The Spring seasons for the Bulls and the Pirates come to a conclusion this evening up in Dade City on the campus of Pasco High School. The Pirates and Head Coach Tom McHugh finished the season at 6-4 in 2014 and missed the playoffs, but they return quite a few playmakers with a valuable year of experience under their belts. Wiregrass Ranch went 4-6 last season and the Bulls will be under the direction of Mark Cantor in his first season after Artie Meza departed during the winter break.
The Bulls will have to replace their top two wideouts along with QB Shane Bucenell that was responsible for 1,600+ yards all-purpose and 16 touchdowns. They received what could be an invaluable addition to their roster when quarterback Austin Sessums transferred from down the street at Wesley Chapel over to Wiregrass. The Bulls will use multiple QB’s however as Sessums continues to pick up the offense, which means Chris Faddoul will also have a shot at getting work with his wide receivers. The main target will probably be Taylor Bleistein who caught 29 passes for 439 yards and a touchdown last season, which was good for third-highest on the squad.
Defensively Pasco returns some beasts with a linebacker corps that features Cameron Smith (36 tackles) and Blake Castillo (43 tackles) along with playmaker Jayvaughn Myers at the DB position that posted 31 tackles from that spot as well. Pasco’s biggest disruption on defense might come from Nick Bryant at the tackle position. Bryant is a 6-foot-3, 230-pound beast with bad intentions that has enjoyed much success in his development this offseason as well.
Offensively Pasco will be featuring rising sophomore Michael Penix Jr, who was 18-for-31 with 160 yards and two touchdowns during limited action as a freshman last season. During the offseason, Penix Jr. has been tearing up the camp and combine circuit, bringing home MVP honors at the most recent E7 event in Lakeland in April. The Pirates were quite balanced in their attack last season averaging 138 yards per game on the ground and 143 yards per game through the air.
Both schools find themselves in brand new district this Fall, as Wiregrass is the lone Pasco County team located in 7A-8 with Hillsborough County foes Freedom, Plant, Gaither, Sickles, Wharton and Leto. The Pirates are in an entirely new classification inserted into one of the area’s toughest districts (6A-6) with Mitchell, Sunlake, Land O’Lakes, and Springstead.
Game time is 7:00pm.