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Ocala

Early interception sets tone for Sunlake playoff win

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The Vanguard Knights had a long bus trip from Ocala to Pasco County to face the Sunlake Seahawks. And they weren’t going to leave without an upset in the first round of the Class 6A high school playoffs.

Sunlake Seahawks kicker Chris Wilkinson reflects on a missed field goal early in the team’s final regular season game against Zephyrhills, but bounced back with an opening field goal from 18 yards out to help Sunlake beat Vanguard in the first round of the state playoffs. (Fred Bellet/Photo)
Sunlake Seahawks kicker Chris Wilkinson reflects on a missed field goal early in the team’s final regular season game against Zephyrhills, but bounced back with an opening field goal from 18 yards out to help Sunlake beat Vanguard in the first round of the state playoffs. (Fred Bellet/Photo)

Darryn Lake fell on the ball on the Knights’ own 37-yard-line following the kickoff, giving Vanguard great field position to start the game. But just eight seconds later, senior cornerback Mosi Davis would change everything.

In the very first snap of the 2014 playoffs between Sunlake and Vanguard, Knights quarterback N’Kosi Perry immediately tested the Seahawks’ defense with a long pass downfield. Davis, however, read the pass the entire way, and was there on his own 28-yard line to intercept the ball and set the tone for a 24-6 first round Sunlake win on Friday.

Sunlake (9-2) dominated the ground with 280 yards and three touchdowns. The Knights, on the other hand, were powerful in the air. Perry recovered quickly from his first-pass interception to complete 17-of-29 passes for 189 yards and a touchdown. Perry’s defense, however, limited Sunlake to just a Chris Wilkinson field goal early in the first quarter off two interceptions.

“We’ll enjoy this one, but we better not be satisfied,” Sunlake head coach Bill Browning said after the game. “Everyone in the playoffs is good.”

After Davis’ game-starting interception, the Seahawks took 12 plays to reach Vanguard’s 1-yard line. However, senior running back Nathan Johnson just couldn’t cross the end zone, forcing the Seahawks to settle on an 18-yard field goal from senior Chris Wilkinson to give Sunlake an early 3-0 lead.

Both teams would trade three-and-outs right after that, with Perry breaking that cycle late in the first by moving to his passing game. He converted a third-and-20 with just 23 seconds left with a 50-yard pass to Lake. And after running 5 more yards himself, Perry found Lake one more time 14 yards away, this time in the end zone, to give Vanguard a 6-3 lead to start the second.

Knowing they may not get too many more chances to score, Vanguard head coach Edwin Farmer opted for a fake point-after kick, but could only watch as Rashard Laiz was stopped just inches from the goal-line, preventing a two-point conversion.

The Knights never really had a chance after that. Sunlake consistently moved the ball and burned clock, staying on the ground as much as possible. They added touchdowns along the way as well, including a 46-yard mad dash by Davis that put the Seahawks up 10-6 less than a minute after Vanguard took the lead.

Naejaun Jackson tacked on two touchdowns of his own, the first on a 7-yard scamper late in the first, and the second a 6-yard end zone run in the third.

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-6 for 63 yards with no touchdowns, and no interceptions.

Lake led all Knights receivers with 108 yards and a touchdown, while Justin Watkins picked up 38 yards on three catches. The Seahawks’ defense, however, sacked Perry five times in the game, costing Vanguard 22 yards.

Sunlake now heads on the road this week to face Gainesville, which outlasted Mitchell 24-17 in the first round. And like Vanguard before it, Sunlake has experience against what is expected to be a tough Hurricanes team that is far better than its 6-5 record might indicate.

“We played Gainesville before, so we know what to expect,” Browning said, citing the 17-14 loss to the Hurricanes last year that knocked Sunlake out of the playoffs in the first round.

And how will the Seahawks prepare?

“We’ll just keep believing in ourselves,” Browning said, “and work hard.”

Sunlake statistics
RUSHING—Nathan Johnson 20-102, Dayton Feiden 8-64, Mosi Davis 1-46, Naejaun Jackson 5-26, Logan Wolfe 4-25, Terrence Jackson 1-7.
PASSING—Dayton Feiden 4-5-0-63.
RECEIVING—Terrence Jackson 1-37, Nick Valdes 2-33, A.J. McClendon 1-4.
QB SACKS—Austin Yeloushan 1.5, Dylan Franklin 1, Spencer Jarvis 1, Will Alvarez 1, Kalon Gipson 0.5.
INTERCEPTIONS—Mosi Davis 1, Dylan Stanton 1

Published November 19, 2014

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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

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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.

Sunlake, Zephyrhills headed to playoffs

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The Pasco Pirates wanted to play spoiler for the Zephyrhills Bulldogs once again, and earn a trip to the playoffs themselves. Instead, they were beat by a tough Nature Coast Tech team that almost outlasted the Bulldogs in a single-quarter playoff Monday night.

That means Zephyrhills (7-2) is going to the playoffs for the first time in eight years as the Bulldogs finish as the Class 5A-District 7 runner-up behind the undefeated South Sumter.

Also heading to the playoffs once again, but winning its first-ever Class 6A-District 6 title was Sunlake High School (8-1), outlasting Mitchell (6-3) in front of a home crowd in its one-quarter playoff. Mitchell will enter the Class 6A playoffs in two weeks as well, finishing as the district runner-up.

The Bulldogs almost didn’t make it into the playoffs once again. They took on their longtime rival, Pasco High School, last week with a 7-1 record in a game they were finally expected to win against a 5-3 team. But the Pirates stayed close the Bulldogs, and eked out a single-point victory in overtime.

That forced the playoff, involving not only Pasco, but Nature Coast Tech (5-4). However, the Pirates were not able to survive that challenge, and watched as the Sharks took on Zephyrhills in a chance to earn that last playoff berth.

Sunlake will host the first game of the Class 6A regional quarterfinals, taking on Ocala’s Vanguard High School. That team finished with a 4-4 record, but chalked up two of those wins against district opponents, according to MaxPreps. The Knights have not really dominated this season, virtually even between points scored and points allowed.

The Seahawks, on the other hand, have outscored their opponents 6-to-1.

Those teams match up Nov. 14 at 7:30 p.m. at Sunlake.

Zephyrhills will face Suwannee, out of Live Oak, a team also known as the Bulldogs. Suwannee powered its way to a 9-0 record, outscoring opponents 337-116. Zephyrhills is no pushover itself, also boasting a powerful offense that has outscored opponents 366-189.

If the local Bulldogs find a way to beat Suwannee, there’s a good chance their foe in the regional semifinals will be South Sumter, one of the two losses Zephyrhills posted this year. Few chunks have been found in the Raiders’ armor this season, and will be battling North Marion High School in the first round, a team that finished 7-2 on the season and looked almost as dominating as Suwannee in the same division.

Zephyrhills will travel to Live Oak Nov. 14 for its 7:30 p.m. contest at Paul Langford Stadium.

Housing market up, condo sales down locally

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Nearly 15,000 existing homes and condominiums changed hands in the greater Tampa Bay area during April, May and June, showing promising housing market trends despite a drop in overall condo sales.

The region — which includes Pasco, Hillsborough, Hernando and Pinellas counties — sold 3,733 condos in the second quarter, down more than 5 percent from the year before. The median sales price, however, rose more than 12 percent to $110,000.

That volume was second only to the greater Miami and Fort Lauderdale area, where nearly 13,000 condos were sold, according to a new report from Florida Realtors. Sales there, however were down more than 6 percent.

The lower volume is actually good news for the market, Florida Realtors chief economist John Tuccillo said, because that means foreclosure-related short sales are on the decline.

“The second quarter numbers show that Florida’s real estate market is settling in,” Tuccillo said, in a release. “While prices throughout the state tend to be up, sales are mixed with single-family sales growing, and condos and townhouses declining.”

Some of the reasons for that include the reduced role of bulk investors — buyers who pick up multiple units at a time in hopes to rent or flip — and many families who are having trouble getting mortgage credit because of flat income.

“This market is sustainable, but either or both of these roadblocks must be removed if it’s to take off again,” Tuccillo said.

Just a little more than 10,800 single-family homes were sold in the quarter, up 3 percent from a year ago. Median prices, however, were much more flat at $156,000, an increase of 1.3 percent.

Statewide, single-family sales were up more than 7 percent, while median sales prices rose just above 5 percent at $180,000.

Of the regions Florida Realtors track, Ocala in Marion County still had the lowest median price for a home at $105,000, despite a 6 percent increase in price. The most expensive homes remained in the Naples and Marco Island area of Collier County, were the median price rose nearly 16 percent to $405,000.

The interest rate for a 30-year fixed mortgage averaged 4.23 percent for the second quarter, up from 3.69 percent the year before, according to Freddie Mac.

Mixed recovery messages from local housing market

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Condominium sales in the Tampa Bay region are down, but prices are on the rise as home sales continue their long recovery in the state.

The median sales price of a condominium in the region, which includes both Pasco and Hillsborough counties, was $110,000 in May, up nearly 13 percent from the year before, according to a new report from Florida Realtors. The number of closed sales dropped nearly 10 percent, however, to 1,256 units.

Single-family home sales climbed a little more than 1 percent last month in the area, while median sale prices slipped about the same percentage, to $156,000.

What had been a buyer’s market is quickly turning into one benefitting sellers, said Florida Realtors president Sherri Meadows, in a release.

“Right now, the market offers a great opportunity for sellers, who are seeing nearly 93 percent of their asking price at the closing table,” she said. “And mortgage rates, though rising, remain historically low, giving consumers more buying power.”

Statewide, condo sale prices rose nearly 14 percent to $145,000 while home prices ticked up another 4 percent to $180,000. The most expensive homes are found in Collier County where the median price for a single-family was $410,000, while condos were running $230,000. The cheapest were in Ocala where single-family were selling at $108,000, and condos at $46,000.

The market still struggles to get first-time buyers.

“Going forward, we’re concerned about affordability,” said John Tuccillo, chief economist for Florida Realtors, in a release. “In particular, the difficulty of first-time buyers to access mortgage financing, and the lag in providing a much-needed supply of new homes may hold back Florida’s housing market.”