Plight of Glades Day football: Glory days becoming distant memory for struggling Gators

No one knows Glades Day School football history better than Zach Threlkeld.

"I was a part of the special years when we were competing for state championships," said Threlkeld, who played for the Gators in the mid-1990s and is now their head coach.

For years, Glades Day was a small-school powerhouse. Seven state championship banners, spanning three decades, hang in the gym — the most of any school in Palm Beach County.

But the last of those came in 2010, when All-American running back Kelvin Taylor was piling up yardage during his five-year career. Over the past decade, the Gators' won-lost record has plummeted, and their few state playoff appearances have resulted in early exits.

Glades Day's struggles might have reached new depths Friday night in a 45-0 loss to Somerset Academy-Canyons in Boynton Beach. The Gators managed only one first down. They were shredded through the air by Cougars quarterback Jayden Harrington and on the ground by running back Tristian Johnson. With quarterback Marquis Clarke sidelined by a leg injury, they had no passing game, snapping the ball to running backs on every play.

"Don't hang your head," Threlkeld told his players after the game.

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Glades Day's current plight was evident by a look at each sideline. The Gators (0-2) had only about 30 healthy players, with some having to play both ways. The Cougars (2-0) had about twice as many players and were simply bigger, faster, stronger and deeper.

On the first play from scrimmage, Harrington threw a 69-yard touchdown pass to Tayegan Briskey. On Glades Day's first series, a bad snap resulted in a safety, making it 9-0 less than 2½ minutes into the game.

"We got in a hole way too early," Threlkeld said.

Harrington added touchdown passes of 32 yards to Lasso Kamara and 49 yards to Joshua Hibbert. He finished 12-of-17 for 286 yards. Johnson carried 13 times for 140 yards and three touchdowns.

Threlkeld never experienced a game like that during his playing days. In 1995, he was the JV quarterback, then was brought up to the varsity and was "along for the ride" for the Gators' run to the state Class 2A title. The following year, he was the starting quarterback on a team that made it back to the state final before losing.

He blames the Gators' drop-off on several factors. The talent pipeline that enriched Glades schools for years — incredibly, Glades Central, Pahokee and Glades Day all won state titles in 2006 — hasn't flowed as freely. Economic hardships forced some families to move away and "COVID might have had a little bit to do with it," Threlkeld said.

And then there's the high school version of the transfer portal. With players now allowed to change schools freely, some Glades stars have taken their talents elsewhere.

Wide receiver Hardley Gilmore and running back Jennoris Wilcher, two of Pahokee's best players, started their careers at Glades Day. Jyron Hughley, a versatile athlete who was the Gators' starting quarterback as a freshman last year, is now playing for Cardinal Newman.

"It's a sign of the times, unfortunately," Threlkeld said. "It's a generational thing, and I think social media has a lot to do with it. Loyalty is just not much of a priority anymore.

"There's nothing you can really do about it. It's legal. All I can do is run a program I can believe in, stay true to myself, and hope that's enough for kids to stay at Glades Day."

There is some hope for the Gators. Somerset appears to be the toughest opponent on the schedule. Clarke, who was injured in the preseason victory over Palm Beach Christian, is due to return next week against Jupiter Christian. Threlkeld has a solid core of two-way players: WR/CB Wyatt Vallee, RB/LB Demeterius Willis, OL/DL Julian Ramos, TE/LB Jadyn Herrera and freshman RB/S DaCoby Wooten.

Threlkeld also has one of the county's most experienced coaching staffs. Three are former head coaches and two have won state titles (Willie Bueno at Glades Central and American Heritage-Delray, Blaze Thompson at Pahokee). Eric Pitts, who preceded Threlkeld as Glades Day's head coach, was an assistant on state championship teams in 2006, 2009 and 2010.

But there won't be another FHSAA title banner anytime soon. One year after a massive reclassification that split schools into metro and suburban divisions, Threlkeld made the decision to leave the FHSAA and join the Sunshine State Athletic Association, a group of independent programs.

Because the school is in Palm Beach County, the FHSAA placed it in the metro division in 2022, even though "we're about as rural as it gets," Threlkeld said. The Gators would have been forced to play in Class 1M, in the same district as Cardinal Newman and Benjamin, "teams that we can't be competitive with."

For one season, Threlkeld opted for Class 1R, a special classification for rural schools based on population and economic factors. But GDS still was much smaller than its regional rivals and failed to make the playoffs after finishing 2-7. That prompted the move to the SSAA.

"I made a decision about what's best for the program," Threlkeld said. "We can still have a postseason. The kids know they're still playing for something."

In the independent league, which includes other county schools including Jupiter Christian and Boca Raton Christian, teams play eight-game schedules and then go right into playoffs.

Leaving the FHSAA "hasn't changed my approach one bit," Threlkeld said. "The transition has been real smooth. Our goal is to win the SSAA state championship."     

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Why Glades Day football has been battered by challenges of modern game