POLK COUNTY

Titan Up! – Tenoroc’s vast improvement in 2015

There was a football buzz in the City of Lakeland this past season, and for once it was not dressed in black and orange and associated with the Dreadnaughts. There was some history made, but it wasn’t surrounding Kathleen or Lake Gibson. Nope–it was created by the Tenoroc Titans.

The school played its eighth season as a program in 2015, and entering said eighth season–there wasn’t much reason to get excited. The Titans through their first seven seasons of football had compiled a 14-56 record–three of those wins by forfeit–and were coming off their third consecutive 1-win season. Head Coach Chris Davidson was entering his second season, but with quiet optimism as the Titans were in possession of some talent on their roster–just needing a few breaks.

That break started with the Titans being placed into a more-than-manageable district with teams from the Heartland of Florida and Fort Myers. The second break came with the return of some of their biggest contributors from the ’14 season–undeterred from the losing–ready to put the work and dedication in to become MUCH better at their skill-sets.

The season began just like it had ended essentially with the Titans getting blown out by Kissimmee-Liberty and Fort Meade by a combined score of 86-6. Then it happened–the Titans defeated one of their Polk County peers Frostproof and although they lost to district champions Avon Park the following week, the Titans won four consecutive games against Lake Placid, LaBelle, Gateway Charter and Mulberry.

Those four wins alone set a historical moment for the program–more on that shortly. Tenoroc then dropped a heartbreaking one-point loss to Fort Myers-Bishop Verot–a game they had won and it slipped away–barely missing the playoffs–something that would’ve been a first in the history of the program.

The Titans ended up winning their final game of the regular season 21-13 against local rivals Lake Region to finish the season at 6-4 before ending their season ultimately a week later in a bowl game loss to Clermont-East Ridge. Those six wins for the Titans gave them their most wins in school history and now Chris Davidson sits at a .500 season from being tied as all-time winningest coach–which would be twelve.

The Titans have some challenges heading into the offseason, but they’ve still got plenty of reasons to be excited for next year. They’ll have to replace their top rusher, Ledarian Gaskins–who rushed for 1,133 yards this season along with dynamic playmkaker Keyon Walters–who totaled 1,205 all-purpose yards for the purple and white. They’ll also have to replace their top tackler–LB Brendan Terkay and his 117 tackles.

The good news is they’ll have their starting QB returning–J’Torian Spates, who totaled 1,431 yards rushing and passing last season along with Class of 2018’s Chris Dias–the 6-foot, 180-pound linebacker racked up 110 tackles last season.