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Flanked by his mother, Marie Therese Val, and former coach Jerry Hughes, Key West High football player Roberto Val signs a letter of intent to attend Georgia Military College. In back are trainer Richard Fuentes and Dr. Robert Loeffler.
Roberto Val, a four-year starting defensive end on the Key West High School football team, has been awarded a scholarship to play at George Military College, a junior college in Milledgeville, Ga.
Posted: Wednesday, May 15, 2013 11:00 AM EDT
Spring football practice at Coral Shores and other Florida Keys high schools took on new intensity Monday with the first day of full-contact drills. The three-week spring session ends May 23 with a jamboree at Marathon High School. Keynoter photo by KEVIN WADLOW
Coral Shores football coaches mean it when they tell their Hurricane players that starting spots are open for the taking.
"Our main priority this spring is to establish our identity as a football team," said third-year head coach Ed Holly, watching the Canes hit during Monday's first spring day of contact practice.
Posted: Wednesday, May 08, 2013 11:01 AM EDT
Repair work is underway on the bleachers at Tommy Roberts Memorial Stadium. Photo by BERT BUDDE
A dinosaur looming over Kennedy Drive's savage traffic, Tommy Roberts Memorial Stadium -- named for one of the most popular coaches and educators in Key West High School history -- is showing its age.
Home to the Conchs football team, boys and girls soccer teams -- and commencement ceremonies -- the stadium, which seats about 3,000, was built in 1955 and, in the past decade, most notably since 2005's Hurricane Wilma, has been in steady decline.
Supports and fasteners for the aluminum bleachers are corroded, the lights are sub-standard, the dressing rooms are mold-infested, the lightning-susceptible scoreboard is in a continual state of partial malfunction -- and the field, which sat under saltwater after the hurricane, has a patchiness and unevenness that a fresh mowing can't hide.
"It is definitely outdated from too much wear and tear, and needs a face-lift," said Ralph Henriquez, the former Conch baseball coach and athletic director who knows the facility as well as anyone. He recalled, "When I was 6 or 7 my dad took me to football games there. There were bleachers on both sides then, so there would be 4,000 people. It was amazing."
Face-lifts, though, are costly, and the Monroe County School District is financially strapped. This month, however, repairs are being done on the bleachers, giving them a temporary missing-teeth look. The work needs to be completed in time for the spring football game May 24.
"Bit by bit it's getting fixed up," Jeff Barrow, the district's assistant director for facilities and construction, said of the stadium, adding that a "large renovation" is planned for 2017-18.
"As important as high school sports are to the community, you don't want to spend all your money on athletics -- it's a careful balance," Barrow said. He added that safety issues at the stadium, such as the condition of the bleachers and locker rooms, are paramount, and improved lights are more of a "preference-type issue."
The stadium, which has a red and gray motif, holds two locker rooms, two restrooms (in good condition), two concession stands, two ticket booths, a press box and a Gatorade machine. Its football field is also the outfield for the adjoining Rex Weech baseball field, which borders Glynn R. Archer Jr. Drive.
"The locker rooms have been uninhabitable since Wilma," said girls soccer coach Scott Paul. "I won't take my girls in there." (The Conchs and visiting football teams, however, use them.)
"They are so antiquated," agreed former Conch and New York Mets pitcher Randy Sterling, the recreation manager for the city's Department of Community Services. "They're the same as they were when I graduated [in 1969]."
In April 1988, the stadium was named for an inspiring Conch football player, coach and principal shortly after he died, at 42, of a heart attack suffered following a day of painting chairs for the school auditorium. A plaque bearing Tommy Roberts' likeness sits atop a stone monument at the stadium's entrance, so worn as to be barely readable.
Judd Wise, who has been a Conch athlete, coach and athletic director, paused for a moment when asked about a stadium he's been familiar with for 30 of its 58 years.
"Maybe it's best to knock it down and start from scratch," he said. "Unfortunately, the school district is in a financial bind. It's a tough situation."
Posted: Saturday, May 11, 2013 11:01 AM EDT
Pads and helmets were the order of the day as the Marathon High School spring football squad began practice this week. Keynoter photo by RYAN McCARTHY
Spring practice couldn't have come any sooner for the Marathon High School football team.
The Dolphins would surely love to erase the memory of a 1-9 2013 season as quickly as possible, and their young roster will benefit from another month on the field.
"The first few days is just going over the basics. There's a number of new kids that need to learn the basics of football and don't have the background," coach Lance Martin said.
Posted: Wednesday, May 08, 2013 11:01 AM EDT
Coral Shores boys' basketball Hurricanes return to the court this winter to face three reigning district champions on their regular-season schedule - and all three now play with the Canes inside District 16-4A.
Posted: Saturday, May 11, 2013 11:01 AM EDT
Quarterback hopefuls Trevor Pike (15) and Andrew Freeman (4) throw passes during a drill Monday at Key West High's spring practice. Photo by BERT BUDDE
Spring football practice is under way at Key West High School, and the hunt is on for a quarterback.
Senior Donald Roberts was at that position last season, helping lead the Conchs to a 6-4 record under first-year coach Johnny Hughes. His backup, Juwan Brown, also got experience running the triple-option office Hughes had installed.
Roberts, of course, is no longer in the picture, and neither is Brown, who moved to Jacksonville.
As the Conchs practiced Monday for the first time in pads, there were two, perhaps three, quarterback candidates.
The main two appear to be Andrew Freeman, a fixture on the baseball team, and Trevor Pike, a fixture on the golf team.
Freeman was listed as a sophomore quarterback on last season's roster, but didn't play because of shoulder surgery. "The terminology [of the triple option] is familiar to him, but he has no experience with the footwork," Hughes said.
Both Freeman and Pike, who is new to the team, throw the ball well, Hughes said.
The third candidate is Tyler Thurston, who, Hughes said, recently returned to Key West.
Whoever wins the quarterback job will operate behind experienced blockers. "The entire offensive line and the reserves are back," Hughes said, adding, though, that there is a chance that junior-to-be Caleb Holley may leave Key West with his family.
In addition to the linemen, the Conchs have a myriad of other players returning, all of whom made major contributions last fall. Among them is running back Deonte Stemage, a scoring threat from anywhere on the field. Dorian Cannon and Laurence Marius are also breakaway threats in the backfield, and another hard runner is sophomore-to-be Mehki Sargent
Linebacker Jack Gruba, who had four interceptions last season, is back, as are defensive backs Daniel Thompson and Jeffery Anilus.
Key West, which had about 40 players at practice Monday, will play its spring game at 7 p.m. May 24 against Fort Pierce Westwood at Tommy Roberts Memorial Stadium. The game could be played at the high school if work on the stadium's bleachers is not completed.
Posted - Wednesday, May 08, 2013 11:27 AM EDT
Anton Lopez, who coached the Key West High boys basketball team the last two seasons -- the first a sensational one, the second a tumultuous one -- will not coach a third one. "Anton will not be rehired for the coming season," athletic director Neda Preston wrote without elaboration in an e-mail Thursday. Later Thursday, Lopez said, "I'm just very upset with the decision. I think it was a personal thing." The move results in a third coaching vacancy at the school -- a softball coach and a boys soccer coach are also needed. In 2011, Lopez took over a long-struggling program -- the Conchs were 58-80 in the previous six years under Paul Davis -- and coached Key West to a 16-1 season, the only loss coming in the regional semifinals. That team was the school's best in a decade and attracted big crowds to the Bobby Menendez Gym. With returning stars Anthony Rice and Je'Quan Lopez (the coach's son), hopes were high again last summer -- until Sept. 12, when the two players were charged with stealing electronics from marching-band members. Both were suspended until January, when they were reinstated by schools superintendent Mark Porter. The 6-foot-5 Rice, a junior, then led the Conchs to four victories before being suspended again. Lopez, who was arrested in a domestic altercation shortly after being reinstated, never played in his senior season. The Conchs, who defeated state champion Pinecrest late in the season, made the playoffs again but fell, 90-49, to Ransom Everglades in the regional quarterfinals. They finished the 2012-13 season 10-10 to give Anton Lopez a two-year record of 26-11.
Posted - Saturday, May 11, 2013 11:01 AM EDT
The Florida Keys Soccer Club's annual meeting will be held at 6 p.m. May 15 at St. James Episcopal Church, mile marker 87.5, bayside, Islamorada.
Posted - Wednesday, May 08, 2013 09:44 AM EDT
Anglers can compete for more than $35,000 in cash and prizes during the Original Big Pine and Lower Keys Dolphin Tournament, now in its 20th year.
Posted - Saturday, May 11, 2013 11:01 AM EDT
In recent seasons, the Key West High School football team has been in a three-team district with Miami powers Norland and Jackson, who have blocked the Conchs' path to the state playoffs. That will change in the fall, but not necessarily to the Conchs' advantage. "It doesn't get any easier," said coach Johnny Hughes. The Conchs won't have to worry about Norland anymore, but Jackson will still be in their new district (16-5A), as will American Heritage Plantation and Cardinal Gibbons, both of whom are expected to be formidable in the 2013 season. Most Key West teams will be looking at some new opponents in 2013-14 because of district revamping by the Florida High School Athletic Association. Here's a sport-by-sport look: * Baseball -- District 16-4A will remain the same with the Conchs, Coral Shores, St. Brendan and Gulliver Prep. * Basketball -- Boys teams from Florida Christian, Keys Gate Charter and Ransom Everglades will join the Conchs, Coral Shores, Gulliver Prep and St. Brendan in 16-4A. The Key West girls team will be in 16-4A with Gulliver and St. Brendan, along with newcomers Keys Gate, Ransom Everglades, Florida Christian and Miami Carrollton. * Soccer -- Both Conch teams will no longer have to deal with powerhouses American Heritage, Pembroke Pines Charter and Archbishop McCarthy in 16-3A. The girls team will be in a group with Doral Academy Hialeah-Miami Lakes, Miami Jackson and Miami Northwestern; the Conch boys will face those teams and also Miami Norland. * Volleyball -- Miami Carrollton, Florida Christian, Keys Gate and Ransom will join the Conchs, Coral Shores, Gulliver Prep and St. Brendan in 16-4A. * Cross-country -- Key West will be in 16-2A with Coral Shores, Carrollton, Gulliver, La Salle, Jackson, Monsignor Pace, Ransom Everglades, St. Brendan and Washington. * Track -- The Conchs' 16-2A rivals will be Archbishop Carroll, Carrollton, Coral Shores, Gulliver, Ransom and St. Brendan.
Posted - Wednesday, May 08, 2013 11:30 AM EDT
