- May 2, 2024
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After being doused with the celebratory ice water, Mainland head coach Travis Roland considers his answer while being interviewed by WNDB following the Bucs' Class 3S semifinal win against Vanguard on Dec. 1. Photo by Michele Meyers
Mainland head football coach Travis Roland holds the Class 3S State Championship trophy on Dec. 7 after the Buccaneers beat St. Augustine. Photo by Michele Meyers
FPC girls soccer senior night. From left, assistant coach Cat Bradley, Heidi Michaels, Ariana Johnson, Kaitlyn Holley, Kaitlyn Steiner, Savannah O'Grady, Samantha Jennings, Sunny Wolff and head coach Pete Hald. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Savannah O'Grady is greeted by Samantha Jennings (20) as FPC's players are announced before the Taylor game on senior night. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Mainland football coach Travis Roland has been voted the Florida Dairy Farmers High School Football overall Football Coach of the Year.
Roland led the Buccaneers to a 14-1 record and the Class 3S state football championship with a 21-19 victory over St. Augustine.
Roland had previously been named the Class 3S Coach of the Year. He was a linebacker on Mainland’s football team the last time the Bucs won the state title in 2003.
Cocoa wide receiver Jayvian Boggs won the Florida Dairy Farmers Mr. Football award.
Mainland defensive end LJ McCray was voted the Class 3S Player of the Year and finished fourth in the voting for Mr. Football.
The two year-experiment of separating metro and surburban schools in state football classifications appears to be over.
The Florida High School Athletic Association announced tentative new football districts for the next two years with seven classifications based on only on enrollment from 1A through 7A plus a rural classification.
The proposal to add an open division for the top teams to offset a competitive imbalance was tabled. Separating metro and suburban teams was supposed to address the imbalance with metro schools previously dominating state football titles on all enrollment levels. The FHSAA board of directors voted to scrap the metro-suburban separation last month.
Schools have until Jan. 12 to appeal the new districts. The main change locally is Seabreeze moving to District 6-4A with Deltona, New Smryna Beach Pine Ridge and Rockledge.
Mainland will be in District 4-5A with Matanzas and Belleview. Matanzas trades one state power, St. Augustine, for another in Mainland as a district opponent.
Flagler Palm Coast had been in a district with three St. Johns County schools — Ponte Vedra, Nease and Tocoi Creek. Now it will travel south and west instead of north in a new District 2-7A with Spruce Creek, DeLand and University.
FPC athletic director Scott Drabczyk, who will attend an Athletic Directors Advisory Committee meeting later this month, said the conversation about an elite division will likely continue.
When it comes to classifications, he said, everybody has a different goal, whether it’s travel or competitive balance.
Florida is not like other states in the south, Drabcczyk said, because it is diverse both geographically and in school size.
“Florida is very different based on traditional population models,” he said. “Our school is the only big school in our area, so we know we’re going to have to travel a bit.”
FPC’s girls soccer team held its senior night on Jan. 5 before its game against Taylor. The Bulldogs honored their seven seniors: Heidi Michaels, Ariana Johnson, Kaitlyn Holley, Kaitlyn Steiner, Savannah O’Grady, Samantha Jennings and Sunny Wolff.
O’Grady, who is out for the season with a knee injury, had the first touch of the game. She set her crutches down and kicked to a teammate, who booted the ball out of bounds, allowing O’Grady to leave the field.
FPC’s boys soccer team (12-3) has won eight in a row heading into a home game against DeLand on Jan. 10. The Bulldogs have not given up a goal in four consecutive games.
First Baptist Academy’s boys basketball team went 2-0 in their final games of 2023, defeating Florida School for the Deaf and Blind 84-41 on Dec. 19 and Beacon of Hope 63-46 on Dec. 21.
Junior Solomon Williams averaged 16 points, 12 rebounds and six assists, while eighth graders Jayden McCoy and Derrick Smith averaged 10 and 14 points, respectively.
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