- April 25, 2024
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It's no coincidence that Seabreeze scheduled its bye on the last week of the season. It was a risk-reward decision that paid off.
While other teams will be completing their regular seasons this week, the Sandcrabs will be preparing for their first playoff appearance since 2007.
"It was definitely optimism," Seabreeze third-year coach Pat Brown said of scheduling the bye week. "We felt like we were going to be in the playoffs. The first two years we had Mainland in Week 10 and DeLand in Week 11. It worked out that we were playing them early in the year, and we said if we can make it through 10 weeks healthy, the pay-out would be huge."
As the District 7-5A champs, the Sandcrabs (6-4 overall, 4-0 in the district) will host a regional football quarterfinal Nov. 12. They will find out their opponent when the playoff field is announced Nov. 7.
Seabreeze dispatched Atlantic 48-0 on Oct. 29 to end its regular season with a four-game winning streak. Dimitri Campbell made big plays in all three phases of the game with a touchdown catch, a punt return for a touchdown and an interception.
"Dimitri might be the most dynamic player in Central Florida," Brown said. "When he gets the ball in his hands, everybody just looks to see what he's going to do. He's definitely going to make the first defender miss."
While Seabreeze will be at home Nov. 12, Mainland appears to be headed toward a road game in the first round of the playoffs. The Bucs beat South Lake 52-12 on Oct. 30 to improve to 5-4, 3-1 in District 6-6A. Jonathan Campbell threw two touchdown passes and caught one.
Mainland was No. 5 in its region in the Oct. 27 RPI rankings. If the Bucs remain in that spot, they will receive an at-large bid, which would run their playoff streak to 28 consecutive years.
Mainland's RPI is boosted by its strength of schedule. The Bucs' opponents' winning percentage of .705 is second-highest in the state among Class 6A teams. They play another strong opponent Nov. 5 at Jacksonville Bolles (6-2).
The Seabreeze girls finished second and the boys were third at the District 3-3A cross country meet Oct. 30 in Winter Springs.
Seabreeze's Tyler Herndon finished second overall in the boys 5-kilometer race with a time of 16:42.18, while Hayden Herndon was eighth (16:53.79) and Noah Parris was 20th (17:51.55).
Freshmen Mackenzie Roy (fifth, 19:35.45) and Ariana Roy (seventh, 19:43.86) led the Seabreeze girls. Ella Chandler finished 10th with a time of (20:03.66), while Nickole Dane was 13th at 20:20.82.
Mainland's boys and girls teams both finished eighth.
The regional meet is scheduled for Nov. 6 at the Austin-Tindall Sports Complex in Kissimmee.
Seabreeze's boys and girls teams both won District 3 bowling titles on Oct. 26. They were joined at the state championships (Nov. 2-4 at Boardwalk Bowl in Orlando) by Mainland's boys team, which was the state runner-up in 2020.
Seabreeze's Kara Beissel and Spencer Mosher had the top girls and boys series on the day. Beisell had a 573 series, while Mosher bowled the day's high game of 257 to post a 716 series.
