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Suwannee High School

New season, higher goals for Zephyrhills football

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Last year, the Zephyrhills Bulldogs snapped an eight-year playoff drought by making the postseason for the first time since head coach Reggie Roberts took over in 2010.

This year, the path to an encore doesn’t begin on the practice field, or in the classroom watching game film.

It begins in church.

Head coach Reggie Roberts is looking to build on his team's 8-3 record and accompanying playoff berth last season. (Fred Bellet/Photos)
Head coach Reggie Roberts is looking to build on his team’s 8-3 record and accompanying playoff berth last season.
(Fred Bellet/Photos)

“I had one of the preachers from a local church say, ‘Coach, you’ve been praying for the playoffs and that’s what you got. Start praying for the state championship this year,’ ” Roberts said while taking a quick break during practice last week.

This year, the goal is a state championship.

But Roberts and the Bulldogs won’t be leaving things up to divine intervention. They’re putting in plenty of hard work as they prepare for the start of the season later this month. Music blares from loudspeakers during practice to keep the athletes motivated while they run drills. Offense, defense and special teams all take over parts of the field to get their practice time in before scheduled breaks.

The players have noted that there’s a new level of seriousness and focus as they prepare for the upcoming season.

“I’ve pushed them. Last week they said it’s been the hardest it’s ever been at Zephyrhills High School, and it probably is because the expectations are higher,” Roberts said. “We’re looking for better things.”

Roberts’ time as coach — he played tight end and linebacker for the school back in his playing days — has been marked by achieving better things. He took over a program that had won just six games in the previous two seasons. It took a year to get things the way he wanted, but since then it’s been a string of winning records, culminating in an 8-3 mark and a trip to the postseason.

Players like running back Myles Carter will be expected to step up for the Bulldogs this season.
Players like running back Myles Carter will be expected to step up for the Bulldogs this season.

The Bulldogs lost a close game to Suwannee High School, and it left them wanting a bigger taste of the postseason.

They’re aiming for a trip to the Citrus Bowl in Orlando, where the state championships will be played in December.

Before they can get that far, though, they have to earn it on the field during the regular season.

And before that happens, Roberts wants them to earn it in their studies and in the community.

“The first thing my athletes have to understand is that football is an extension of the classroom. We are student-athletes first,” he said.

Roberts speaks with the decisive tone of a coach who knows what he wants from his players, and he’s already getting their support. They recently worked at a Purple Heart Memorial Dedication earlier this month, and he wants them to bring a blue-collar attitude to everything they do. By focusing on working together and getting things done in class, the coach is convinced it will make them better players on Friday nights.

Roberts will need players to step up and fill some big gaps left by graduating seniors. The coach misses all of them, since they all contributed to the team’s success. But standout players like quarterback Ty Tanner and running back Jaylen Pickett were more than role players, and they’ve moved on. That means the team has to find a way to move on as well.

The coach is confident the team can take the next step with existing talent like Myles Carter, Antwione Sims and Jackie Tucker. And Tucker, a senior receiver, shares his optimism.

“This offseason I’ve been grinding with my two younger quarterbacks, Charles Harrison and Dylan Wood, trying to get them to where my previous quarterback, Ty Tanner, was,” Tucker said.

The 6-foot-2, 188-pound wideout is in his third year with the Bulldogs, and he knows that means taking on a leadership role. He’s embracing the responsibility of being a voice for the team and making sure everyone is doing their job in practice, working out and getting prepared for the upcoming season.

And for Tucker, that includes himself.

“I hit the weight room 10 times harder than I used to,” he said.

The players work hard in the weight room and at practice, where Roberts’ assistants fine-tune their mechanics, and the team races through a battery of drills and exercises.

And, the head coach isn’t making any time for offseason distractions.

They’re in a new district this year.

Roberts isn’t concerned that the Bulldogs aren’t expected to do much with competition like River Ridge and Gulf waiting for them in 5A-8 (“If you look at the polls, we’re way down,” he said. “I love it.”).

The coach brushed off a question about playing longtime rival Pasco High School in November (“Hasn’t even crossed my mind.”).

Roberts also didn’t want to single out any one facet of his team that he expected to stand out this coming season.

But when pressed to choose one — offense, defense, or special teams — the coach gave a smile before responding with a tone that suggested the answer was final.

“Offense. Defense. And special teams,” he said before heading off to focus on his players.

Zephyrhills Bulldogs regular season schedule
(all games at 7:30 p.m.)

Aug. 28 at Wiregrass Ranch

Sept. 4 at Sunlake

Sept. 18 at Gulf

Sept. 25 vs. Fivay

Oct. 2 vs. Hudson

Oct. 9 at Ridgewood

Oct. 16 vs. River Ridge

Oct. 23 at Wesley Chapel

Oct. 30 vs. Anclote

Nov. 6 vs. Pasco

Published August 19, 2015

Bulldogs look past playoff loss to promising future

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The Zephyrhills Bulldogs played approximately 540 minutes of football this season — but it was the final two minutes that were the most disappointing.

Zephyrhills Bulldog junior linebacker Kevin Lee swats down a pass from Sunlake quarterback Dayton Feiden during the final game of the season that Zephyrhills won 22-7. The Bulldogs would lose a heartbreaking first-round playoff game, while the Seahawks would move to the next round after beating Ocala’s Vanguard High School. (Fred Bellet/Photo)
Zephyrhills Bulldog junior linebacker Kevin Lee swats down a pass from Sunlake quarterback Dayton Feiden during the final game of the season that Zephyrhills won 22-7. The Bulldogs would lose a heartbreaking first-round playoff game, while the Seahawks would move to the next round after beating Ocala’s Vanguard High School. (Fred Bellet/Photo)

The team came up short on a fourth-and-one that would have sealed a victory in their first playoff game in eight seasons. Instead, their opponent — Suwannee High School from Live Oak — drove down the field quickly and scored a touchdown.

Suwannee then recovered a fumble on the ensuing kickoff for another score. And just like that, Zephyrhills’ season was gone.

But not forgotten.

“We’re a little disappointed about the loss, not getting the win up in Live Oak, especially being ahead most of the game,” Bulldogs head coach Reggie Roberts said. “But we played good football to get there, and we played good football when we got there. But we just have to finish at that level.”

As the sting of not finishing a winnable playoff loss subsides — the team led 24-9 at the half — it will be replaced by memories of the good football that brought them to that point in the first place. Their 8-3 final record is the best of Roberts’ tenure, which began in 2010.

It was their fourth straight year with a winning record, and the playoff appearance snapped an eight-year drought without postseason play. The Bulldogs took the field for that game ready to play their brand of football, not like a team that was just happy to be there or wanted to play conservatively.

For his part, Roberts has no regrets about going for it on that critical fourth down at the end of the game. Converting that yard would have meant a victory, he said, and the circumstances at that time and the field position dictated it was the best move for the team.

But that decision was made and the playoff game is over. And Roberts, like all successful coaches, doesn’t like to dwell in the past. He’s already looking ahead to 2015, and he likes what he sees.

While he admits that replacing offensive cogs like quarterback Ty Tanner, receiver Tyler Kirby and running back Jaylen Pickett won’t be easy, Roberts believes the team’s depth will step up and fill the gaps.

“Our seniors will be missed, but by the same token, we have a lot of young players that know how to play football,” he said.

The Bulldogs will welcome back known talent like receiver Jackie Tucker and running back Antwione Sims, who distinguished himself this season and in the playoff game. They also have a number of junior varsity players who are ready to graduate to varsity and contribute immediately.

If there’s an early area of concern, it’s the kicking game. Somebody will need to fill punter and kicker Zach Gleaton’s spot, but there’s time to find a replacement. But from offensive line to other skill positions, the coach feels good about the talent he’ll carry into 2015.

“I like what we have coming back,” Roberts said.

He also likes the renewed community interest in Zephyrhills football, and the fact that coaches are now coming to him asking for advice on how to build and maintain a successful program.

The returning players will bring a renewed desire to win and a lot of pride in what they’re building, but they’ll also carry some bitterness about the way the season ended. After the playoff loss, he found the younger players hurting after the game, even if they didn’t get on the field much.

They were upset at the way things ended for the team, and the coach wants them to use that frustration as fuel for next season.

“They’re going to remember that pain,” Roberts said. “They’re going to remember this experience. They’re going to remember it takes blood, and hopefully that’s going to just energize them and motivate them to get back there (to the playoffs) every year.”

If Roberts is looking for indications that the team will learn from this year’s lessons, he’s already seen some positive signs as the long off-season gets underway.

The players aren’t interested in taking extended breaks, even when offered by the coach at the end of a hard-fought playoff game and a successful 2014 campaign.

“I gave the kids two weeks off, and the kids were in the weight room” four days after the playoff game, he said. “If that doesn’t tell you anything, it tells me a lot.”

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Gainesville bumps Sunlake from postseason … again

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The rivalry between Sunlake and Land O’ Lakes high schools is obvious because of the close proximity of the two schools. But the Seahawks may have found a new rival in the Gainesville Hurricanes, which for the second year in a row, knocked them out of the state football playoffs.

Gainesville used two quick scores at the start of the game to cement what would become a 27-19 win Friday night in front of its home crowd. That finishes Sunlake’s season at 9-3 with the Class 6A-District 6 title.

Mitchell High School, the 6A-6 runner-up, also lost to Gainesville the previous week, giving the Hurricanes a clean sweep of the district as they ready for a tough regional finals matchup against Armwood High School.

In other games, according to published reports, Sickles fell to Tampa Bay Tech 20-16 in Class 7A, allowing the Titans a chance to face Osceola in the regional finals. That team out of Kissimmee beat Lakeland 35-28 in overtime to get there.

Lakewood topped River Ridge 26-3 in Class 5A action, while Suwannee — which beat Zephyrhills in a come-from-behind win last week — upset South Sumter 24-22.

Sunlake principal Steve Williams live-tweeted the game from his spot in Gainesville, and had nothing but good things to say about the Seahawks as they wrap up a strong season.

Sunlake also got kudos from elected officials as well, including new Pasco County commissioner Mike Moore, and state Rep. Richard Corcoran.

Sunlake tops Vanguard, travels to Gainesville next week

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The Sunlake Seahawks have advanced in the state football playoffs once again by stopping the Vanguard Knights 24-6 Friday night in the Class 6A playoffs.

Sunlake (9-2) dominated on the ground against the Ocala team with 280 total yards and three touchdowns. The Knights, on the other hand, were powerful in the air, with quarterback N’Kosi Perry throwing 17-of-29 for 189 yards and a touchdown. However, two interceptions would tarnish his record for the night.

The Seahawks were only able to convert the two picks to three points, the first coming in the very first play of the game when Perry shot a bullet downfield into the hands of senior defensive back Mosi Davis. Sunlake would use 12 plays to move it from their own 28-yard line all the way to Vanguard’s 1, but running back Nathan Johnson just missed the goal line, and the Seahawks would have to settle on a Chris Wilkinson 18-yard field goal.

Vanguard roared back, and scored the game’s first touchdown just 8 seconds into the second quarter when Perry connected with Darryn Lake for 14 yards. A fake kick by Bruce Christopher allowed Rashard Laiz to try and run it in for a two-point conversion. However, he met the Seahawk’s goal line defense, and was stopped at the 1.

The Knights never really had a chance after that as Sunlake was able to move the ball and burn the clock, adding scores along the way, including a 46-yard run into the end zone by Davis in the answering drive to help the Seahawks go up 10-6. Naejaun Jackson added two touchdowns of his own on a 7-yard run late in the first half, and a 6-yard run early in the third quarter.

Johnson led the rushing attack with 102 yards, while quarterback Dayton Feiden added 64 yards of his own. Feiden spent very little time in the air, finishing 4-of-5 for 63 yards with no touchdowns and no interceptions.

For the Knights Lake led all receivers with 108 yards and a touchdown, while Justin Watkins picked up 38 yards on three catches.

Gainesville outlasted Mitchell 24-17, meaning the Seahawks will now have to travel north for the Class 6A regional semifinals.

In other local action, a late fumble cost the Zephyrhills Bulldogs a chance to upset Suwannee in Class 5A, losing 42-34 to the Live Oak team.

Playoff foe awaits district champ Sunlake

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Each year, high school football teams enter the season with specific goals. Some achieve them, and others fall short.

For Sunlake High School, the goal since the school’s inception has been to claim a district title. And every year they’ve fallen short of that goal.

Until this year.

Sunlake High School junior Nick Valdes, left, and the rest of the Seahawks hope to make the most of their first playoff berth as district champions. (Fred Bellet/Photo)
Sunlake High School junior Nick Valdes, left, and the rest of the Seahawks hope to make the most of their first playoff berth as district champions. (Fred Bellet/Photo)

The Seahawks survived a three-way tiebreaker on Nov. 3 that had teams playing one quarter of football against each other to determine a winner. As a result, they’ll enter the playoffs with the title of district champion of Class 6A-District 6, an accomplishment that’s not lost on head coach Bill Browning.

“It’s very gratifying. The kids worked very hard for it,” said Browning, who has been with the school since it opened in 2007.

Back then, the team was essentially a junior varsity squad, he said, and were out-matched at every turn. But over the years, Browning and his staff have built a successful program, finally claiming that elusive district title this season.

As a result, Browning let himself enjoy the moment. For a few hours, anyway.

By the next morning, it was on to game preparations, and getting his team prepared for the games in front of them.

“You meet one challenge and then you go on to the next challenge,” he said. “That’s the competitive nature.”

The challenge in the playoffs will be a home tilt against Vanguard High School on Nov. 14. Located in Ocala, the Knights don’t seem too formidable on paper. They’re just 4-5 on the season, and claimed a playoff spot as runner-up in District 5 with a 2-2 record. They were 1-4 on the road, and gave up an average of nearly 47 points in their five losses.

But Browning and the Seahawks won’t make any assumptions with regard to Vanguard. They’ve faced them in the playoffs before, winning a close contest, and know that any team that makes the postseason has talent.

To be successful, Sunlake will rely on the players like Naejaun Jackson, a running back and receiver who has given the offense a spark in the second half of the season. Browning described Jackson as the “lightning” to running back Nathan Johnson’s “thunder.”

While the experience of entering the playoffs as a district champion is a new experience for Sunlake, it’s nothing new for Browning. A high school coach for 25 years, he also earned district titles for Springstead High School and Hernando High School before taking the job to start the Seahawks’ program from scratch.

But this one is special, in part because his biggest fan isn’t here to watch the games anymore. His father, Maurice, passed away this past summer at age 95.

During his son’s tenure the older Browning attended every Sunlake football game. In the last contest he saw, the spring classic game, Browning’s father saw the team that would eventually earn the school its first district title.

And his assessment of his son’s team at the time?

“After the classic, his words to me were, ‘You’ve got your work cut out for you,’” Browning recalled.

After a lot of hard work, Sunlake is not only a district champion for the first time, but a playoff host as well. Browning hopes those advantages will help the team go farther this year than during previous campaigns.

“The farthest we’ve gotten is the second round in the playoffs,” Browning said. ‘That’s our goal now, to go farther than any Sunlake team has.”

While Sunlake has been able to console themselves with playoff runs while they sought a district title, it was a different story for Zephyrhills High School. But they snapped an eight-year playoff drought with their own tie-breaker game, and will head to the playoffs as the Class 5A-District 7 runner-up.

While the Bulldogs can be proud of accomplishing a major goal for 2014, there’s just one problem: The actual playoffs haven’t even started yet.

So now what?

“You feel really good for a short time, but you know you’ve got to get back to work and start over,” Zephyrhills coach Reggie Roberts said. “Our objective is not just to get there. It’s to perform once we get to the playoffs.”

Soon after he was drenched in a celebratory bath from the water cooler, Roberts already was thinking of the Bulldogs’ playoff strategy.

And Zephyrhills isn’t expecting a warm welcome in their return to the postseason. Their first match-up will be Nov. 14 at Live Oak to face Suwannee High School, a team that didn’t need any tiebreakers to qualify for the playoffs. With a perfect 9-0 overall record headed into their final regular season game, Suwannee dominated District 5 with a 6-0 mark. The Bulldogs finished at 9-1 after a 42-14 loss to Columbia High School from Lake City.

The team — also nicknamed the Bulldogs — has held opponents to seven points or less four separate times, while being held under 30 themselves just once.

The key to the Zephyrhills’ success, according to Roberts, will be not changing things just because it’s the playoffs. From coaching to practice to execution, he wants his team to utilize the same strengths that helped them reach the postseason.

“We have to go with what got us there, and we have to do what we’ve done all year long,” he said. “We have to play consistent football on both sides of the ball.”

Roberts knows first-hand the importance of ending the season strong. As an all-state linebacker for Zephyrhills, he made the playoffs in his senior season back in 1989. His defensive coordinator, Booker Pickett, also was on that team. But they lost their playoff game, a match-up Roberts still remembers well and thinks they could have won.

He doesn’t want his team ending their year with a feeling that they could have done more in the postseason, and his focus is on getting them as prepared as possible to be successful.

But Roberts also wants them to enjoy the moment the way he did when he played in the postseason, and appreciate the special atmosphere.

“The crowd, it was so packed there was no room to sit,” Roberts recalled. “It was tremendous. It was like a college atmosphere. It was great small-town football.

“That’s why you want to get there. To create those memories.”

Nov. 14
Vanguard at Sunlake, 7:30 p.m.
Zephyrhills at Suwanee, 7:30 p.m.
Tickets are $8
If Sunlake (8-2) wins, Seahawks take on winner of Mitchell (6-4) at Gainesville (5-5).
If Zephyrhills (8-2) wins, Bulldogs take on winner of North Marion (8-2) at South Sumter (10-0).

Published November 12, 2014

See this story in print: Click Here

In Print: Playoffs kick off Friday for Sunlake, Zephyrhills

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Are you ready for the playoffs? Are the Sunlake Seahawks, or the Zephyrhills Bulldogs?

Well, someone needs to be, because the state football playoffs begin Friday, with Zephyrhills on the road to the Panhandle area, while Sunlake is hosting a tough team from Ocala.

Sunlake High School head football coach Bill Browning looks on with concern as his team trails Zephyrhills, 22-7, last Friday. The Seahawks lost to the Bulldogs in the final game of the season, pitting together the two area teams heading to the playoffs. (Fred Bellet/Photo)
Sunlake High School head football coach Bill Browning looks on with concern as his team trails Zephyrhills, 22-7, last Friday. The Seahawks lost to the Bulldogs in the final game of the season, pitting together the two area teams heading to the playoffs. (Fred Bellet/Photo)

“The farthest we’ve gotten is the second round in the playoffs,” Seahawks coach Bill Browning told reporter Michael Murillo. “That our goal now, to go farther than any Sunlake team has.”

Sunlake will face Vanguard High School, which finished 4-5 on the season, but was able to claim a playoff spot as the runner-up in Class 6A-District 5. Yet, the Knights were 1-4 on the road, and gave up an average of nearly 47 points in their five losses.

Zephyrhills will have a bit of a tougher time. The Class 5A-District 6 runner-up has a long drive ahead of them Friday to Live Oak, just south of Interstate 10. If that wasn’t enough to worry about, the team from Suwannee High School also is known as the Bulldogs — and they have an impressive 9-1 record, losing only the final game of the season.

“You feel really good for a short time, but you know you’ve got to get back to work and start over,” Zephyrhills head coach Reggie Roberts said. “Our objective is not just to get there. It’s to perform once we get to the playoffs.”

How are both teams preparing? Find out in this week’s print edition of The Laker/Lutz News, available on newsstands now. Or read it for free in our online e-edition. Get the Zephyrhills version of the story here, with more details on Sunlake here.

Also, check out LakerLutzNews.com Friday night for results from both games, and find complete coverage in the Nov. 19 print edition of The Laker/Lutz News.

It’s great having a chance to celebrate football and other sports. But when we do, we should stop to thank a veteran.

Tuesday was Veterans Day, and just ahead of a day filled with events, one group of veterans do what they do for every holiday honoring those who served — they remembered those who gave the ultimate sacrifice for those freedoms.

Last weekend, four members of American Legion Post 108 visited the Lutz Cemetery to place flags on the gravestones of soldiers.

“There’s a lot of sacrifice here,” Bill Garrison, a former code breaker with the U.S. Air Force, told reporter B.C. Manion.

“Unfortunately, they don’t get the honor and respect that they deserve,” said Richard Fernandez, who served in the U.S. Coast Guard.

The men and others visit the cemetery every Memorial Day, Fourth of July and Veterans Day. The come bearing small American flags, which they will then collect the day after the holidays, honoring veterans from all the major wars.

To learn more about this solemn service provided by these American Legion members, check out this week’s print edition of The Laker/Lutz News, or read our free online e-edition by clicking here.

The elections are finally over after months and months and months of campaigning. While Pasco County had a turnout of more than 50 percent, turnout for the mid-term elections overall across the country were at the lowest levels since World War II.

Many local candidates — including those running for county commission and for an office in Tallahassee — touted local jobs and local money to help grow Pasco’s economy. Yet, none of the candidates really spent a lot of time trying to provide their own influx of cash to local businesses.

In fact, in just three races — two county commission races, and the election battle between Danny Burgess and Beverly Ledbetter for Will Weatherford’s state House seat — more than $324,000 was sent out of the county. That’s 71 percent of the total money raised by all six candidates involved.

What do the candidates have to say about it? We’re not sure. Many wouldn’t address it, but Ledbetter — who lost to Burgess in the House race — did talk about where money in her campaign was spent.

“Our campaign bought local services when available, such as some printing supplies and materials,” Ledbetter told reporter Michael Hinman in an email. “I used a local Dade City printer for some work, and a local company for the T-shirts.”

Yet, despite those efforts, Ledbetter spent just $3,000 in Pasco — less than 10 percent of the total amount she raised. Burgess wasn’t much better, however, spending $35,000 — less than 27 percent — of the money he raised locally.

Find out what all this outside spending means to local businesses in this week’s print edition of The Laker/Lutz News, or read it online right now for free in our e-edition by clicking here.

And finally, photojournalist Fred Bellet has some great pictures to share from a recent work day at the Central Pasco Chamber of Commerce in Land O’ Lakes, turning the headquarters a vibrant tropical blue. See it online by clicking here.

All of these stories and more can be found in this week’s The Laker/Lutz News, available in newsstands throughout east and central Pasco County as well as northern Hillsborough County. Find out what has your community talking this week by getting your local news straight from the only source you need.

If The Laker/Lutz News is not coming to your door, call us to see where you can get your copy at (813) 909-2800, or read our free e-edition by clicking here.