-3 last year, 5-1 in 7A-8)
In the spring, WRH looked like a team well on its way to repeating, if not exceeding, last year’s breakout season. But, the transfer bug took a big bite out of the team during the summer.
The Bulls saw a trio of key players depart — Shamaur McDowell, a DB that has orally committed to the University of Minnesota, transferred to IMG Academy in Bradenton; last year’s leading rusher, Da Da McGee (1,063 yards, 11 TDs), transferred to Hillsborough High; QB/S Raymond Woodie III, who has 20+ Division I offers, moved to Oregon with his father, who is the Ducks linebackers coach.
Between the three players, that’s a ton of multi-position talent to lose. But, head coach Mark Kantor thinks he has the pieces to fill in the puzzle for the Bulls.
Senior RB Kwesi Littlejohn will take over for McGee, after carrying the ball five times for 100 yards in limited action last year. Paxon High (in Jacksonville) transfer Mason Buie also will get some touches.
FB/LB Chase Oliver, a 5-9 210-lb. wrecking ball, ran for 82 yards in the spring game and broke off some big runs, but is also effective as a third down/short yardage option. And, production at LB can help make up for the loss of McDowell.
Senior WR/DBs Dorien Green, Jacob Hill and Adrian Thomas are expected to rotate in at safety in Woodie’s absence.
Junior Grant Sessums inherits the starting QB job, and he’ll have tall, skilled targets to throw to, like 6-1 Penn State recruit Jordan Miner (featured in our last issue) and 6-3 Daniel Biglow, both seniors. Miner is one of the most explosive players in the Tampa Bay area, and his big-play ability is a huge plus.
CYPRESS CREEK HIGH (First season)
There’s little doubt that you are going to take your lumps in your first year of varsity high school football. The seven most recent public schools to open in Pasco County went a combined 4-61, and WRH and WCH both started out with 1-9 records.
Keith Walker will see an increased role in 2017 at Cypress Creek.
That said, the Coyotes need to focus on one game at a time, says coach Mike Thompson.
“Start small,” Thompson says. “In game one, let’s get one first down,’’ he says. “Then, let’s get one touchdown. Then, let’s win a half — baby steps. It’s important to show we’re progressing.”
Thompson is excited about sophomore QB Jehlani Warren, who the coach says has been “soaking up the playbook.” He will have some solid targets to throw to between Tim Ford-Brown, Devin Santana and Trevor Maxwell.
Though the team will have no seniors, guys like Santana and RB Keith Walker have varsity experience. Santana played four games for Wesley Chapel last year as a sophomore and had 158 yards receiving and a touchdown, and Walker, a budding star, ran for 136 yards and two scores as a freshman.
PLAYERS TO WATCH IN WC
Nkem Asomba
Nkem “Kim” Asomba (WRH Sr.) DL/OL:The 6-5, 265-pound Asomba is new to the sport and still raw but if he develops quickly, he’ll be a force to be reckoned with on both sides of the football. Asomba was very disruptive in the spring game against Tampa Catholic.
Isaiah Bolden (WCH Sr.) QB/WR/CB/KR/PR: Bolden will be everywhere this year. Teams will not be able to gameplan around him anymore since the ball will be in his hands every play.
Jordan Miner (WRH Sr.) WR/CB/QB: Miner will get some reps in at Wildcat quarterback, as well as line up on the outside on both offense and defense. The Bulls will look to tap Miner’s skill set and versatility, and he is their most dangerous player.
Jehlani Warren
Keith Walker (CCH So.) TB/WR: Walker comes over from Wesley Chapel after having a breakout game in the spring for the Wildcats.
Leverette (WCH Sr.) RB/S:Leverette was the featured guy in the offense last season. With Bolden under center and Malik Melvin lining up alongside him, it will be hard for defenses to key in on Leverette in 2017.
Chase Oliver (WRH Sr.) LB/RB: Oliver is a bulldozer of a player, and a menace to both ball carriers and would-be tacklers. Oliver joined the 1,500 Club in 2017 (combined bench press, power clean, squat and dead lift weights).
Chaz Neal (Sr.) DE/RT: You won’t miss him, as he stands 6’-9” and towers over teammates. He might be the best player in the county that no one has seen. He’s a huge (pun intended) X-factor for the Wildcats and his impact on the field will be immediately felt.
Jehlani Warren (CCH So.) QB: As Warren’s fortunes go, so go the fortunes of the Coyotes. If Warren and the offense can find rhythm early in the season and adjust to game speed, the Coyotes could have a productive season.
Chaz Neal
Austen Wittish (WCH Sr.) LB/FB: Wittish is the centerpiece of the Wildcats’ defense. He led the team with 94 tackles a year ago and will also contribute at FB.
Kwesi Littlejohn (WRH Sr.) RB/S: Littlejohn will be the guy most asked to step into the void left by McGee. If Littlejohn can bring some consistency to the position, the Bulls will be in great shape.
GAMES TO WATCH
WRH’s Jordan Miner leaps for extra yards during the spring game.
Tonight: Gulf at Cypress Creek
Welcome to high school football, Coyotes. Oh, and mmmmm, gotta love that brand new stadium smell. The Coyotes are young and ready to go, and they couldn’t have found a better opponent for a first-ever game in Gulf. The Bucs typically are one of Pasco County’s smaller teams up front, although they often have a few great athletes, but they are also riding a 21-game losing streak. Dare we say it?
Sept. 1: Wiregrass Ranch at Wesley Chapel
It’s a shame the big rivalry game got cancelled due to inclement weather a year ago, with both teams in the midst of their most successful seasons in years. The wait should add a little charge to this year’s showdown. There will be a Fox 13 pep rally that morning and Spectrum Sports will televise the game.
Oct. 20: Zephyrhills at Wesley Chapel Some key injuries early in the game and miscues on special teams opened the door for the Bulldogs to steal a game that Egan felt his squad had under control.
Oct. 27: River Ridge at Wesley Chapel
A banged up Chapel team hung with the eventual district champion for most of the game last year. This year, the Wildcats host Egan’s former team, and a district title could be on the line.
Oct. 27: Plant at Wiregrass Ranch
It’s always worth a trip to check out the four-time state champion Panthers, who are once again loaded. This game should be ripe with playoff implications.
PRESEASON RANKINGS
Here’s how PascoCountyFB.com has the teams ranked for 2017 in its Super 7.
School grades have been announced for the 2016-17 school year and, of the 12 public schools located in Wesley Chapel, all either maintained their grades from the 2015-16 school year, or went up by at least one letter grade.
Letter grades are assigned by the State of Florida Department of Education (DoE), based on statewide standardized assessments. High schools also have a graduation component, based on how many students graduate in four years. The letter grades then reflect the percentage of points received, of the total number of available points.
The biggest jump in local school grades was at Quail Hollow Elementary (QHE). For the 2016-17 school year, QHE received an “A” from the DoE, a big boost from the C it received last year, in 2015-16. Prior to that, the school had been closed for two years for remodeling.
But, QHE isn’t the only school that improved. Veterans and Seven Oaks elementaries both improved from B to A, while Watergrass Elementary improved from C to B.
For the other elementary schools, Sand Pine and Wesley Chapel both maintained their A ratings, while Double Branch maintained its B. Wiregrass Elementary received its first-ever grade since it opened last fall, a B.
Wesley Chapel High (WCH) raised its grade back up to a B again after last year’s grade dipped to a C for the first time in the school’s history.
“I was ecstatic,” says Carin Hetzler-Nettles, who was the principal at WCH until she was named principal of the new Cypress Creek Middle High School in January. “It’s fun to see that grade improve, and it’s exciting for the community, staff and kids at the school.”
The other Wesley Chapel high school, Wiregrass Ranch (WRH), maintained the B rating it had last year.
Dr. John Long Middle School maintained its A from the previous year, and Weightman Middle School kept its B.
While the school grading system has many critics, the grades are widely used by parents as a measure of how well their child’s school is performing.
Hetzler-Nettles is among many who say that school grades are just one of many factors to be considered when attempting to measure a school’s performance. This is partly because a different group of students is tested each year.
“In high school, tenth grade is our heavy testing year,” she says. “Next year, we’ll test a completely different group of tenth grade students. There is a human factor.”
And, she says, the specific criteria that make up the school’s grade also are different from year to year.
“There are always things that change,” says Hetzler-Nettles. “The grading changes every year at the state level, and then we tend to see trends. This year, it seems like the schools are on an upswing.”
