Matanzas Pirates

For Braden River High football, the biggest difference heading into the 2022 season is stability.   It is something the program thought it would have last season, with a predetermined starting quarterback in then-sophomore Nick Trier, a talented stable of running backs and a highly-touted freshman class, plus multiple veterans leaders on defense.

With high school football practice, and thus the Observer's season previews, now underway, I wanted to take a special look at some of East County's key senior football players. They are often the souls of their respective offensive or defensive units. Here is a 10 top seniors, listed in alphabetical order, from East County schools (Braden River High, Lakewood Ranch High and The Out-of-Door Academy).

The players practiced hard. They took water breaks. They broke down all the equipment together, then went into the locker room for a recap of the day's work and a look ahead at the next day's work.

It’s been an interesting offseason throughout Hillsborough County. There have been head coaching firings, head coaching hirings and, obviously, the slew of transfers all over. But the biggest question that sticks out there is, ‘Who’s got the best team in the county?’.

Flagler Palm Coast rushed for nearly 1,000 yards last year. The Bulldogs are expected to have strong running game again this season, and that starts with the offensive line. Their coach is new to the program, but Flagler Palm Coast’s line is a veteran group with four seniors.

As the second week of preseason practice began for the Mainland  High football team, the Bucs' offense started taking shape. They have their starting quarterback. They also have settled on a running back by committee.

Asked why he chose Ohio State, Middleton credited the school’s culture and coach Chris Holtmann.

The Mainland girls basketball team ran away with the District 4-5A championship after back-to-back district tournament wins Feb. 2 and Feb. 4 at the Vince Carter Athletic Center.

Coby White, Jarrett Allen, Josh Green and Cam Johnson are coaches at the Basketball Without Borders camp in Australia.

Matanzas experienced growing pains last year. The Pirates lost five of their first six games as sophomore quarterback Dakwon Evans was learning the nuances of coach Matt Forrest's air-raid system and how to play quarterback on the high school level. Evans finished the season with 1,000 yards passing and 245 yards rushing.

Pat Brown is entering his fourth season as Seabreeze's head football coach. Last year, he led the Sandcrabs to a district championship and their first playoff appearance in eight years.

Auburn’s first commit of the 2023 cycle is a four-star combo guard from Prolific Prep in California.