Hernando County Football Weathering the Storm

Over the last three weeks, the state of Florida has been buffeted by a pair of hurricanes. Hundreds of thousands have lost power, have been displaced, or even lost their homes entirely. Not only has this hurricane season been trying for everyday life, but for the football season as well.

On top of everyone trying to stay safe from the tropical cyclones, local high school teams have been attempting to string together a semblance of a normal schedule. Routines have been disrupted, instruction has been missed, and coaches and players have gone stretches of up to 10 days without meeting for practice.

Games have been moved from Fridays to the following Mondays twice in less than a month, and now bye weeks and postseason tournaments are getting shuffled around. District Athletic Director Dustin Kupcik voiced these concerns in an email on Monday:
“Having to reschedule games or tournaments is never an easy task, regardless of the scenario. [Athletic Directors] must ensure that every piece of what makes an event safe and successful gets reworked. Transportation, officials, gate workers, security, admin, concessions, EMTs, PA announcer, the facility itself…you name it. Coaches and student-athletes get thrown off of their routines as well. But when dealing with situations like we are now, with these hurricanes back-to-back, it is an even greater challenge for all involved. We are talking about whole-scale cancelations over a longer period of time, right in the middle of district and conference play…homecomings!”

Many schools like Hernando High will now be holding their homecoming celebrations throughout this week or beyond. FHSAA Executive Director Craig Damon announced a variety of adjustments to not just football, but all sports schedules and minimum thresholds.

The individual sports’ minimum contest requirement that is usually in place has been waived, so impacted student-athletes will still have the ability to compete in their respective state tournaments. Volleyball, whose district tournament was meant to be complete on Friday, has now had this competition flexed out to this Saturday with contingencies in place to extend it even further if need be.

Before this season, the FHSAA included a common bye week for the week of December 2-6 for all football teams in districts 1A-7A. This has now been moved to November 4-7 to provide an extra regular season week. The playoffs will now start one week later, on November 15.

This allows teams to make up a game that was missed due to a hurricane or as a bye week before starting the playoffs. All contests, district or otherwise, must be completed by Thursday, November 7. This schedule is subject to change if Mother Nature throws any more curveballs before the end of the hurricane season.

Coach Kupcik notes that the “rescheduling puzzle” gets even more complex once you take into account the remainder of the devastation outside of this. Entire livelihoods have been upended through flooding, wind, and other such carnage. It takes a deft hand by athletic directors around the state to navigate these uncertain waters.

“Some people literally lost everything,” Kupcik continued. “It is a delicate dance of being understanding, patient and supportive of those dealing with flooding, power outages and damage while planning ahead for rescheduled games and keeping what’s best for our student-athletes in the forefront. In situations like we are facing this past week or so, it takes a lot of patience, communication, cooperation, coordination and some luck to get things back on track.”

A pair of the county’s head football coaches commented on the tribulations their teams have faced on and off the field following these natural disasters. Nature Coast Head Coach Robert Kazmier’s crew has not practiced for an extended period of time and has struggled, like many others, to find fuel following Milton. The Sharks were originally scheduled to play the Dunedin Falcons on Friday, but that situation is in flux.

“Things are pretty rough [in Dunedin], obviously, so their timeline for getting back in school and on the field is still up in the air,” said Coach Kazmier. “It is a district game, though, and it needs to be played, so rescheduling it is our number one priority right now. The overall lack of practice is definitely concerning. We haven’t practiced since 10/3, which was our Thursday walk-through for Springstead. The countless weather issues have really broken this season up, so not being able to have a set routine is definitely an issue for the players. You have to trust that they are staying active and doing the right things at home to stay in shape and stay prepared mentally.”

Hernando Leopards head coach John Scargle echoed sentiments similar to those of the Sharks’ coach on the topic of practice, but he also recognized that there are countless teams suffering the same struggles as them.

“We’ve really only practiced twice in the last 10 days. It’s been tough. Some of our guys still don’t have power. Some of them are without water. They found their way here tonight, but I haven’t seen some of them since we played Pasco that last Friday way back when. It’s been a challenge for them, but I feel like every team’s got the challenge. Every team in the state of Florida is struggling right now because of all the hurricanes.”

All of the levels, from middle to high school to the FHSAA, have been working together around the clock to craft a renewed schedule. The state’s athletic directors are devoted to the players and the sport. One was even still making calls despite a lack of power and a massive, downed tree blocking them in.

Coach Kupcik acknowledged that sports are not the highest priority at the moment, but they are important for the “sense of normalcy” and “escape” that they offer the entire community in times like this. “Sports matter, so it’s important for us ADs to get the show back on the road,” said the district athletic director.