Football:

Last season, the football team had a record of 2-6 and averaged 12.1 points per game. While it wasn’t their strongest season, this season might be different.

Head Coach Larry Gary has noticed a lot of changes in his lineup, mainly in his players’ chemistry. “The chemistry is way better. They have gotten to know each other better. Overall they have put in work,” said Gary.

Senior running back Markus Solano explained that he and his linemates are putting all their trust in each other to make this a better season. “We need to be able to finish strong,” Solano explained. “We are just focused and taking every rep in practice seriously, trusting us players, the coaches, and the scheme.”

While many faces graduated this offseason, it gave time for a new roster of players to come in. Junior Ivan Harvin was recently promoted to starting quarterback and has made it his goal to be a leader to all of the newcomers and linemates.

With young excitement entering the team, Solano knows his team is more capable than ever. “To have a great electrifying season due to our preparation and bond as a team within the players and coaching staff,” Solano stated. “I am extremely excited, I have big business to handle and ready to go all out.”

The Seahawks host the first game of the season on blue and orange territory. At 7:00pm on the 18th of August, Desoto County will battle against Cape High in the nest.

Until then, Gary is preparing the team for a rough game through multiple offseason practice sessions. “There’s always room for improvement. We’re just like, we just got to improve the little things,” Gary explained. “The mental things, like no foolish penalties, turnovers, big plays.”

Bowling:

After having their best season yet, the bowling team is ready to get back into the alley this fall. Girls bowling coach Anthony Foster explained that not a lot has changed face-wise but the team has improved, stating, “The team from last year is all coming back. We are more experienced this year.”

If any girls are interested in joining the girls bowling team as the team is in need of more girls, see Coach Foster in room 242D in the media center.

Bowler Haurna Mescallado, who’s been playing ever since they were a freshman, stated that she is extremely ecstatic and ready to play this season. 

“Very excited, last year, I think our team did really great and I feel like this season will be even better,” Mescallado explained. “I feel like this year we will be capable of going to states. I believe that we’re already rather strong and can improve even more this season.”

The boys bowling team made it all the way to the final four at states. While the girls didn’t make it as far as the boys, they’re ready to make a deep run in districts and hopefully states.

“We know that we have a strong team as we were one win away from making it to state last season,” said Foster. “The focus this year will be becoming more consistent with our strike ball and we have to be spare-making machines. Spare making will be key to our success.”

Like Foster, Menscallado knows that the team will need a bit of improvement when it comes to hitting pins accurately. “I think we could use more work in picking up spares and keeping our cool,” said Menscallado. “I don’t think we’re bad in those aspects, but they’re important skills that we could still do better on.”

Cross Country:

After finishing extremely high in standings and competing in states, the cross country team is looking for an even better season.

Head coach of the girls cross country team Robert Berkey knows what this team is capable of even with a handful of graduated runners leaving the team.

“We graduated a handful of our top boys so you know that’s going to be an adjustment but we still have a pretty deep boys team,” Berkey explained. “So we’re looking for another successful season, probably not as high as we were last year. Our goal is to make state championships. For the girls’ side, we graduated one senior but that’s largely the same team.”

With runners graduating, there is more space for the current runners to grow. As a result, there is a lot of excitement on both boys and girls teams. 

“I’m very excited to go into this season knowing that last season was such a big success and now we’re feeding off last year’s success and bringing it onto this season,” said Jacoby. “We’re still good as we kept a strong core in the team and we all rise to the seniors that left.”

Even though the team is looking better than ever, there is always still room for improvement. One of the main points of interest is entering what Berkey calls ‘Race Mode.’

“I think the biggest thing would just be kind of getting in their mentality zone,” Berkey explained. “So coming off the summer, which was just a lot of easy running or whatever. So they just gotta feel it a little bit more. I think once we kind of get into race mode, it’ll naturally come as it should.”

Berkey already knows this team is destined for success. “I think both sides can make states for sure and we can definitely be kind of at the top of the district or near the top and if we can get to regionals, then we should be okay.”

Golf:

With former coach Alan Gurgal stepping aside from coaching this year, Thomas Pound will take over his position. For pound, he is returning to the head coach position for the first time since 2004.

“I have decades of experience, but my focus has been on other educational efforts, so it seems a little weird to be back as a head coach,” Pound explained. “I am a nationally licensed soccer coach. I have also coached football and basketball.”

Even though education is his main priority, this doesn’t stop him from being the best coach possible. “The focus here is to help these kids to work on their problem solving skills through golf, this will help them prepare for adult life,” Pound stated.

Girls head coach Joelle Frantz is hopeful of the possibility of getting new golfers to join along with the team captain, Isabella Lauzon. “This year we are hoping to have some new players join our returning captain, Isabella Lauzon, has a lot of experience and knowledge she will be able to pass on to our newcomers,” said Frantz.

Both teams weren’t able to practice a lot due to the hurricane and every place being shut down. “They [the team] missed a lot of practice time and rushed a few matches to get them in before the playoff starts,” Frantz explained. “Hopefully this year we will be able to practice more constantly on the range and course.”

Pound, an experienced golfer himself, once held a national record in golf. “At one time, I held the Alabama state record for being the youngest golfer to hit a hole-in-one,” Pound said.

With the combination of Pound and Frantz, the golf teams will be one threat to any opponents they come across.

Volleyball:

After finishing the season with a 5-14 record, the volleyball team was looking for a quick way to get back in the standings. Head coach John Gardener, who is entering his fourth year with Cape Coral High, is planning on changing the lineup to best improve the team’s weakness.

“Last year we were more of an offense driven team, this year we will be more focused on defense and capitalizing on the other team’s mistakes,” said Gardener.

Gardener knows that this won’t be the only solution, he’ll have to work throughout the season to make this team perfect. “Early on, and throughout the season, serve receive will be crucial to our success. We also need to work on eliminating mental mistakes,” Gardener explained. “Physical mistakes will happen, but we need to be focused on every point and know our situations and roles.”

Junior Kiera Williams explained these past two months have been filled with practice and training, stating, “As a team, we really took conditioning seriously this summer which is already paying off.” 

“Team-wise I think we can improve on our chemistry on the court. Some girls on the team this year have never played together before so we need to work on building relationships off the court to improve our mental game and strengthen ourselves as a team.”

To strengthen the team before their home opener against Ida Baker High, Gardener has been making sure the girls have awareness of what’s going on around them during the game. “In the next few practices leading up to Monday’s match, we will be focusing on tightening up our serve receive, taking advantage of free balls and situational awareness,” Gardener stated.

With all this practice, Williams senses that the team might make it far this year. “I think we have the potential to go far and do well come districts but we will need to put a lot of work in on the court developing our skills which we are fully prepared and motivated to do,” said Williams.

With Williams being a junior, she knows that her time on the team is ending soon and is trying to make the most out of it. “My personal goals are to honestly just enjoy it,” Williams stated. 

“It’s my junior season so I am already on the last bit of my volleyball career and I absolutely do not want to take it for granted. Working hard and enjoying the sport I’ve loved for so many years is the most important thing to me this season.”