Special to The Laker/Lutz News

Wharton junior does it all

By Kyle LoJacono

Chase Litton’s 6-foot-6 frame is a common sight for fans of Wharton athletics.

The junior has been the quarterback for the Wildcats football team since halfway through his freshman season, the same year he stepped into the starting lineup as a forward for Wharton’s basketball squad.

“For me, football is more of a passion game,” Litton said. “It takes a week of preparation to play one team. With basketball you have to just jump in and play. Football is a lot more stress because you have to focus on that one team and the defenses they run. In basketball you have to just know the plays and execute regardless of the team. … Basketball is just fun. I play it because I love it. I love the coaches and the players. For me, it’s like a stress release.”

His outlook on each sport is opposite, but the results for the Wildcats have been the same — success.

Litton has the program record for career passing yards, which stands at 5,510, while also setting the single-game mark with 404 set as a junior in the Class 8A regional quarterfinals at Orlando Dr. Phillips. The signal caller has thrown 41 touchdowns in his career while adding another six scores on the ground and 401 yards rushing.

Wharton is 18-15 since Litton joined the squad, a stretch that includes two playoff appearances.

Litton’s junior campaign was by any statistical measure his finest, setting career-highs in passing yards (2,732), passing touchdowns (23) and rushing scores (four), while guiding the Wildcats to an 8-3 record.

Litton said the game started slowing down for him in his third year as a starter.

“My freshman year I jumped right into play Tampa Bay Tech as my first start, and the speed was just crazy,” Litton said. “I felt like I was the slowest one on the field. I didn’t really know defenses; I didn’t know reads, and then my sophomore year I went out there and was just playing. This year I felt like I was so much more focused. I put more time and effort into it because I knew if I did that I could control the game just by myself. I could slow it down and hit the open receiver. The game was just so much easier.”

When the season ended at Dr. Phillips, Litton immediately switched into basketball mode.

“Stepping right in from football each year is quite a testament to his athleticism and hard work,” said Wharton basketball coach Tommy Tonelli. “When they lost on a Friday night to Dr. Phillips he was the first guy at practice on Saturday. He had one more practice before our first regular season game against IMG Academy, and he didn’t miss a beat.”

Litton said Tonelli has been understanding about splitting time between the gridiron and the hard court.

“He tells me during football season I can just focus on that, and then when it’s basketball season I can just focus on basketball,” Litton said.

Litton has helped the 18-2 Wildcats climb to the top of the Class 8A-District 7 standings. He is averaging 11.5 points and a team-high 7.7 rebounds through the first 19 games.

Teammate Sir Patrick Reynolds said Litton’s work has helped propel the basketball squad to its fast start.

“My main man Chase, he’s very athletic,” said Reynolds, a senior forward/guard. “He goes to work every day, and he never lets up. He’s always coming through big for us.”

Litton said balancing football and basketball with school and the rest of his life isn’t very hard, as he’s been doing it since picking up the games at age 6. What is more difficult is staying in the right frame of mind.

“For football I have to stay calm, cool and collected,” Litton said. “I can’t go out there all hyped up because I’ll overthrow passes or get too jittery and fumble. For basketball it’s the opposite mentality. It’s more high tempo the whole time while you run the play.”

The traits of his positions are also very different.

As a quarterback, Litton sets up others to score touchdowns. As a forward, it’s his role to be that scorer, while senior point guard CJ McGill gives him the assists.

“I like having CJ being the quarterback and I’m the receiver,” Litton said. “It’s the exact opposite from football when I’m making the passes for other guys to score.”

Litton said his focus is playing football in college and has several of the top programs in the country interested in him.

“Florida called me the other day,” Litton said. “I’ve been talking with LSU, Georgia and I’m getting a lot of handwritten mail from Alabama. I mean like literally every day from Alabama. That’s really cool. Then I get a lot of stuff for basketball from Florida State, which is pretty cool, and if it comes down to two schools I might want to play both sports. Right now my focus is football for college except during basketball season. I’m all about this team right now.”

Litton and the Wildcats play at district rival Alonso Jan. 22 and at cross-town rival Freedom Jan. 23. Both games start at 8 p.m.

—Follow Kyle LoJacono on Twitter: @Kyle_Laker

By Don Trello

The Laker/Lutz News Correspondent

It looked like a typical NCAA Division II women’s basketball game when Saint Leo University stepped onto the court to play the University of Tampa (UT) Jan. 16 at the Bob Martinez Athletics Center.

But the coaching situation and the final score of the game were certainly atypical, as Saint Leo (8-7, 3-2 SSC) coach Nikki Jessee’s squad upset Sunshine State Conference rival and No. 15 ranked UT (11-2, 2-2 SSC) coach Tom Jessee’s team 64-44.

“We are the first couple in the history of (NCAA) basketball to coach against each other,” Tom said. “There are fathers and sons coaching against each other, but it’s different when it’s your wife. … It’s very strange to look down at the other bench and see her; it’s a weird feeling in your stomach. The strangest thing is she is going to feel sorry for beating me. We will talk a bit about the game, but the truth is it’s just another game.”

Nikki coached at Lynn University in Boca Raton from 2007 to 2009 and Tom has been at UT since 2002. Nikki was one of Tom’s assistants from 2009 to 2010 before being named Saint Leo’s coach in 2011.

“We met when I was coach at Boca Raton and started dating in 2007,” Nikki said. “We have been married 3.5 years.”

The Jessees share competitive coaching mentalities but walk an emotional tightrope when their teams play each other.

“It’s an odd feeling; I don’t know how to describe it,” Nikki said about coaching against her husband. “The competitive juices take over and you’re happy when you win, but sad for him when he loses.”

Nikki’s record against Tom is 4-4 overall, including 2-1 since she came to Saint Leo.

“Tom has built a national powerhouse at Tampa and dominated the league,” Nikki said. “Saint Leo has never had success. I came here because I know we can have success.”

Tom echoed his wife’s feelings about competing against each other and gave her unconditional support with two exceptions.

“We are both competitive people, so losing hurts,” he said. “That’s the person you go to because they are a loved one. The only difference is when you win or lose against each other. … We both have a job to do, and I want her to win every game except for the two times we play each other. It’s a very, very strange feeling in your body as a human.”

The Jessees have a daughter, Rudi, who will be 3 years old in March. Their lifestyle might be a little more hectic than other working parents because of their unique careers.

“We don’t see each other as much as other people because we are typically on different schedules at various times,” Nikki said. “We actually have to sit down and do a calendar for six months. … Tom takes Rudi to school, and I pick her up. We both take her on recruiting trips. The grandparents are at whatever game our daughter is at, and some of our players babysit.”

Saint Leo junior guard Teresa Manigrasso commented on the attention generated when the Jessees coach against each other.

“We know they are married, but it doesn’t play a factor,” she said. “I definitely feel people make too much of the coaches being married. It’s about the team and playing good basketball.”

UT senior forward Moriah Hodge indicated playing Saint Leo is a little different than against other teams because of the coaching situation.

“It’s hard not to think about the coaches being married, and I really want to win for (Tom),” Hodge said. “We see coach Nikki once and awhile at our practices, but at the end of the day she’s just the other team’s coach.”

Manigrasso led the way for Saint Leo offensively, pouring in 23 points while dishing out five assists and pulling down five rebounds. Hodge scored 13 with six rebounds for UT.

The squads will rematch at Saint Leo Feb. 20 at 5:30 p.m.

The Lions plays at SSC rival Eckerd Jan. 23 at 5:30 p.m., the same day and time the Spartans travel to conference opponent Florida Southern.

By Kyle LoJacono

Victor Obi commands attention without a word.

The senior center doesn’t have to say anything for his opponents to notice him thanks to his 6-foot-5 frame, and within minutes of playing Victor they realize that he uses every bit of that height to grab rebounds, swat away shots and command the paint.

“I try to do everything,” Victor said. “I try to do everything I can and everything coach asks me. If I have to score, I’ll score. If I have to rebound, I’ll rebound. Whatever the team needs me to do.”

Victor has done just that this season by leading his squad with 12.9 points, 10.1 rebounds and 2.9 blocks per game.

“He’s averaging a double-double, and there are only three or four kids in the county doing that,” said Land O’ Lakes coach David Puhalski. “That means the world to us because we can count on him to score and rebound. … He’s a great enforcer inside. We play a lot of help defense, and he’s able to rotate over and deflect the ball. He’s the defensive stopper for us.”

Seth Galbraith became Victor’s teammate earlier this year when the junior shooting guard moved from Ohio. He said he’s never played with someone as tall before.

“He’s big and can do it all, and when he blocks a shot it gets us pumped up, and you can see it brings the other team down,” Galbraith said.

Victor’s ability and size makes an impact on the game even when he doesn’t touch the ball.

“It’s easy to pass it to him because he’s big, but also he draws their attention,” said Victor’s brother Mike Obi, a sophomore point guard. “Drawing double teams into the post gives everyone else open shots.”

Victor dabbled in other sports, such as football, growing up, but said he never got serious about anything other than basketball.

“I started just because my parents put me in basketball, but then after watching players like Dwayne Wade and LeBron James I just fell in love with it,” Victor said. “Watching them made me want to get better.”

He also got better by learning from former teammate Max Bartels after being called up to the varsity team as a sophomore.

Bartels, who was a senior during the 2010-11 season, is also a 6-foot-5 center.

“I picked up certain things from him,” Victor said. “I was young when I first came on varsity and he was a senior, so he would come to me and tell me where to be, to come out and play strong and I learned those certain character traits from him.”

Bartels was also a scoring and rebounding machine for the Gators, but there is one thing Victor has on his former mentor — his ability to swat away shots.

Victory has blocked 128 shots during his time on the varsity roster while adding 418 points and 370 rebounds.

“Blocking is something that’s just always come naturally to me,” Victor said. He added, “Coach asks a lot from me in the paint. I try to go down, post up, rebound, block shots, so I take a lot of pride in that.”

The demands to produce are even higher on Victor this season as he is the only returning starter on a squad that went 22-7, claimed a district champion and won a playoff game last year.

“I feel a little pressure, but I think we’ll be OK,” Victor said. “We’re just young, a lot of guys moving up from (junior varsity). We just need to figure that out, get some chemistry going and we’ll be fine.”

—Follow Kyle LoJacono on Twitter: @Kyle_Laker

By Kyle LoJacono

The third annual Ulrich Family Classic at Wiregrass Ranch High was kind to the boys basketball teams from Wesley Chapel-based schools.

Wiregrass Ranch and Wesley Chapel won their matchups, topping Clearwater Central Catholic 82-48 and Freedom 57-38, respectively.

Wildcats (18-4) coach Doug Greseth said it was good to see his squad get back on track after dropping a 67-65 contest the night before against Anclote.

“That’s probably our best defensive effort of the year,” Greseth said. “We were very aggressive tonight. We got contributions from all five players. Freedom came in here 13-2. They beat Armwood, who beat us. It was just a really good, solid performance.”

Wesley Chapel, which played the third of four games at the event, was led by Erik Thomas, who had 35 points and 11 rebounds.

The senior forward, who said his top college choice is currently Tennessee State University, entered the contest averaging 33.5 points and 17.3 rebounds, but the Patriots offered a formidable challenge with eight players at least 6-foot-2.

“We do a lot of help defense and ball pressure,” Thomas said. “We all helped on screens. We were just all on it tonight. They have some big guys, but we do too. We had to keep pressure on them and make them turn the ball over.”

The Wildcats were given a boost from the play of 6-foot-7 junior center Marcus Hayne, who had nine points and pulled down five rebounds.

“If Marcus Hayne will play like that every game we’re going to be very hard to beat,” Greseth said.

The Bulls (15-4) forced a running clock in the third quarter of the night cap against the Marauders (6-13). Wiregrass Ranch scored nearly at will, but didn’t click as well on the other end of the court.

“Sometimes when we start hitting a lot of shots we forget we have to play defense, and that hurts us,” said Bulls coach Jeremy Calzone. “We’re trying to teach them that we have to play defense all the time. … There’s no secret we try to run and shoot, but if we can just get the defense fixed we’ll be all right.”

Senior forward Rico Kerney led Wiregrass Ranch on offense and defense, scoring 22 points and recording seven rebounds despite sitting out most of the second half with the Bulls comfortably in the lead.

Senior guards Chris Parra and Dimarco Burgess added 16 and nine points, respectively.

Land O’ Lakes lost 65-49 to East Lake in the first game of the day.

The Gators (7-9) were tied 28-28 with the Eagles (5-8) at halftime, but East Lake’s trap defense made it hard for Land O’ Lakes to get the ball up the floor after the break.

The Gators were also without senior center Victor Obi, who has missed the last three games with a concussion. His brother, Mike Obi, led the attack for Land O’ Lakes with 17 points and five rebounds. Brandon Dorsey scored 12, guard Taddeus Dixon had nine points and Seth Galbraith added eight points and 10 rebounds.

The event was created by Calzone to remember the Ulriches, who died in a plane crash in 2010. Lexi Ulrich was a student at Wiregrass Ranch and would have been a member of the class of 2012.

Part of the money brought in goes to a scholarship fund in the Ulrich family name. Stan Glantz, Lexi’s grandfather, attended the event and received a signed T-shirt from the Bulls squad before their game.

“It’s awesome the way the school has helped us put this on,” Calzone said. “I really wish more people would come out because I think this is something we can really make special in Pasco County and make this the hotbed for basketball. As we do it every year and get different teams in from all over the state and make it bigger, hopefully we’ll get even more fan support.”

—Follow Kyle LoJacono on Twitter: @Kyle_Laker

By Jeff Odom

The Sunlake boys soccer team clinched the first Sunshine Athletic Conference (SAC) championship in the program’s six-year history with a 4-0 win at home against Wiregrass Ranch Jan. 16.

The Seahawks (25-0) dominated most of the first half with eight shots, but couldn’t manage to get past Bulls (13-8) goalkeeper Aaron Shimer.

After stopping a pair of point-blank shots just three minutes into the game, Shimer turned away a laser by Gilboy (two goals) in the 15th minute and a free kick with less than two minutes to go to keep the game scoreless.

“At the half we were like, we have everything on the line here,” Gilboy said. “A perfect season, conference championship, pride, all that stuff, and we knew it was time to go and just had to step it up.”

And that’s what Sunlake did.

Shimer left in the 41st minute with a left knee injury after falling hard trying to make a save. That opened the door for the Seahawks to breakthrough in the 46th minute as Ryan Norberg sent a pass to Andrew Eastley, who found the back of the net.

Louis Andrusyszyn scored in the 58th minute to extend Sunlake’s lead to 2-0.

“We started slow, but eventually we start wearing teams down, and that really showed tonight,” said Seahawks coach Sam Koleduk. “It’s hard to stop us for a whole game, and after starting slow we got the first goal and started rolling.”

The referees issued six of nine yellow cards in the second half. The chippy play seemed to light a fire under Gilboy.

He took a free kick deep in Wiregrass Ranch’s side of the field and converted the chance by firing a shot past goalkeeper Ryan Duran into the top right corner.

Gilboy, who scored again in the 79th minute, said the team knew it couldn’t relax against the Bulls.

“The biggest thing was never giving up,” Gilboy said. “Even though we’re two up, we just had to keep our foot on the gas and it worked out.”

The night was especially memorable for Gilboy, who was informed after the game that he was Pasco County’s new single-season record holder for goals in a season with 58. He surpassed former Land O’ Lakes and University of South Florida standout Justin Geisler’s total of 55 set in 2000.

“That’s absolutely incredible, man, absolutely incredible,” Gilboy said. “Four longest years of my life, I’m not even going to lie. Finally got it this year, and it feels good. I just want to thank God and all these people around me helping me out every single way. I’ve played with guys like Geisler and it’s kind of bittersweet knowing that you beat his record, but it’s the greatest thing.”

Gilboy set the county mark the night before by scoring four goals against Fivay. He has 109 tallies in his career, eight away from supplanting Jordan Landry as the Seahawks all-time leader.

The Seahawks are the No. 1 seed in the Class 3A-District 7 tournament at Pasco, which runs Jan. 21 to 25, where they could face No. 2 and cross-town rival Land O’ Lakes for the third time this season in the final.

“We’re not overlooking Wesley Chapel, who gave us a big scare earlier this year,” Koleduk said. “Land O’ Lakes will still have to battle Pasco, but hopefully we can stay focused and take it one game at a time, because being unbeaten, there’s a lot of pressure.”

By Kyle LoJacono

It usually takes an entire career for a high school basketball player to reach the 1,000-point plateau.

Academy at the Lakes boys basketball player Ethan Haslam hit the milestone midway through his sophomore season.

“Now I don’t have to wait until my senior year and have it wait until my final game,” Haslam said. “It’s crazy because I’m following in my older brother’s (Jake) footsteps. He hit 1,000 points (with Tampa Prep). It’s been motivation for me to do the same thing as him.”

The 6-foot-3 guard reached 1,000 by sinking one of his three 3-pointers in a 55-50 win at Seffner Christian Jan. 12. He sank the milestone points in the fourth quarter after receiving a pass from Abaz Igwe down the right wing with about three minutes left in the contest.

Haslam, who currently has 1,026 points in his career, said he had no idea he was so close to 1,000.

“Coming into the game I thought I was about 50 points away,” said Haslam, who picked up basketball at age 6. “I didn’t find out I’d hit it until after the game. I was just playing it like it was any other game. … It was a moment of shock because coaches just kind of said it as we were all going over the game in the locker room. It all kind of sank in, and I was proud of myself.”

It is appropriate that the milestone came on a 3-pointer as the shot has been a big weapon for Haslam.

He has hit 46 of 97 3-point attempts this year, 47 percent from behind the arc. Haslam said Jake was the one who taught him his shot.

“In my family, 3-pointers is what we love to do,” Haslam said.

Haslam is averaging a team-high 17.7 points while adding 4.9 rebounds and 2.1 steals for the 12-7 Wildcats. He said having the milestone out of the way is a relief.

“Now we just have to play academy basketball and continue to do what we do,” Haslam said.

The academy plays at River Ridge Jan. 23 and at Brooks-DeBartolo Jan. 24. Both games start at 7:30 p.m.

—Follow Kyle LoJacono on Twitter: @Kyle_Laker

By Kyle LoJacono

The Wharton girls basketball team is at .500 this season, but its record is nothing that worries the squad.

In fact, the Wildcats (9-9) are in a better position than last season when they entered the Class 8A-District 7 tournament 10-14 only to win the district championship for the second time in three years.

“That game we just clicked,” said senior guard Courteney Cox (5.2 points). “We scored 66 points when we beat Newsome for the district championship, and that was the most points we scored all year. We knew we could do that, and it gives us confidence now.”

Senior center Kelly Brown (5.8 points) added, “We loved being able to change what people thought about us and their expectations of what we could do. We worked hard all season, and it paid off.”

Fifth-year Wharton coach Chad Reed said injuries prevented them from having the record they were capable of last year. This year has also had obstacles, namely the loss of four starters.

The Wildcats graduated their top two scorers in forward Abbigale Kaczmarek (11 points, 3.2 rebounds*) and guard Monica Cazes (10.3 points*). They also lost senior forward/guard Shannon Clark (8.7 points, 3.1 rebounds*) because of a head injury, and had to find a new point guard.

“Our point guard to start the season made some bad decisions, and we had to take her off the team,” Reed said. “Shannon gets hurt and had to quit the game, so we’ve got a lot of new starters and players playing out of position. They’ve just stepped up and have a great attitude and play hard.”

Wharton has used a balanced attack to replace those starters. None of its players are averaging double-digit points, but five are scoring at least 5.2.

“We don’t have anyone who’s going to put 14 or 15 points a night up,” Reed said. “They understand that. We’ve talked a lot about player’s roles and what we need out of them as an entire team. We’ve focused on working together to win. Telling them to get the ball, they have to give the ball. Trust your teammates, keep the ball moving and whoever scores, scores. Bottom line is we want to have the most points at the end of the game.”

The Wildcats have been led offensively by senior guard Allison Mitchell (8.5 points).

“We think of it like we’re just average girls playing basketball, but we play well together and make it work,” Mitchell said. She added, “After last year we saw how well it worked to spread things around. We don’t want to have that one player we have to rely on. … You can have a superhero all you want, but it doesn’t matter if you don’t have a team.”

Sliding into the point guard spot is Carlena Eugene (6.3 points), who moved from forward. She is getting used to the position, but said she is becoming more comfortable running the offense.

“It’s getting there,” Eugene said. “My dad has been working with me to get better court vision to see the spaces in defenses.”

Many of the departures were in the post, forcing both Brown and freshman forward Lauren Wall (5.4 points) to step up their games.

“We have a smaller team this year, so we can get back on defense a bit quicker,” Eugene said. “We can run the court better and play a faster game. Me and Lauren just have to do our thing getting rebounds and put backs.”

Reed said he likes his squad’s progression, but added there is still plenty of work to do.

“We have not reached our stride yet,” Reed said. “We’ve gone through so many changes early in the season that we are still developing as a team, which can be good, but also puts us in games that we have to work very hard to be successful. Through adversity comes strength, and these girls have responded to that.”

The 8A-7 tournament is at Alonso Jan. 29 to Feb. 1, with the final Feb. 1 at 7 p.m.

Wharton plays at Alonso Jan. 22 before closing the regular season at home against Freedom Jan. 23. Both games start at 6:30 p.m.

*Last year’s stats

—Follow Kyle LoJacono on Twitter: @Kyle_Laker

By Jeff Odom

The Freedom girls basketball team locked up the top seed in the Class 7A-District 9 tournament with a 52-48 victory at Steinbrenner Jan. 18.

The Patriots (19-2, 8-0) needed overtime to hand the Warriors (18-5, 6-2) their first regular season home loss in more than two years.

“I love the resiliency of our team,” said Freedom coach Laurie Pacholke. “We were down by seven and came back, and we fought back to take the lead and never gave up.”

Steinbrenner forward Lauren Shedd (nine points, six rebounds) hit a layup at the buzzer to tie the game at 46-46 to send the game to an extra period. The bucket ended an 8-0 run by the Patriots in the final two minutes led by the hot hand of Whitney Ivey (eight points).

Freedom’s Taylor Emery (10 points) opened overtime with a layup, but Steinbrenner answered right back and the two teams remained gridlocked until the final minute.

Emery, who returned to the lineup after missing more than two weeks with a concussion, hit a pair of free throws with 57.9 seconds left to give the Patriots a lead they would not surrender.

Freedom senior forward and Georgetown University signee Faith Woodard, who scored 18 points and surpassed the 1,000-rebound mark in the game, said it was a little frustrating early because the team was plagued with foul trouble and shots that wouldn’t go in.

“In the first, they were really well-prepared,” Woodard said. “We had new players, and (Steinbrenner) hadn’t played against us a lot, but they were definitely prepared a lot more (this) time.”

Steinbrenner led 13-12 after the first quarter and continued rolling on offense in the second as Taylor Thigpen (10 points) knocked down a pair of 3-pointers to extend her squad’s lead to seven.

The Patriots answered with a 10-2 run to knot the game at 26 going into the half capped by guard Neena Pacholke making a pair of free throws after being fouled going for a 3-point attempt at the buzzer.

Freedom continued its first half momentum in the third with a couple early buckets, but the Warriors echoed the pace with three late shots from Justice Thigpen (three points), Bailey Hooker (15 points, four rebounds and three blocks) and Shedd to bring the score within two.

Then, it all broke loose.

Hooker opened the fourth with two 3-pointers and Steinbrenner’s man-to-man defense kept the Patriots off the board for more than four minutes.

“Steinbrenner’s a great team, and we just have to learn to play our game every time we come out,” Laurie said. “I don’t think we did that there; I think we tried to play more to Steinbrenner instead of Freedom basketball.”

Steinbrenner had one final chance for the win in overtime, but a 3-point attempt by Hooker with five seconds left spun around the rim and bounced out.

Warriors coach JR Allen said his team played the way it wanted to, but inaccuracy at the free throw line (10-of-19) hurt its chances.

“For us, it’s going to be can we mentally deal with what has happened twice now,” Allen said. “In the first game, we didn’t show up offensively … but tonight, that was a lot better. We still had our moments here and there, but for the most part, it was a lot better.”

Allen said it was good to see his team improve against Freedom and expects a third meeting in the district tournament, which runs Jan. 28 to Feb. 2 at Freedom. Steinbrenner is the No. 2 seed.

“I believe we’ll take care of business,” Allen said. “Hopefully we’ll meet each other again for that (district) championship, and if the basketball gods are pleased with both of us we’ll get to play a fourth time.”

The Warriors play at Brandon Jan. 23, the same night the Patriots travel to Wharton. Both games start at 6:30 p.m.

By Jeff Odom

Steinbrenner cheerleading coach Allison Ennis wants to create something greater than a winning tradition — stability at the top.

Ennis, a Saint Leo University graduate, is the Warriors’ third coach in as many seasons. She joined the school as a sports marketing instructor this year after working with the New York Yankees. She said the team has been great to her, making the transition into her new role easier.

“It’s been a little stressful as I’m a first-year coach and teacher all at the same time,” Ennis said. “I’m totally new to the entire teaching profession, and it’s been a little difficult on that end getting acclimated to everything. But we have some great girls with a lot of talent to spare.”

Steinbrenner, which finished as the Class 2A state runner-up in the medium division last season, has plenty of expectations this year.

“We have a lot of seniors, and this is their shot at states after getting so close last year,” Ennis said. “I can see they have a lot of that drive and determination and … we’ve got a lot of seniors, and we have a lot of girls where this is their last shot, and we’re definitely going to give a little more.”

Despite losing key seniors Megan Lynn and Mallory Booth, who now cheers at the University of South Florida, the squad does return plenty of leadership this season, including seniors Jessica Brewer, Lizz Brechner, Kara Wabbersen, Chelsea Melvin and Kori Fick.

Fick, who has been with the team since the school opened in 2009, said it’s going to take a lot more work to repeat last season’s success and possibly take one step higher for the state title.

“We have to practice harder,” Fick said. “I just want to win. It’s going to take a lot of practice, and we’re closer (as a squad) because we’ve all known each other a really long time. It helps a lot with our success, and a lot of people are going to have to work hard to get back (to that level).”

Ennis echoed Fick and said her athletes know when to get down to business.

“You have to have that same work ethic wherever you go, and you’re going to have little hiccups here and there with any coach,” Ennis said. “I don’t want to jinx them, but they’re a pretty decent competition squad. When they get on the mat, they know they have a job to do, and they focus and get it done.”

Ennis said the seniors have each adopted a new role to get the younger girls ready for regionals and states.

“All of the seniors have all taken an active role getting the other girls up and motivated and everything,” Ennis said. She added, “It’s difficult, because we really don’t have a chance to get a look at the other teams, so we kind of have to find out once we get there. As long as we hit everything and we continue to work as hard as we have been, I think we’ll definitely be in that hunt.”

The Warriors travel to Freedom for Region 3 competition Jan. 26, where they will perform in the large division at 10:45 a.m. The state meet is Jan. 31 to Feb. 2 at the Kissimmee Convention Center.

—Follow Jeff Odom on Twitter: @JOdomLaker