With spring football starting in Sarasota and Manatee, here are storylines to watch for 2024

SARASOTA — For the major storyline of the 2023 high-school football season, area fans had to wait until the very last game.

In its four previous playoff contests leading up to the Class 4S state final, Venice High had outscored its opponents by an average of 51-16. This John Peacock-coached green and white was superior to the one which had lost to Lakeland in the 2022 title game. With revenge on its mind, Venice would extract it from the  Dreadnaughts in the ‘23 championship rematch.

Final score: Lakeland 60, Venice 48. The back-to-back title-tilt topplings could make one forget Venice defeating Apopka for the 2021 state crown.

How Venice responds will serve as a storyline for the 2024 prep football campaign which begins Monday with the start of spring practices. Remember, Florida allows high school football teams 20 days of practice, including playing in a game or jamboree.

Here are some of the storylines to watch as the Manatee and Sarasota County teams retake the football field.

How will Cardinal Mooney handle defending a state title?

The celebratory fireworks display at John Heath Field at Austin Smithers Stadium is but a memory. So, too, are the contributions of the 22 seniors who helped the Cardinal Mooney football team win its first state title since 1972.

Forever forward, “2023 state football champions” will precede Cardinal Mooney Catholic High School. “2023 state winning head coach” will precede Jarred Clark.

We are the champions: Cardinal Mooney uses late-game heroics to capture Class 1S state football championship

But as the former Cougars star said, basking in wins and titles and accomplishments is best left until retirement. Starting Monday, Clark will be similar to every other head coach in the area. Taking pieces to a gridiron puzzle and trying to make them fit.

“I think that every year is a separate year,” Clark said. “And every year starting out, especially in winter conditioning, you’re just trying to get as big and strong as you can. Then you head into spring and you figure out who you got and what you got and where they fit best. You want to make sure you’re good at what you do.”

Regarding the cliche that a defending champion always will get an opponent’s best performance, Clark said that’s been nothing new for the Cougars.

“I think that people are always going to give us their best game,” Clark said. “I think we’re used to that. Honestly, what other people are doing has very little effect on our program. We’re just trying to get a little bit better every day. Just win every day. We’re not talking about championships or anything like that right now. Right now, we’re focused on trying to become the best 2024 Mooney team we can possibly be.”

And that process will happen without Carson Beach, George Leibold, Teddy Foster, Ryan Sugg and others who will follow the exploits of these Cougars as alums. One player Clark is counting on to help fill the void is wide receiver RJ Mosley, a transfer from Pittsburg (Calif.) High School. Others must emerge from the group Clark will Monday onto the practice field.

“The culture of this football team is as good as it’s ever been,” Clark said. “And the love teammates have for each other and the work ethic and the accountability as far as showing up every day and working hard, it’s as high as it’s ever been.

“We want to reach our full potential. And if we do that, we think we’ll be pretty good.”

Can first-year head coach Amp Campbell turn around Sarasota?

Instead of attending football conditioning with his Sarasota teammates, a Sailors player elected to attend track and field practice.

Campbell told the player to keep running.

“I got rid of him,” the former Riverview Ram star said. “We don’t operate like that. You’re not going to do what you want to do. So, what I did was, I sent him on his way. Nobody is bigger than the program, including myself.”

Coaching switch: Sarasota hires former Riverview assistant Anthony "Amp" Campbell as its football coach

Two other Sailor players quickly realized there’s a new sheriff in town, and that he doesn’t take prisoners. They were accustomed to showing up for practice on their own schedule.  With Campbell in charge, there is only one.

“I got rid of them,” he said. “Last year, these kids came when they wanted. And they played. I’m not doing that. If you don’t show up, how can I count on you? I don’t need you. To me, if you’re not the doggone solution, what do I need the problem for?”

But to instill accountability and structure and discipline where none existed before is like watering barren soil. Time must pass before results happen.

“Honestly, it’s going to take a couple of years,” Campbell said. “They’ve had three head coaches in three years. You’ve got to get the kids to understand what you want and how you do things.

“Right now, it’s not where it needs to be. We’re going to have a lot of work to do. But these guys want it. They’ve been wanting someone to get on them. They’ve been wanting the structure. They want to be pushed, but they needed that fire lit under them.”

He’s sent several players walking, but thus far, no one has walked on Campbell.

“Like I told the kids, at the end of the day, that’s my job. My job is to make you quit.’’

How will Venice High rebound from back-to-back state title losses?

Peacock doesn’t just often think of his team’s back-to-back losses in the state title game.

“It’s something I think about every day,” he said.

Peacock-coached teams aren’t supposed to lose the final games of the season. Not once, and certainly not twice. He believes the 2022 Lakeland team was superior to his Venice team. “And I thought our kids played really well,” he said.

Not so in 2023. For the rematch, Peacock believed the scripts had been flipped. In across-the-board talent, he felt his team had the edge. But in the worst possible fashion any head coach can lose a game, Lakeland bludgeoned Venice on the ground. It was a display of dominant physicality Peacock had to address.

“That’s been my focus this offseason,” he said. “We want to build some toughness _ mental toughness, physical toughness. Just be a tougher football team. Just have some dogs out there. You know how you get tougher? You do tough things.

“(The two losses) are still going through my mind,” Peacock said. “I’m not second-guessing myself. When you have a game you’re supposed to win, you try to figure out what you’ve got to do to be able to win it.  That kind of goes through your mind. What could I have done differently to get them ready and prepared.”

And while he’d never admit it, Peacock’s chasing of titles has an individual element to it. He’d like to be included in the same discussion as Paul Maechtle and Joe Kinnan, the longtime head coaches at Southeast and Manatee, who combined for seven championships.

“Losing two consecutive state title games is really hard to swallow,” Peacock said.

Last year, he had it shoved down his throat.

Booker landed former Venice RB Jamarice Wilder

In departing Venice for Booker High, Wilder displayed the same shiftiness exhibited on the playing field.

“I can’t tell you why he left,” Peacock said. “The reason is because we never spoke about it. The last meeting we had, we were going over his goals and that was it. I haven’t heard from him since; I haven’t been able to talk to him.

Jumping ship: Venice High running back Jamarice Wilder transfers to another Sarasota County school

“It’s a big loss. He was poised to have a great year. I was thinking he was going to be Mr. Florida Football.”

At least on paper, the loss seems considerable for Venice. Of its 3,343 yards gained on the ground, Wilder accounted for a team-high 1,271. Of the team’s 58 rushing scores, Wilder had 25.

With his team’s first game still months away, Peacock isn’t fretting who will carry the ball. He has a sophomore, Dorian Jones, whom he calls “a stud.”

“We don’t have anyone proven or experienced behind him. But I’m not concerned about rushing the ball, we’re going to have a great running attack. Our offensive line is going to be better than it’s ever been.”

The decision to transfer could backfire on Wilder, who always benefited from running behind one of the state’s best offensive lines at Venice. Last season, no Tornado back ran for 900 yards.

It remains to be seen whether Wilder’s impact as a Tornado is an F5 or F1.

Can Booker build off last season’s dramatic turnaround?

What the football Tornadoes have done the last couple of years is no Littles accomplishment.

The year before current head coach Scottie Littles arrived back on the Booker campus, the football program he left years earlier as an assistant coach was in shambles.

Booker finished the 2021 season at 0-8. Players on the team numbered fewer than 30, and Booker Nation was prepared to secede from itself.

An historic run: After an historic run through the football regionals, Booker looks for more playoff success

Enter, again, Littles, who wanted to bring pride back to the Booker program. Fortified by ample transfers, Booker finished the 2021 season 6-5, winning four of its final five games. It served as a springboard for the 2023 season. The Tornadoes lost their first game of the season, then won five of their next seven. In the playoffs, Booker beat Fort Meade, Lemon Bay, and Bishop Verot, the latter victory good for the Tornadoes’ first regional title since 2005. A loss to eventual state champion Cocoa in the state semis capped a season surprising to many, save Littles himself.

By the Tornadoes winning a regional title, the bar for future Booker teams has been raised. And for this year, the addition of running back Jamarice Wilder should more than compensate for the graduation of leading rusher Ahmad Hunter.

To what degree will greatly determine the Tornadoes’ path for the 2024 season. Continuing an upward trend, or a sudden downturn.

Manatee and Sarasota County Spring Football Games

Here's a schedule of the games being played this spring by local football teams.

Thursday, May 16

Cardinal Mooney and Clewiston at St. Pete High (jamboree), 6:30

Bradenton Christian at Bayshore, 7

Sarasota at St. Pete Lakewood

Ocala Vanguard at Manatee, 7:30

Port Charlotte at Palmetto, 7:30

Parrish at Osceola

Friday, May 17

Lakewood Ranch at George Jenkins, 6:30

Southeast at Hollins High, 7

Braden River at Boca Ciega, 7:30 p.m.

Saturday, May 18

Saint Stephen’s, Sarasota Christian at ODA (jamboree), 10 a.m.

Tuesday, May 21

Naples at Venice, 7:30

Friday, May 24

Island Coast at North Port, 7 p.m.

Sarasota Riverview, Christopher Columbus at Bishop Verot, 6:30 p.m. (jamboree)

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: High school football: What are the storylines to watch for Sarasota, Manatee teams