Tampa Win Highlights Florida HS Week 2
Tampa Win Highlights Florida HS Week 2
It's only week #2 in Florida's HS season and we're getting a sense of who might be pushing for a state title.
Jacksonville rebounded from a somewhat humbling shutout loss to Okapi last week with a tight victory over Boca Raton 32-28. Boca had won their opener in a close one so maybe they just like the drama. Still it's pretty clear that, at least now, Jacksonville, Boca, and Gibbons are all relatively close to each other.
Gibbons is now 1-1 after beating Wellington, while Okapi was idle this week. So that left Tampa and Key Biscayne. The Rats had won comfortably over Wellington last week, while Tampa had yet to take the field.
In the end it was an impressive showing for Tampa with a 44-21 victory.
"The boys played well and are starting to learn how to play a complete game," said Tampa Head Coach Joe Hilbush.
Captain Fletcher Van Deman led the effort and fellow senior Hugh McIntyre was also a pillar of composure.
"A couple of our U16s played up and had amazing performances," said Hilbush.
Bryson Cooke and Warner Donat were two of those young players and they combined for three tries on the day. Juniors Cole Holloway and Jaxen Hilbush both had strong performances. It was a payoff for getting a group of skilled players together, even if they were relatively young.
"We knew we could give up some physicality to have 15 of the best ball handlers on the field," said Hilbush.
Despite having a bye to open the season Tampa wasn't too worried about being rusty. They had played Okapi, a Midwest Selects team, and Jacksonville in their buildup.
Those games, said Hilbush, "enabled us to hit the ground running in our first official league game. Our schedule only gets tougher with Boca, Cardinal Gibbons, Wellington, and Okapi so we are going to find out what we are made of real quick."