The South Shore Super Bowl
Brawny, veteran Lennard team hosts inexperienced East Bay; Joceyln Diaz kicking PATs for the ‘Horns
By STEVE JACKSON
Don’t worry about the weather this Friday night.
Unless lightning bolts are illuminating the evening skies over eastern Hillsborough County, football is on the menu and the main course is pigskin, served at 7:30 p.m., promptly.
Topping the list is the Super Bowl of South Shore in Ruskin. That would be, since the inception of Lennard in 2006 and prior to a football rivalry, the neighboring East Bay Indians versus the Lennard Longhorns in the Horns’ corral.
Other Shore Shore openers on Aug. 23 include Riverview vs. Blake at Tampa and Spoto hosting Sickles.
The rivalry and Super Bowl hype is being rolled out early and often this week in the school boundaries of East Bay and Lennard from Gibsonton to Wimauma, including Apollo Beach, Ruskin and fringes of Riverview. How that match-up plays out remains to be seen. East Bay claimed a 45-35 mid-October donnybrook win last year over at the Indians camp on Big Bend Road when they were both in the same conference and when Coach Frank LaRosa was enjoying the fruits of a now-departed, highly-talented offense. This season the Florida high school football czars have inexplicably seen fit to put the South Shore pair in separate conferences, but that does not lessen the rivalry.
East Bay has dominated Lennard ever since Lennard was established and the two started squaring off on the gridiron. However, the Indians 6 wins and 2 losses over their Ruskin foes is in serious jeopardy this year. In a word, or perhaps two, Lennard is loaded and East Bay is rebuilding. East Bay, consistent winners under LaRosa since 2011, finished 7-4 last year. Meanwhile, Lennard under Coach Matt Kitchie, has struggled to put grade A beef on the field, limping to 2-8, 0-10 and 2-8 records during his tenure. Records go out the window this Friday night, however.
Not only is the 2019 game a season-opener at Lennard, the Longhorns feature one of Florida high schools’ premier returning running backs, #21 Tino Hunt, and a deep, bruising, veteran offensive line, including five seniors: Michael Rankins, Braden Nash, Tanner Evans, Mike Covine and Elijay Seay. Put the five on the scales with two other equally talented bulky underclassmen, Hayden Gondelman and Jordan Mabee, and you have almost two Longhorn tons (actually 1,872 pounds total) of blocking humanity bashing the defensive opponents. Blessed with 10 offensive starters returning, Kitchie also counts five starters from last year’s defense, which admittedly needs to improve its tackling and deep pass coverage.
To add to the mystique, Lennard plans to trot out at a placekicker/field goal kicker who has been perfecting the side-saddle soccer kick since the age of 4. Not to say that is unusual in itself in this day and age, but that kicker who is designated to handle PATs (points after touchdown) and field goal attempts is now a senior, dressing out in the orange and white for the first time. And instead of kicking white and black round soccer balls into the net in futbol, instead of playing flag football or powder puff football, this leg and toe belongs to a football player who is noted, at least in practice, for accurate kicking through the steel goal posts in a full-fledged rock ’em, sock ’em contact sport. On this Friday night under the lights, all that matters is not the gender, but how well Joceyln Diaz can propel the oblong football through the uprights for one point or, perhaps three points, at a time.
For the Indians, as if the season opener on the road with a rejuvenated Lennard is not enough, East Bay this year will be playing football in a conference with Armwood, Tampa Bay Tech and Wiregrass Ranch in 7A District 8.
After Lennard, the Indians travel to Tampa to play Chamberlain. East Bay’s first home game is with Jefferson Sept. 6. Other home games include Plant City Sept. 20, Sickles Oct. 4, Wiregrass Ranch of Wesley Chapel Oct. 10, and Bloomingdale Nov. 1.
East Bay head football coach LaRosa is in his 15th season coaching high school football. He started as an assistant football coach at East Bay in 2002. LaRosa’s overall record as a head coach since 2005, all with the Indians, is 44-38. He also serves as the department head for physical education and teaches HOPE and weightlifting. LaRosa participated in football, lacrosse, and track & field in high school at Franklin Square, New York. He graduated from Ithaca (NY) College.
The top returning prospect for this year’s Indians are: Logan Webb at cornerback and wide receiver; Jaden Santos Lopez, offensive and defensive end; Keyaun Kinneyu, offensive and defensive line; Elijah Ketchup, running back and defensive back; and Garrett Hines, offensive and defensive line. Top returning prospects include Joevon Turner and Kenlin Jones, both at runningback and defensive back.
As usual, LaRosa has to prepare his players to be ready to go both ways, a hallmark of his East Bay tenure.
“We are excited about the new faces,” he said. “We return only three starters on offense and only three on defense, but our guys have been working and progressing nicely. They are learning to play fast and to play together.”