- April 19, 2024
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What can your football team accomplish in 20 spring practice days—nearly three months before Game No. 1 of the upcoming season? According to the Flagler County high school football coaches, they can accomplish a lot, and for good reason.
Matanzas head coach Robert Ripley and FPC’s Tommy Moody has taken advantage of their allotted 20 days of spring to get a look at their teams. When asked the benefits to spring ball, there was a consensus for these top reasons to get out on the field early.
Ripley: It’s a great chance for you as a coach to get out there and tinker with your product. You get to experiment with formations and plays, try to find your next year’s roster and see what works best for you.”
Moody: You spend so much time in offseason training, so to be able to see where you are and reach certain benchmarks as a team does well
for you. Football is not a sport where you play year-round, so, you have spring to see where you’re at.”
Ripley: “Because we are playing football the same time they are, some kids go unnoticed. With spring football you are able to expose coaches to a ton of kids.
Moody: “They get a few days with us, but it’s noncontact. And, this is one of the reasons we’re losing; we don’t have middle school football. If you want to compete with the rest of the state, we need middle school football."
Ripley: “We had them on Tuesdays and Thursdays in the spring to get them a chance to get in the weight room and perform on the grass. It's always beneficial for them. They got a chance to be around us and realize that football is something we take seriously.”
FPC will play Seabreeze at 7 p.m. on Thursday, May 19, at FPC, and Matanzas will play 2A defending state champion University Christian (Jax) at 7 p.m. Friday, May 20, in Jacksonville.
