December 18, 2023 • 36 mins
Football season is over, and that means the return of the Keys Weekly Sports Wrap Podcast. This weekly show is the perfect call for any Florida Keys high school sports fan. Join hosts Sean and Tracy McDonald as they take you up and down the Florida Keys and discuss the Conchs, Dolphins Hurricanes athletic teams. This podcast will go deep into the inner happenings of Monroe County Prep Sports. Join us, and use this podcast as a companion piece to the print edition of the Keys Weekly Sports Wrap.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome everybody to the second podcast for the Keys Weekly
Sports rap with Sean and Tracy mcdonald, your companion piece
to go with the Keys weekly newspaper and in particular,
the Keys weekly sports wrap.
So, welcome back, everybody. We got a lot of great
feedback on our first podcast. That was the companion piece
(00:20):
for last week's Keys weekly. If you guys want to
check that out, you'll be able to do that on
the website. Thank you guys so much for listening and
we're very excited to let you know what's going on
in the Monroe County prep, prep world today. So
this should be coming out on Thursday. Hopefully, you have
your Keys weekly and you're checking out the Keys weekly
(00:42):
sports wrap, the person behind it. Really the big push
behind it, making the pictures, making the stories or some
of the pictures is my wife, Tracy. How are you today? I'm,
I'm doing great.
So, was it a great week last week in Monroe
County prep sports or what?
Speaker 2 (00:59):
It, it definitely was. Um, we saw, we saw some
action in almost everything and, um, you know, wrestling's opened up,
we've got girls weightlifting, basketball soccer and there were just
so many games last week and a ton this week
and it's just kind of amping up right before the
holiday break when everybody takes a rest, maybe there's a
game or two. But for the most part it winds down.
(01:21):
So it's, it's a crazy time right now.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
Everything always goes in cycles and I was joking around
with the marathon high school athletic director, you know, just
a couple weeks ago
about how this is like a really quiet time and
it's a lull because you have that moment in time
where fall sports are ending and really winter sports are
just practicing. They're not having games. But let me tell
you something, everybody that time period's over and everything's in
(01:46):
full swing starting first with one of our newest sports
in Monroe County, relatively new and it's a winter sport
and that's girls weightlifting last week, marathon.
Uh, Crow Shores, they got together on December 6th for
an in county weightlifting meet and that marked six weeks
(02:07):
from district competition. What's the importance of that?
Speaker 2 (02:10):
Well, this district competition
is where we will kind of weed out the, the
top one to people in each weight class. And, you know,
right now in some, some weight classes, there are six
or seven girls from the same school competing. So as,
as everybody kind of scrambles to adjust their form
(02:31):
and lift a little bit heavier, um, they're all trying
to culminate. Right. There at districts and regionals and get
that coveted spot at the state championships. So,
Speaker 1 (02:39):
as much as you're talking about, I know there is a,
this is a team sport in some, to some extent,
they keep a team score who's, who's beating who. But
in reality, this is an individual sport.
And if you're in the £129 weight class, you're competing
against the other schools, but you're also competing against your teammates.
And last week,
(03:01):
uh Mi Ross from Marathon and Justice Lee, they led
the pack in the Sinclair algorithm and total lift respectively. Now,
if you listened last week, we talked about the Sinclair
algorithm and it's basically a way to figure out pound
for pound who the best weightlifter is. And when you
talk about total lifts, that's the actual poundage ross who
(03:22):
participates in the £129 class won both the traditional and
Olympic events as well. And she had the highest overall
Sinclair score.
Justice Lee had the highest totals in all three lifts
last Wednesday and she was the top at the £183
weight class in both traditional and Olympic. Currently Justice is
(03:42):
benching 100 and £60 which she also matched in the
clean and jerk.
Um Also for marathon Sierra event, Sierra Earnhardt who competes
in the £119 category was third using the Sinclair algorithm.
Um Coral Shores had a trio of double winners and
Rachel Rush at £110. Grace Patterson at 169 and Sidney
(04:05):
Eisenbach in the unlimited class. So,
weightlifting off to a great start. You know, we have
a tremendous tradition here in Monroe County, which is, you know,
like I talked about the top the sport. The sport
has not been around that long, but we actually have
state champions in Monroe County. Um We're very excited for
(04:27):
this season to move and to see what's gonna happen. Um,
what are you looking forward to most in girls? Weightlifting? Tracy,
Speaker 2 (04:36):
I, I would love to see one of the schools
pick up a district championship this year. Um, I mean,
that you talk about how they, they do work together
as a team and they compete against one another. In reality,
they're 100% competing against themselves. It's not like in basketball,
you can pick two people off in a one on
one and, and they'll put the moves on and, you know,
someone will come out on top but in weightlifting, I,
(04:57):
I mean, they, they take their turns and it's, it's
kind of like a, a nice,
a nice atmosphere where they co-operate with one another and
they help one another and they boost one another and
they cheer for each other. They, I mean, it's, it's
a small county and everyone knows one another and it's,
it's a great little atmosphere. I would love to see
all three teams go far. I'd like to see, I'd
(05:18):
like to see a lot of, of athletes bringing home
medals from the States this year. II, a lot of
kids went last year and if, you know,
we increase every year, 123 people, then we could really
be a powerhouse in, in weightlifting, in Monroe County. And
all three schools have very talented, very strong athletes. So
everybody has the option or the ability to send someone.
(05:38):
It's just going to be a matter of who has
their best lives, who peaks at districts, regionals, you know, who,
who outlives who on those days. So it, it's gonna
be interesting.
Speaker 1 (05:48):
Well, as we come down the line and we're looking
at districts Marathon and Coral Shores are in the FHSA
A one A classification which is for all the smaller
schools while Key West with a larger student population, however,
is still in two A which is still a smaller division.
You know, because when you really
leave the keys, a lot of the schools in all
(06:09):
over the state of Florida, 34, 5000 students. So we're
all pretty small schools down here. Now, postseason competition begins
on January 27th at Doctors Charter High school for the
district meet. That's for Cruel Shores and Marathon. Key West
district meet is set for January 25th. So good luck
(06:29):
to them.
Hopefully everybody keeps on working. You know, the world's most
popular sport is soccer, A K A football and we
have that going on in Monroe County right now. We
have boys soccer going on. We have girls soccer going
on at the same time. So with that in mind,
we're sort of going to break down what's happening in
(06:50):
the soccer world here in Monroe County. Um, starting out marathon,
the marathon Lady Fins. They took on Westwood Christian last
December 7th. The Warriors got the upper hand. They had
a 2 to 1 win. There's gonna be paper, there's
gonna be pictures of that in this week's paper. Check
those pictures out. They're really fantastic.
(07:13):
As far as the marathon boys go. They currently lead
the county. I mean, we're gonna, we're gonna change the
record now based on last night. Right.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
Well, it changes every night. I mean, as far as
the paper goes, when it comes out at that point,
you know, marathons girls were struggling, they hadn't picked up
a win yet. They did get that win last night
against downtown Doral. So that was very, it was a
big motivation for them and I, I feel like they
have a little bit more confidence now and, and they
know how to, to win some games now and then
the boys, they had, they had
(07:42):
the opposite luck last night. So that's going to change
a little bit. But, you know, right now they do
have the best record in the county and I, I
believe even with that loss, they still will.
Speaker 1 (07:51):
So, you're getting all your news first here. I'm telling
you right now. We're, we're, we're recording this on Tuesday, uh,
on Monday night marathon played against downtown Doral, one of
the most talented soccer teams in the state of Florida.
And unfortunately, the marathon Dolphins took the laws. So the
marathon boys soccer team does lead the county.
(08:11):
Uh, but instead of a 31 and one record, it
is now a 32 and two record. But prior to
that December 7th, they beat Westwood 8 to 0. They
had a lot of goals. I mean, eight goals in
a game is a ton. You had, uh Jaden Rosetti,
Jay Marshall, Joshua Gomez all had goals. Oscar Cardona also
(08:34):
had a goal.
Um
Speaker 2 (08:35):
Oscar had five goals in that game, what he had five,
so he had a hat trick and then he picked up,
I know what you go. I don't know if there's
a term
Speaker 1 (08:44):
for that. I don't know if that happens too often.
Five goals in one game. Where's coach wise? I don't
know if that is a possible Monroe County record. He
could tell us,
uh marathon girls. They did lose a pair last week.
December 7th against Westwood, uh Rain Banks. She had a
goal in the game and wasn't she the leading scorer
(09:04):
in her district last year? Yeah.
Speaker 2 (09:06):
Rain had, she tied for the most goal scored, but
she won most points because of the massive amount of
assists that she had picked up. So she's kind of
picking up steam now and, and I,
I'd like to see rain her, she's been on that
team since she was 1/6 grader. She was on varsity.
This is her sixth year on varsity now, or seventh
rather so, seven years on varsity. It's such a crazy
amount of time. Um, she's tiny. She's mighty and she's,
(09:29):
she's kind of starting to really find her stride this
season just came off of cross country. So, you know,
sometimes you gotta shake the rust off and I think
she's doing that.
Speaker 1 (09:39):
Well, the Lady Conks, Key West High School Conks were
able to beat Coral Shores December 8th by the same
one goal margin as their previous match up. It was
a 32 victory.
Um Maddie Kilduff, Maria Cheney and Ella Baxter all had
goals for the Lady Conks and longtime girls soccer coach,
(09:59):
Scott Paul at Key West High School has come back, uh,
a year or two ago and he's working very hard
to put that Key West girls soccer team. I guess
you would almost say where the softball team is right
now as a state contender. Uh, what are your thoughts
on Key
Us high school girls?
Speaker 2 (10:16):
I, the key s girls in multiple sports are, are
just really, really solid. The soccer team, they have everybody
that they absolutely need to, to be a phenomenal team.
They have a tough schedule though. You know, they're, they're
seeing a lot of action against big schools. But they,
they really have all the, all the players, all the skills,
everything they need to go far and, you know, like
(10:40):
a win here and there during the regular season, it
doesn't matter as much as, as when they hit those
district matches in a couple months. And hopefully they peak
at the right time.
Speaker 1 (10:51):
The Lady Kong's currently, as of press time are 33
and one and they have two more games before the
holiday break, including a home game against Marathon on December 19th. Now,
this season marks the first in nearly three years in
which all three girls teams played one another. Making a
true Keys champion possible this season. So, you know,
(11:14):
I can speak for Trac Z and myself where we
are sort of old school purists. We love this idea
of all the key schools playing each other and everything.
And that used to be a mainstay here for a
long time with all the soccer teams, all the boys
teams playing each other. And what we mean is Coral
Shores playing Key West playing Marathon,
(11:35):
you know, marathon playing all the high schools, Key West
playing all the high schools. So you can come up
with that Keys champion every year. And it's great to
see all the girls teams doing it. Huh?
Speaker 2 (11:45):
I, I love it. And, you know, right now Key
West is up too. They've got the, they've got both wins.
Over Coral Shores. Key West and Marathon have not played marathon.
And Coral Shores have, uh, you know, Coral Shores has
the upper hand there.
One win. So marathon, Coral Shores will play again one time.
Key West and Marathon will play two times and then we'll,
we'll have a good idea of who that champ is. I,
(12:08):
it might be too early to call, but I'm gonna
put this one on Key West.
Speaker 1 (12:12):
Yes. Ok. Well, we'll see. Key West boys are hoping
to find their first win after a loss to Mast
Academy on December 7th.
The Conks lost five nothing on the road against the
Sharks in the district matchup. Key West schedule gets a
little bit less challenging midea with some key matches in
the coming weeks, including again the same day as the
(12:33):
girls Marathon is going down to Key West Tuesday, December
19th for the big matchup against Key West. So the
boys will be playing, the girls will be playing.
Speaker 2 (12:43):
That's
where Marathons, obviously the underdog in that match and Key
West has a whole lot of talent. They've got, I mean,
Lubins Florida, he's just, he's a goal scoring machine. They've got,
they've got a heck of a goalie. They've got so
many good players, but then Marathon, I mean, we've got
Oscar Cardona up here who he's scoring five goals in
a match. We've got some younger guys and a great goalie.
(13:03):
So any, any given day, you know, Marathon could
pull out the, the upset victory there. So hopefully they,
they come to play and Key West has a great
game and, and everybody can get down there on the
19th and, and watch that match because it should be
a really good soccer match.
Speaker 1 (13:19):
And you might be saying, what are you talking about?
You opened up this segment with marathon high school boys
have the best record in the county as far as
soccer teams go. And then you just said Key West
boys are
hoping to find their first win. But we are also
talking about school size and classification. Key West high School
is a much larger school than Marathon and Coral Shores.
(13:40):
So they're placed in a higher classification and they're playing
against um basically tougher opponents to be honest. So sometimes
it's hard to compare the scores when you compare a
marathon
to a Key West or a Key West to a
Coral Shores because until we're playing each other, everybody's playing
(14:01):
different levels of teams. So it's very hard to handicap
who's going to beat who? Because many times you do
not have too many shared
Speaker 2 (14:10):
opponents. No. And then people out there might not understand
just what the school sizes are. I believe Key West
is at, at 1300
students now give or take a few Coral Shores is
at uh mid seven hundreds, I believe and marathon is
at about 700. But marathon student body includes sixth grade
through 12th grade. So if you're talking about nine through
12 marathons, really 400 kids. So marathon is, is about
(14:32):
half the size of Coral Shores, which is about half
the size of Key West. So I if that puts
it into perspective for anybody out there.
Speaker 1 (14:39):
Thank you.
Also, Cho's Lady Hurricanes won big on December 5th in
a home match against Monsignor Pace High School. Croshaw scored
six wins. Kai Roo had a part in all of
them scoring three unassisted then providing the helpers for Sammy
Bates Grace Goodwin and Delaney Donnelly
goalkeepers Sophie Stevenson registered four saves to preserve the shutout
(15:03):
for the Hurricanes. Big win for the Lady Hurricanes. How
are they doing this
Speaker 2 (15:07):
year? They're, they're having a great year. I mean, they,
they probably were the big underdog against Key West as
well and each time they played them lost by just one,
they came up here and uh marathon gave them a,
a game. But then, you know, Coral Short opened up
halfway through the first
half and then didn't let up. So they have, they
have some great athletes up there and I feel like
they could go far too. They haven't played, I guess
(15:30):
they played maybe two district matches, marathon and key skate. So,
you know, the district just like with, with any sport
that we're, we're going to go, you know, talk about
the districting is difficult because we don't have the ability to,
um, to recruit and you want to talk a little
bit about that or
Speaker 1 (15:48):
explain. Yeah, I'll be more than happy to, it's a
whole different world. Long time. Keys people listening to this
podcast or if you grew up here,
you know, we have a couple of things on our
side as far as, as not being able to recruit,
you know, our schools are so spaced out. If somebody
is going to marathon, it's gonna be very difficult for
(16:09):
them to go to Key West High School or Coral Shores. Now,
once you go to South Florida, it is a whole
different type of world where schools are constantly trying to
lure athletes from one school to another, starting as young
as elementary or middle school
and students are constantly changing schools and, and it allows
(16:32):
smaller schools to have really, really strong teams or even,
you know, larger schools also if that's something that they
deem important. So, you know, you see a school like Shaman,
a Madonna in football, they're literally just beat, they won
the state championship like 59 to nothing
and they're in the one, a division, one of the
(16:54):
smaller divisions, but they have one of the best high
school football teams in the country because they actively recruit
and this is something that is legal. Now, now, whether
I like it or not is something completely different, but
it's something that is legal. You have all these private schools,
charter schools, public
schools that are all recruiting players. In fact, with football
for our kickoff classic, we went to Villa High school
(17:17):
and there was a, a basketball player there on campus
with his family that day, walking around with the athletic
director and it was almost like a college visit. And,
and so it, it's a completely different ball game. So
sometimes you have like a team for the ages in
Key West and there might be the greatest, um I
(17:38):
don't know, girls soccer team of all time that Key
West has ever had, but they literally could go to
the playoffs and lose to a team that has all
the best players in Florida that have all been recruited
to go to the same team. So
it's a much different world and it's something that our
students have to deal with and you could deal with
that by just working harder.
Speaker 2 (17:57):
Yeah, I mean, the, the upside is down here in
the keys, we do have the ability a coach can
develop an athlete and, and develop a team that, that
gets a nice sync and they learn to work together
and all of those, those areas of, of competition can,
you know, really be honed. But,
you know, the, the recruiting is just, it's, I would
(18:18):
say I don't like it and it's out of hand
and it's not cool that, you know,
you would compete against, it's not a team, you're competing
against all star teams. It's really not a nice school
that you're, you're going against, you're going against like kids
that they've recruited. And the best kid from here, the
best kid from there, they might not even live in
the same neighborhoods. And that's just not, it's in my opinion,
that's not the essence of high school sports. That's an
(18:41):
all star.
Speaker 1 (18:42):
No. And, and the, the unintended consequences of this is,
is pretty insane when you think about it.
You know, we're very lucky. Key West high school marathon.
High school, Coral Shores High School is that we're almost
caught in a time warp. Our kids can't really go
to any other school. We're really not impacted by recruiting
too often. So we still have these, this wholesome, real
(19:05):
high school experience where Friday night lights mean something, basketball
games are packed, baseball games are packed and a lot
of these schools now are
so much smaller and they're recruiting these players for one sport.
They don't have too much of a student body. So
there's some of these teams that you go to their
(19:26):
games and they might be playing, they might have the
best team in the world and they're playing at a,
at a park somewhere
and they don't have a lot of people watching them.
They don't have a band, they don't have a, a homecoming,
you know, they don't have cheerleaders and I feel like
the community, the students, the families, they miss out on that,
but not here. We have
(19:48):
great home games everywhere. Coral Shores, marathon, Key West, all
the sports and how it works for us is there's
so many teams that want to come down to us
and have a real high school game regardless of the sport.
I talked to coach Enriquez last year. He travels. He
has one away game all year long. So his conch
(20:11):
players understand what it's like to travel because he has
no problem getting teams to come down on the weekend
and play a Friday night and
Saturday game or play during the week, teams are dying
to come down and have a real high school experience.
And one of the few places that you can get
that in South Florida is in the Keys. So, you know,
(20:32):
there's positives to all negatives and it works for us
here in Monroe County.
Now, one more thing with boys soccer, Carl Shores boys
won against Pace December 6th, short work of the Spartans
in the mercy rule victory. Now, the next night, unfortunately,
Carl Shores fell to Keys gate two to nothing and
lost to Saint Brennan's 2 to 1 on December 8th.
(20:54):
Now, the hurricanes have two chances to get back into
their winning ways with games scheduled against Westminster and Florida
Christian before the holiday break. Long time. Coral Shores coach
George boss with that boys soccer team. Thoughts on them, Tracy.
Speaker 2 (21:10):
I, I feel like they, they like marathon Coral Shores.
It just depends on, on how hard they work over
the holiday break. Are they going to continue to, you know,
are they gonna continue to put in the time, the effort,
the energy, are they going to, you know, peak at
the right time? And then some of it comes down
to luck. Are you playing the right team on the
right night? And, you know, they, they are winning big
(21:32):
over the teams they should beat and they are beating
the teams that they should beat. And there are a
couple of matches coming up that, you know, if they,
if they pull out a win here or there, then
they should be looking pretty good
Speaker 1 (21:43):
basketballs coming up right now. Everybody loves basketball. Um, and
let's start out, Carl Shore's girls improved to three and one.
Jared Mendoza is, was, he was an assistant there last
year along with the boys coach.
Speaker 2 (21:56):
Yeah, coach Mendoza and coach Thomas work together and they
are a great team. They, you know, coach Thomas also
coaches golf and, and coach Mendoza coaches, whatever they need
him to coach
up there. And they have been working together and have
really developed this team that, you know, they, they have
plays and they know what's going on. It's not just
a scramble. Sometimes girls basketball can be a mess. Certainly
(22:19):
not in the keys. All three teams are great Coral Shores. They,
they are a strong team this year and they should
go far. So you
Speaker 1 (22:26):
got coach, man, Dozy working there with, uh, coach Thompson
and Thomas. Thank you. And they went up to Orlando
even for a game against Cornerstone Academy Charter School. Um,
you know, I can't say enough good things about those
coaches are doing a good job. Coach, man, Dozy was
the boys Corl Shore's basketball coach. And let's be honest,
(22:46):
completely turned that program around. He was there for 56 years.
You know, they went from one of the bottom of
the barrel teams to winning the Keys championship the last
two years beating Coral Shores. I'm sorry, beating Key West twice,
including beating Key West at home
in two different seasons. Going four and oh, over Key
(23:10):
West the last two years that he was the head
basketball coach there sweeping marathon during that same time period.
And now he's focusing his energies at girls basketball. It's
gonna be nothing but good things for
them. Carl Shores boys, even with coach Man Dozy leaving
the team. But longtime Key Largo middle school coach Tony
(23:33):
Simmons taking over Carl Shores is still on top in
Monroe County pair of wins last week beginning with Palmer Trinity.
At press time, the Hurricanes are two and one. They
defeated Palmer 6361. They defeated Palm Glade prep 7427.
Um, those guys are playing very good basketball today of uh,
(23:55):
the day we're recording this podcast. All the marathon, girls
and basketball teams are getting ready to go to Coral
Shores today. We'll have news in that next week's newspaper
about what happened. Good luck to all four teams in that.
The Canes have a busy week scheduled. They have also
besides the big rivalry game. Marathon cor shows huge rivalry
(24:19):
in basketball,
in football and track in every single sport. It's a
big rivalry, the Battle of the Keys we call it
and that's happening today this week. Also. Marathon and Coral
Shores will be traveling up to Palmer this weekend to
play in a great basketball tournament held by Palmer every year. Um,
(24:42):
the Lady Dolphins led by coach Andre Garvey got their
first win of the season. December 7th at
the NSU Nova Southeastern University School. That's a pretty big
deal for them, huh? It
Speaker 2 (24:56):
is. That's not about, they beat a decent team and they,
you know, it's a young team. They don't have many
seniors and they don't have a whole lot of experience.
So they managed to scrap out a win. And I mean, that's,
that's a great, a great adjective for that team is
scrappy and that's, that's kept them in some games and
that helped them get that big win.
Speaker 1 (25:15):
Marathon boys picked up another win December 6th against visiting
Keys Gate Charter. I was at that game, Keys Gate Charter.
They definitely, if you, if what we call in the
coaching business, the eye test, they pass the eye test.
They look like an incredible basketball team, all sorts of
tall people, people that look like they could dribble. I
was like, oh man, it's gonna be a long night
(25:37):
for the Dolphins but
the Dolphins pulled it out. 5247. A great crowd at home.
Everybody going crazy. Xavier Grant leading scorer was 17, uh
sophomore Deshawn Holmes had another double, double, 16 points and
10 rebounds. Adrian Cruz, the senior 11 points and a
pair of steals. Now December 8th marathon went to Ma uh,
(25:59):
Monsignor Pace High School. They lost 7134 Holmes and Grant
had seven points each. Yel Garcia, Adrian Cruz both had six.
Now
Lady Conk basketball, they did not have a game last week,
but they will continue their schedule against Baron Collier on Saturday,
December 16th and then they'll be heading up to Coral
(26:20):
Shores on Thursday, December 21st. Now
with Key West High School, we have one of the, um,
legendary basketball players and coaches and teachers and that's Bill
Butler and we talked to him. We talked to actually
his son last year who's taken over the basketball program
(26:42):
and that's Dexter. Now,
the Key West boys have been working hard. Coach Dexter
has had those guys work a au fundraising doing school,
work lifting weights ever since he got the job and
it's starting to pay off. They're a young team. They're
playing well. They had three games scheduled for last week,
(27:05):
but two of them canceled their trips to the southernmost city,
you know, why they canceled.
Speaker 2 (27:09):
They're scared of Dexter. No
Speaker 1 (27:12):
referees. Oh, no.
If you're out there, literally Key West High School could
not play because they didn't have referees. If you wanna
become a referee, you can go to the website, keys, refs,
keysr efs, it'll give you that information there. Listen, we
need people. The kids are suffering because we don't have referees.
(27:35):
So two games canceled. We,
we did, we did get to play one on the
road because apparently they have referees in South Florida. They
were able to play a Barbara Goldman on December 5th
and they got a win 7964 James Osborne 24 points,
11 rebounds, clutch, double, double performance.
Young Cameron Roberts had 17 points and five rebounds. David
(27:58):
Aviles scored 15 and Leandro ba batista, we know him
from the football field. He was the big full back
this past year for the Conks, grabbed 11 rebounds for
the Conks and the Conks have a nice two and
two record, a two and two record for a very
young team. Thoughts.
Speaker 2 (28:14):
Um Yeah, they're, they're a great team and
you know, I mean, Leanro Bautista, of course, he's pulling
down rebounds who's going to get in his way because
he's a beast. So they're, they're playing great, they have talent,
they have energy, they have all the positivity in the world,
like you said, Coach Butler is doing a great job
if you played basketball or if you played sports or
if your kids did and you had that, that experience
(28:36):
and it was a positive experience. Think about being a
ref they pay. It's not a,
if you're doing charity work, you get paid pretty well.
You get paid by the mile as well to travel.
And it's something that, I mean, you can learn more
about the sport. It's enriching and it's going to help
the community. We have such great community, upper keys, middle keys,
lower keys. Everybody in this community works together. This is
(28:58):
a place where we need your help. Somebody needs to
go out there and referee, someone needs to officiate. We
picked up one soccer reference
this year. We wrote an article about it last year where,
you know, everybody's asking their neighbors knocking on doors. Hey,
can you do it? We got one which is better
than none. But if we could get a few more,
I mean, the referees we have are aging out. I
don't want to say anything negative about them because we're
(29:19):
happy to have them. I saw kids playing sports. So, yeah,
we're happy to have anybody but, you know, they, they
don't need to be doing 567 games a week.
Yeah, that's, that's hard on anybody. So if, if spread
the word, if someone knows a little bit about a sport, I'm,
I'm sure they'll help develop you. If you're, if you're nervous,
I'm sure they'll, they'll be gentle and, and bring you
(29:40):
in and teach you the ropes.
Speaker 1 (29:42):
Someone is better than no one. I mean, at this point,
games are actually getting canceled. I know during football season
we had to reschedule games
to make sure that the small amount of football officials
we had could work all the games in the county.
Um I know in Key West High School I was
talking to coach Hughes, a lot of the, the football
referees down there are simply aging out and retiring. They
(30:03):
are already short for next year. So, and another thing,
it's a great way to get some exercise to get outside,
to reconnect or connect with the sport that you love.
Now, this is the moment that we wait until the
very end where we're gonna talk about, wait, we haven't
talked about
Speaker 2 (30:19):
wrestling at all. What?
Speaker 1 (30:20):
Wrestling?
Speaker 2 (30:21):
Yeah, it's wrestling season, boys and girls.
Speaker 1 (30:23):
It's wrestling season. So, what is going on in wrestling? Uh,
Speaker 2 (30:28):
last week Coral Shores and Key West went to two
different tournaments. Um, Coral Shores. Their lighter weight guys did
really well. I think they picked up maybe three wins or,
you know, somebody got a 2nd, 1/4. So the lighter
weights are doing great and that's where they
have been talented the last few seasons. Key West, on
the other hand, their talent has been the heavyweights, the
big boys, but this year I'm, I'm not 100% sure.
(30:50):
I haven't, haven't talked to Chaz yet. Um, coaching me
down there but the, they picked up a few wins
and they did pretty well. The girls are doing great
again this year. Um, Briggs sisters are gone. So, the,
the State Medalists, um, you know, runner up, wonderful Briggs
sisters have moved on unfortunately. But they already have, they
get recruited somewhere. No, they have actually
one graduated and, and then the family moved
Speaker 1 (31:11):
out of town. One is actually wrestling in college.
Speaker 2 (31:13):
Correct. Yes, she's, she's over at Avila University with a
couple of the football players, um, from the Dolphins. So
she's having some collegiate success. But the, the wrestling programs
are doing well and this weekend is a big deal
for Keys wrestling. The two schools, Coral Shores and Key
West because marathon does not have wrestling. Key West and
Coral Shores are gonna meet up in Key West along
(31:33):
with all the talent South Florida has to offer at
the big
annual Key West wrestling tournament. It's a big, I believe
it's a bit of a fundraiser for, for them down there.
So if you're interested in wrestling, go on down and
check out the Key West tournament. It's Friday night, I
think it starts about 430 all day Saturday, check out
the local wrestlers, you know, support the program because that's,
(31:54):
that's a grind that driving up to, you know, Orlando,
driving up to Fort Myers, driving all over the place.
It's hard, hard on a coach, hard on a team.
Give them your support, help them out.
Speaker 1 (32:05):
Is that the tournament that we went to last year,
we stepped in on that one last year. That's unbelievable. If,
if you have any,
any type of, I like amateur wrestling a little bit.
This is the tournament you need to go to. It's
not even like your standard wrestling tournament. Oh, I went
to a wrestling tournament in high school once and there's
one mat in the middle of the gym and you
(32:26):
watch these people wrestle, there's like 10 mat set up.
There's 10 air
is set up and there's all sorts of people wrestling
and everyone from all over the state teams from the
Panhandle teams from the Everglades, teams from Jacksonville. There's so
many teams here in Key West for this tournament. Let's
go out there and support them this weekend.
(32:49):
Now, can we move on to the athlete of the week?
All right. Awesome. So if you guys are listening to
this podcast, odds are you're reading the Keys Weekly and
within the Keys weekly sports. R one of the things
that Tracy loves to do, it's one of her favorite
things in the world is to honor and shine the
spotlight on one of our many athletes of the week
(33:10):
this week, the athlete of the week is Donovan.
In theory, he's a sophomore Coal Shores High School and
currently he's playing basketball. Why was he the athlete of
the week?
Speaker 2 (33:21):
Well, he had, he had, he put up 22 points
against Palm Glade's prep last week. He had quite, I
don't have the stats for him on Palmer, but he
did a great job there. He is, let's
Speaker 1 (33:32):
see,
18 points against Palmer for the 63 shooting guard and
he stole the ball three times and had seven rebounds
against Palmer. So that's a complete game right
Speaker 2 (33:42):
there. And that was, you know, they won that game
by a couple points. Now he is in some, in
some games. He is a, you know, the kind of
player that's assisting other people getting the rebounds, passing the
ball and then in other games, he's coming alive and
he's a sophomore. So that's exciting to see like this
young
really coming to his own. I have no idea what
this kid's gonna do. Junior year, senior year. He's already,
(34:04):
he's not, you know, a kid will say I can
dunk and you'll watch him and they, they sort of like,
you know, touch the rim as the ball comes off
the hand. This kid can dunk, he's getting air, he's,
his head's above the rim. His hands are, he is
a phenomenal athlete and I mean Coral Shores has this
gem and
it's, you know, bad news for key ring marathon for
(34:26):
the next few seasons.
Speaker 1 (34:27):
I do know he's also a baseball player. He also
carries a 4.42 weighted GPA in mostly A P classes
and you know, the, the world's opening up for him
and congratulations to Donovan. Congratulations to the family. I know
that they're both teachers and
I know that his one, grandmother was the deputy superintendent
(34:47):
here for a long time. So, congratulations to you guys. Um,
keep on keeping on. So, what are you looking forward
to most this upcoming week?
Speaker 2 (34:57):
I think some of the exciting, the exciting matches. Definitely.
Tonight's basketball games will be, will be a good one
between the girls of Marathon and Coral Shores and the,
you know, the boys Marathon, Coral Shores, the soccer match
with Marathon and Key West next week right before the break. And,
you know, I think that wrestling match is gonna be awesome. I,
I know that they've been working hard. Key West has,
(35:21):
they're the perennial district champions. They have so many of
them that they're running out of space
on the gym wall. So I think those are some
of the key things to watch and then these athletes,
they need a little bit of a break for Christmas too.
You know, we get tired as, as teachers and the
kids get tired of students. But these athletes have been
on a grind that traveling. If you're from Key West,
you're in that, that bus atmosphere or van atmosphere for
(35:43):
hours on end. Same with the coaches, everybody needs a
break
and I, I'm actually looking forward to the break the most,
but as far as matches and, and tournaments go, those
home team or community events. I think those are the
most exciting.
Speaker 1 (36:00):
Let's all go out and support all of our teams
this upcoming week. Let's have a big showing at the
Key West high school marathon soccer game because we love
inter Keys rivalries. So if you're in Key West and
you don't have anybody on the team, go check it out.
I'm sure they have a good concession and you know what,
the weather is really nice.
Speaker 2 (36:18):
They have a gorgeous
feel down there too. If you haven't seen it, if
you haven't been there, go check out the backyard. It's amazing. It's, it's,
they've got the turf, it's painted beautifully. They've got a
great atmosphere. A lot of fans will be out there. It's,
it's a great place to go and, you know, just
sit down, watch a game and then go do some
holiday shopping or, or what have you.
Speaker 1 (36:38):
Thank you guys so much for listening today and we're
looking forward to talking to you guys next week.
Welcome everybody to the second podcast for the Keys Weekly
Sports rap with Sean and Tracy mcdonald, your companion piece
to go with the Keys weekly newspaper and in particular,
the Keys weekly sports wrap.
So, welcome back, everybody. We got a lot of great
feedback on our first podcast. That was the companion piece
(00:20):
for last week's Keys weekly. If you guys want to
check that out, you'll be able to do that on
the website. Thank you guys so much for listening and
we're very excited to let you know what's going on
in the Monroe County prep, prep world today. So
this should be coming out on Thursday. Hopefully, you have
your Keys weekly and you're checking out the Keys weekly
(00:42):
sports wrap, the person behind it. Really the big push
behind it, making the pictures, making the stories or some
of the pictures is my wife, Tracy. How are you today? I'm,
I'm doing great.
So, was it a great week last week in Monroe
County prep sports or what?
Speaker 2 (00:59):
It, it definitely was. Um, we saw, we saw some
action in almost everything and, um, you know, wrestling's opened up,
we've got girls weightlifting, basketball soccer and there were just
so many games last week and a ton this week
and it's just kind of amping up right before the
holiday break when everybody takes a rest, maybe there's a
game or two. But for the most part it winds down.
(01:21):
So it's, it's a crazy time right now.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
Everything always goes in cycles and I was joking around
with the marathon high school athletic director, you know, just
a couple weeks ago
about how this is like a really quiet time and
it's a lull because you have that moment in time
where fall sports are ending and really winter sports are
just practicing. They're not having games. But let me tell
you something, everybody that time period's over and everything's in
(01:46):
full swing starting first with one of our newest sports
in Monroe County, relatively new and it's a winter sport
and that's girls weightlifting last week, marathon.
Uh, Crow Shores, they got together on December 6th for
an in county weightlifting meet and that marked six weeks
(02:07):
from district competition. What's the importance of that?
Speaker 2 (02:10):
Well, this district competition
is where we will kind of weed out the, the
top one to people in each weight class. And, you know,
right now in some, some weight classes, there are six
or seven girls from the same school competing. So as,
as everybody kind of scrambles to adjust their form
(02:31):
and lift a little bit heavier, um, they're all trying
to culminate. Right. There at districts and regionals and get
that coveted spot at the state championships. So,
Speaker 1 (02:39):
as much as you're talking about, I know there is a,
this is a team sport in some, to some extent,
they keep a team score who's, who's beating who. But
in reality, this is an individual sport.
And if you're in the £129 weight class, you're competing
against the other schools, but you're also competing against your teammates.
And last week,
(03:01):
uh Mi Ross from Marathon and Justice Lee, they led
the pack in the Sinclair algorithm and total lift respectively. Now,
if you listened last week, we talked about the Sinclair
algorithm and it's basically a way to figure out pound
for pound who the best weightlifter is. And when you
talk about total lifts, that's the actual poundage ross who
(03:22):
participates in the £129 class won both the traditional and
Olympic events as well. And she had the highest overall
Sinclair score.
Justice Lee had the highest totals in all three lifts
last Wednesday and she was the top at the £183
weight class in both traditional and Olympic. Currently Justice is
(03:42):
benching 100 and £60 which she also matched in the
clean and jerk.
Um Also for marathon Sierra event, Sierra Earnhardt who competes
in the £119 category was third using the Sinclair algorithm.
Um Coral Shores had a trio of double winners and
Rachel Rush at £110. Grace Patterson at 169 and Sidney
(04:05):
Eisenbach in the unlimited class. So,
weightlifting off to a great start. You know, we have
a tremendous tradition here in Monroe County, which is, you know,
like I talked about the top the sport. The sport
has not been around that long, but we actually have
state champions in Monroe County. Um We're very excited for
(04:27):
this season to move and to see what's gonna happen. Um,
what are you looking forward to most in girls? Weightlifting? Tracy,
Speaker 2 (04:36):
I, I would love to see one of the schools
pick up a district championship this year. Um, I mean,
that you talk about how they, they do work together
as a team and they compete against one another. In reality,
they're 100% competing against themselves. It's not like in basketball,
you can pick two people off in a one on
one and, and they'll put the moves on and, you know,
someone will come out on top but in weightlifting, I,
(04:57):
I mean, they, they take their turns and it's, it's
kind of like a, a nice,
a nice atmosphere where they co-operate with one another and
they help one another and they boost one another and
they cheer for each other. They, I mean, it's, it's
a small county and everyone knows one another and it's,
it's a great little atmosphere. I would love to see
all three teams go far. I'd like to see, I'd
(05:18):
like to see a lot of, of athletes bringing home
medals from the States this year. II, a lot of
kids went last year and if, you know,
we increase every year, 123 people, then we could really
be a powerhouse in, in weightlifting, in Monroe County. And
all three schools have very talented, very strong athletes. So
everybody has the option or the ability to send someone.
(05:38):
It's just going to be a matter of who has
their best lives, who peaks at districts, regionals, you know, who,
who outlives who on those days. So it, it's gonna
be interesting.
Speaker 1 (05:48):
Well, as we come down the line and we're looking
at districts Marathon and Coral Shores are in the FHSA
A one A classification which is for all the smaller
schools while Key West with a larger student population, however,
is still in two A which is still a smaller division.
You know, because when you really
leave the keys, a lot of the schools in all
(06:09):
over the state of Florida, 34, 5000 students. So we're
all pretty small schools down here. Now, postseason competition begins
on January 27th at Doctors Charter High school for the
district meet. That's for Cruel Shores and Marathon. Key West
district meet is set for January 25th. So good luck
(06:29):
to them.
Hopefully everybody keeps on working. You know, the world's most
popular sport is soccer, A K A football and we
have that going on in Monroe County right now. We
have boys soccer going on. We have girls soccer going
on at the same time. So with that in mind,
we're sort of going to break down what's happening in
(06:50):
the soccer world here in Monroe County. Um, starting out marathon,
the marathon Lady Fins. They took on Westwood Christian last
December 7th. The Warriors got the upper hand. They had
a 2 to 1 win. There's gonna be paper, there's
gonna be pictures of that in this week's paper. Check
those pictures out. They're really fantastic.
(07:13):
As far as the marathon boys go. They currently lead
the county. I mean, we're gonna, we're gonna change the
record now based on last night. Right.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
Well, it changes every night. I mean, as far as
the paper goes, when it comes out at that point,
you know, marathons girls were struggling, they hadn't picked up
a win yet. They did get that win last night
against downtown Doral. So that was very, it was a
big motivation for them and I, I feel like they
have a little bit more confidence now and, and they
know how to, to win some games now and then
the boys, they had, they had
(07:42):
the opposite luck last night. So that's going to change
a little bit. But, you know, right now they do
have the best record in the county and I, I
believe even with that loss, they still will.
Speaker 1 (07:51):
So, you're getting all your news first here. I'm telling
you right now. We're, we're, we're recording this on Tuesday, uh,
on Monday night marathon played against downtown Doral, one of
the most talented soccer teams in the state of Florida.
And unfortunately, the marathon Dolphins took the laws. So the
marathon boys soccer team does lead the county.
(08:11):
Uh, but instead of a 31 and one record, it
is now a 32 and two record. But prior to
that December 7th, they beat Westwood 8 to 0. They
had a lot of goals. I mean, eight goals in
a game is a ton. You had, uh Jaden Rosetti,
Jay Marshall, Joshua Gomez all had goals. Oscar Cardona also
(08:34):
had a goal.
Um
Speaker 2 (08:35):
Oscar had five goals in that game, what he had five,
so he had a hat trick and then he picked up,
I know what you go. I don't know if there's
a term
Speaker 1 (08:44):
for that. I don't know if that happens too often.
Five goals in one game. Where's coach wise? I don't
know if that is a possible Monroe County record. He
could tell us,
uh marathon girls. They did lose a pair last week.
December 7th against Westwood, uh Rain Banks. She had a
goal in the game and wasn't she the leading scorer
(09:04):
in her district last year? Yeah.
Speaker 2 (09:06):
Rain had, she tied for the most goal scored, but
she won most points because of the massive amount of
assists that she had picked up. So she's kind of
picking up steam now and, and I,
I'd like to see rain her, she's been on that
team since she was 1/6 grader. She was on varsity.
This is her sixth year on varsity now, or seventh
rather so, seven years on varsity. It's such a crazy
amount of time. Um, she's tiny. She's mighty and she's,
(09:29):
she's kind of starting to really find her stride this
season just came off of cross country. So, you know,
sometimes you gotta shake the rust off and I think
she's doing that.
Speaker 1 (09:39):
Well, the Lady Conks, Key West High School Conks were
able to beat Coral Shores December 8th by the same
one goal margin as their previous match up. It was
a 32 victory.
Um Maddie Kilduff, Maria Cheney and Ella Baxter all had
goals for the Lady Conks and longtime girls soccer coach,
(09:59):
Scott Paul at Key West High School has come back, uh,
a year or two ago and he's working very hard
to put that Key West girls soccer team. I guess
you would almost say where the softball team is right
now as a state contender. Uh, what are your thoughts
on Key
Us high school girls?
Speaker 2 (10:16):
I, the key s girls in multiple sports are, are
just really, really solid. The soccer team, they have everybody
that they absolutely need to, to be a phenomenal team.
They have a tough schedule though. You know, they're, they're
seeing a lot of action against big schools. But they,
they really have all the, all the players, all the skills,
everything they need to go far and, you know, like
(10:40):
a win here and there during the regular season, it
doesn't matter as much as, as when they hit those
district matches in a couple months. And hopefully they peak
at the right time.
Speaker 1 (10:51):
The Lady Kong's currently, as of press time are 33
and one and they have two more games before the
holiday break, including a home game against Marathon on December 19th. Now,
this season marks the first in nearly three years in
which all three girls teams played one another. Making a
true Keys champion possible this season. So, you know,
(11:14):
I can speak for Trac Z and myself where we
are sort of old school purists. We love this idea
of all the key schools playing each other and everything.
And that used to be a mainstay here for a
long time with all the soccer teams, all the boys
teams playing each other. And what we mean is Coral
Shores playing Key West playing Marathon,
(11:35):
you know, marathon playing all the high schools, Key West
playing all the high schools. So you can come up
with that Keys champion every year. And it's great to
see all the girls teams doing it. Huh?
Speaker 2 (11:45):
I, I love it. And, you know, right now Key
West is up too. They've got the, they've got both wins.
Over Coral Shores. Key West and Marathon have not played marathon.
And Coral Shores have, uh, you know, Coral Shores has
the upper hand there.
One win. So marathon, Coral Shores will play again one time.
Key West and Marathon will play two times and then we'll,
we'll have a good idea of who that champ is. I,
(12:08):
it might be too early to call, but I'm gonna
put this one on Key West.
Speaker 1 (12:12):
Yes. Ok. Well, we'll see. Key West boys are hoping
to find their first win after a loss to Mast
Academy on December 7th.
The Conks lost five nothing on the road against the
Sharks in the district matchup. Key West schedule gets a
little bit less challenging midea with some key matches in
the coming weeks, including again the same day as the
(12:33):
girls Marathon is going down to Key West Tuesday, December
19th for the big matchup against Key West. So the
boys will be playing, the girls will be playing.
Speaker 2 (12:43):
That's
where Marathons, obviously the underdog in that match and Key
West has a whole lot of talent. They've got, I mean,
Lubins Florida, he's just, he's a goal scoring machine. They've got,
they've got a heck of a goalie. They've got so
many good players, but then Marathon, I mean, we've got
Oscar Cardona up here who he's scoring five goals in
a match. We've got some younger guys and a great goalie.
(13:03):
So any, any given day, you know, Marathon could
pull out the, the upset victory there. So hopefully they,
they come to play and Key West has a great
game and, and everybody can get down there on the
19th and, and watch that match because it should be
a really good soccer match.
Speaker 1 (13:19):
And you might be saying, what are you talking about?
You opened up this segment with marathon high school boys
have the best record in the county as far as
soccer teams go. And then you just said Key West
boys are
hoping to find their first win. But we are also
talking about school size and classification. Key West high School
is a much larger school than Marathon and Coral Shores.
(13:40):
So they're placed in a higher classification and they're playing
against um basically tougher opponents to be honest. So sometimes
it's hard to compare the scores when you compare a
marathon
to a Key West or a Key West to a
Coral Shores because until we're playing each other, everybody's playing
(14:01):
different levels of teams. So it's very hard to handicap
who's going to beat who? Because many times you do
not have too many shared
Speaker 2 (14:10):
opponents. No. And then people out there might not understand
just what the school sizes are. I believe Key West
is at, at 1300
students now give or take a few Coral Shores is
at uh mid seven hundreds, I believe and marathon is
at about 700. But marathon student body includes sixth grade
through 12th grade. So if you're talking about nine through
12 marathons, really 400 kids. So marathon is, is about
(14:32):
half the size of Coral Shores, which is about half
the size of Key West. So I if that puts
it into perspective for anybody out there.
Speaker 1 (14:39):
Thank you.
Also, Cho's Lady Hurricanes won big on December 5th in
a home match against Monsignor Pace High School. Croshaw scored
six wins. Kai Roo had a part in all of
them scoring three unassisted then providing the helpers for Sammy
Bates Grace Goodwin and Delaney Donnelly
goalkeepers Sophie Stevenson registered four saves to preserve the shutout
(15:03):
for the Hurricanes. Big win for the Lady Hurricanes. How
are they doing this
Speaker 2 (15:07):
year? They're, they're having a great year. I mean, they,
they probably were the big underdog against Key West as
well and each time they played them lost by just one,
they came up here and uh marathon gave them a,
a game. But then, you know, Coral Short opened up
halfway through the first
half and then didn't let up. So they have, they
have some great athletes up there and I feel like
they could go far too. They haven't played, I guess
(15:30):
they played maybe two district matches, marathon and key skate. So,
you know, the district just like with, with any sport
that we're, we're going to go, you know, talk about
the districting is difficult because we don't have the ability to,
um, to recruit and you want to talk a little
bit about that or
Speaker 1 (15:48):
explain. Yeah, I'll be more than happy to, it's a
whole different world. Long time. Keys people listening to this
podcast or if you grew up here,
you know, we have a couple of things on our
side as far as, as not being able to recruit,
you know, our schools are so spaced out. If somebody
is going to marathon, it's gonna be very difficult for
(16:09):
them to go to Key West High School or Coral Shores. Now,
once you go to South Florida, it is a whole
different type of world where schools are constantly trying to
lure athletes from one school to another, starting as young
as elementary or middle school
and students are constantly changing schools and, and it allows
(16:32):
smaller schools to have really, really strong teams or even,
you know, larger schools also if that's something that they
deem important. So, you know, you see a school like Shaman,
a Madonna in football, they're literally just beat, they won
the state championship like 59 to nothing
and they're in the one, a division, one of the
(16:54):
smaller divisions, but they have one of the best high
school football teams in the country because they actively recruit
and this is something that is legal. Now, now, whether
I like it or not is something completely different, but
it's something that is legal. You have all these private schools,
charter schools, public
schools that are all recruiting players. In fact, with football
for our kickoff classic, we went to Villa High school
(17:17):
and there was a, a basketball player there on campus
with his family that day, walking around with the athletic
director and it was almost like a college visit. And,
and so it, it's a completely different ball game. So
sometimes you have like a team for the ages in
Key West and there might be the greatest, um I
(17:38):
don't know, girls soccer team of all time that Key
West has ever had, but they literally could go to
the playoffs and lose to a team that has all
the best players in Florida that have all been recruited
to go to the same team. So
it's a much different world and it's something that our
students have to deal with and you could deal with
that by just working harder.
Speaker 2 (17:57):
Yeah, I mean, the, the upside is down here in
the keys, we do have the ability a coach can
develop an athlete and, and develop a team that, that
gets a nice sync and they learn to work together
and all of those, those areas of, of competition can,
you know, really be honed. But,
you know, the, the recruiting is just, it's, I would
(18:18):
say I don't like it and it's out of hand
and it's not cool that, you know,
you would compete against, it's not a team, you're competing
against all star teams. It's really not a nice school
that you're, you're going against, you're going against like kids
that they've recruited. And the best kid from here, the
best kid from there, they might not even live in
the same neighborhoods. And that's just not, it's in my opinion,
that's not the essence of high school sports. That's an
(18:41):
all star.
Speaker 1 (18:42):
No. And, and the, the unintended consequences of this is,
is pretty insane when you think about it.
You know, we're very lucky. Key West high school marathon.
High school, Coral Shores High School is that we're almost
caught in a time warp. Our kids can't really go
to any other school. We're really not impacted by recruiting
too often. So we still have these, this wholesome, real
(19:05):
high school experience where Friday night lights mean something, basketball
games are packed, baseball games are packed and a lot
of these schools now are
so much smaller and they're recruiting these players for one sport.
They don't have too much of a student body. So
there's some of these teams that you go to their
(19:26):
games and they might be playing, they might have the
best team in the world and they're playing at a,
at a park somewhere
and they don't have a lot of people watching them.
They don't have a band, they don't have a, a homecoming,
you know, they don't have cheerleaders and I feel like
the community, the students, the families, they miss out on that,
but not here. We have
(19:48):
great home games everywhere. Coral Shores, marathon, Key West, all
the sports and how it works for us is there's
so many teams that want to come down to us
and have a real high school game regardless of the sport.
I talked to coach Enriquez last year. He travels. He
has one away game all year long. So his conch
(20:11):
players understand what it's like to travel because he has
no problem getting teams to come down on the weekend
and play a Friday night and
Saturday game or play during the week, teams are dying
to come down and have a real high school experience.
And one of the few places that you can get
that in South Florida is in the Keys. So, you know,
(20:32):
there's positives to all negatives and it works for us
here in Monroe County.
Now, one more thing with boys soccer, Carl Shores boys
won against Pace December 6th, short work of the Spartans
in the mercy rule victory. Now, the next night, unfortunately,
Carl Shores fell to Keys gate two to nothing and
lost to Saint Brennan's 2 to 1 on December 8th.
(20:54):
Now, the hurricanes have two chances to get back into
their winning ways with games scheduled against Westminster and Florida
Christian before the holiday break. Long time. Coral Shores coach
George boss with that boys soccer team. Thoughts on them, Tracy.
Speaker 2 (21:10):
I, I feel like they, they like marathon Coral Shores.
It just depends on, on how hard they work over
the holiday break. Are they going to continue to, you know,
are they gonna continue to put in the time, the effort,
the energy, are they going to, you know, peak at
the right time? And then some of it comes down
to luck. Are you playing the right team on the
right night? And, you know, they, they are winning big
(21:32):
over the teams they should beat and they are beating
the teams that they should beat. And there are a
couple of matches coming up that, you know, if they,
if they pull out a win here or there, then
they should be looking pretty good
Speaker 1 (21:43):
basketballs coming up right now. Everybody loves basketball. Um, and
let's start out, Carl Shore's girls improved to three and one.
Jared Mendoza is, was, he was an assistant there last
year along with the boys coach.
Speaker 2 (21:56):
Yeah, coach Mendoza and coach Thomas work together and they
are a great team. They, you know, coach Thomas also
coaches golf and, and coach Mendoza coaches, whatever they need
him to coach
up there. And they have been working together and have
really developed this team that, you know, they, they have
plays and they know what's going on. It's not just
a scramble. Sometimes girls basketball can be a mess. Certainly
(22:19):
not in the keys. All three teams are great Coral Shores. They,
they are a strong team this year and they should
go far. So you
Speaker 1 (22:26):
got coach, man, Dozy working there with, uh, coach Thompson
and Thomas. Thank you. And they went up to Orlando
even for a game against Cornerstone Academy Charter School. Um,
you know, I can't say enough good things about those
coaches are doing a good job. Coach, man, Dozy was
the boys Corl Shore's basketball coach. And let's be honest,
(22:46):
completely turned that program around. He was there for 56 years.
You know, they went from one of the bottom of
the barrel teams to winning the Keys championship the last
two years beating Coral Shores. I'm sorry, beating Key West twice,
including beating Key West at home
in two different seasons. Going four and oh, over Key
(23:10):
West the last two years that he was the head
basketball coach there sweeping marathon during that same time period.
And now he's focusing his energies at girls basketball. It's
gonna be nothing but good things for
them. Carl Shores boys, even with coach Man Dozy leaving
the team. But longtime Key Largo middle school coach Tony
(23:33):
Simmons taking over Carl Shores is still on top in
Monroe County pair of wins last week beginning with Palmer Trinity.
At press time, the Hurricanes are two and one. They
defeated Palmer 6361. They defeated Palm Glade prep 7427.
Um, those guys are playing very good basketball today of uh,
(23:55):
the day we're recording this podcast. All the marathon, girls
and basketball teams are getting ready to go to Coral
Shores today. We'll have news in that next week's newspaper
about what happened. Good luck to all four teams in that.
The Canes have a busy week scheduled. They have also
besides the big rivalry game. Marathon cor shows huge rivalry
(24:19):
in basketball,
in football and track in every single sport. It's a
big rivalry, the Battle of the Keys we call it
and that's happening today this week. Also. Marathon and Coral
Shores will be traveling up to Palmer this weekend to
play in a great basketball tournament held by Palmer every year. Um,
(24:42):
the Lady Dolphins led by coach Andre Garvey got their
first win of the season. December 7th at
the NSU Nova Southeastern University School. That's a pretty big
deal for them, huh? It
Speaker 2 (24:56):
is. That's not about, they beat a decent team and they,
you know, it's a young team. They don't have many
seniors and they don't have a whole lot of experience.
So they managed to scrap out a win. And I mean, that's,
that's a great, a great adjective for that team is
scrappy and that's, that's kept them in some games and
that helped them get that big win.
Speaker 1 (25:15):
Marathon boys picked up another win December 6th against visiting
Keys Gate Charter. I was at that game, Keys Gate Charter.
They definitely, if you, if what we call in the
coaching business, the eye test, they pass the eye test.
They look like an incredible basketball team, all sorts of
tall people, people that look like they could dribble. I
was like, oh man, it's gonna be a long night
(25:37):
for the Dolphins but
the Dolphins pulled it out. 5247. A great crowd at home.
Everybody going crazy. Xavier Grant leading scorer was 17, uh
sophomore Deshawn Holmes had another double, double, 16 points and
10 rebounds. Adrian Cruz, the senior 11 points and a
pair of steals. Now December 8th marathon went to Ma uh,
(25:59):
Monsignor Pace High School. They lost 7134 Holmes and Grant
had seven points each. Yel Garcia, Adrian Cruz both had six.
Now
Lady Conk basketball, they did not have a game last week,
but they will continue their schedule against Baron Collier on Saturday,
December 16th and then they'll be heading up to Coral
(26:20):
Shores on Thursday, December 21st. Now
with Key West High School, we have one of the, um,
legendary basketball players and coaches and teachers and that's Bill
Butler and we talked to him. We talked to actually
his son last year who's taken over the basketball program
(26:42):
and that's Dexter. Now,
the Key West boys have been working hard. Coach Dexter
has had those guys work a au fundraising doing school,
work lifting weights ever since he got the job and
it's starting to pay off. They're a young team. They're
playing well. They had three games scheduled for last week,
(27:05):
but two of them canceled their trips to the southernmost city,
you know, why they canceled.
Speaker 2 (27:09):
They're scared of Dexter. No
Speaker 1 (27:12):
referees. Oh, no.
If you're out there, literally Key West High School could
not play because they didn't have referees. If you wanna
become a referee, you can go to the website, keys, refs,
keysr efs, it'll give you that information there. Listen, we
need people. The kids are suffering because we don't have referees.
(27:35):
So two games canceled. We,
we did, we did get to play one on the
road because apparently they have referees in South Florida. They
were able to play a Barbara Goldman on December 5th
and they got a win 7964 James Osborne 24 points,
11 rebounds, clutch, double, double performance.
Young Cameron Roberts had 17 points and five rebounds. David
(27:58):
Aviles scored 15 and Leandro ba batista, we know him
from the football field. He was the big full back
this past year for the Conks, grabbed 11 rebounds for
the Conks and the Conks have a nice two and
two record, a two and two record for a very
young team. Thoughts.
Speaker 2 (28:14):
Um Yeah, they're, they're a great team and
you know, I mean, Leanro Bautista, of course, he's pulling
down rebounds who's going to get in his way because
he's a beast. So they're, they're playing great, they have talent,
they have energy, they have all the positivity in the world,
like you said, Coach Butler is doing a great job
if you played basketball or if you played sports or
if your kids did and you had that, that experience
(28:36):
and it was a positive experience. Think about being a
ref they pay. It's not a,
if you're doing charity work, you get paid pretty well.
You get paid by the mile as well to travel.
And it's something that, I mean, you can learn more
about the sport. It's enriching and it's going to help
the community. We have such great community, upper keys, middle keys,
lower keys. Everybody in this community works together. This is
(28:58):
a place where we need your help. Somebody needs to
go out there and referee, someone needs to officiate. We
picked up one soccer reference
this year. We wrote an article about it last year where,
you know, everybody's asking their neighbors knocking on doors. Hey,
can you do it? We got one which is better
than none. But if we could get a few more,
I mean, the referees we have are aging out. I
don't want to say anything negative about them because we're
(29:19):
happy to have them. I saw kids playing sports. So, yeah,
we're happy to have anybody but, you know, they, they
don't need to be doing 567 games a week.
Yeah, that's, that's hard on anybody. So if, if spread
the word, if someone knows a little bit about a sport, I'm,
I'm sure they'll help develop you. If you're, if you're nervous,
I'm sure they'll, they'll be gentle and, and bring you
(29:40):
in and teach you the ropes.
Speaker 1 (29:42):
Someone is better than no one. I mean, at this point,
games are actually getting canceled. I know during football season
we had to reschedule games
to make sure that the small amount of football officials
we had could work all the games in the county.
Um I know in Key West High School I was
talking to coach Hughes, a lot of the, the football
referees down there are simply aging out and retiring. They
(30:03):
are already short for next year. So, and another thing,
it's a great way to get some exercise to get outside,
to reconnect or connect with the sport that you love.
Now, this is the moment that we wait until the
very end where we're gonna talk about, wait, we haven't
talked about
Speaker 2 (30:19):
wrestling at all. What?
Speaker 1 (30:20):
Wrestling?
Speaker 2 (30:21):
Yeah, it's wrestling season, boys and girls.
Speaker 1 (30:23):
It's wrestling season. So, what is going on in wrestling? Uh,
Speaker 2 (30:28):
last week Coral Shores and Key West went to two
different tournaments. Um, Coral Shores. Their lighter weight guys did
really well. I think they picked up maybe three wins or,
you know, somebody got a 2nd, 1/4. So the lighter
weights are doing great and that's where they
have been talented the last few seasons. Key West, on
the other hand, their talent has been the heavyweights, the
big boys, but this year I'm, I'm not 100% sure.
(30:50):
I haven't, haven't talked to Chaz yet. Um, coaching me
down there but the, they picked up a few wins
and they did pretty well. The girls are doing great
again this year. Um, Briggs sisters are gone. So, the,
the State Medalists, um, you know, runner up, wonderful Briggs
sisters have moved on unfortunately. But they already have, they
get recruited somewhere. No, they have actually
one graduated and, and then the family moved
Speaker 1 (31:11):
out of town. One is actually wrestling in college.
Speaker 2 (31:13):
Correct. Yes, she's, she's over at Avila University with a
couple of the football players, um, from the Dolphins. So
she's having some collegiate success. But the, the wrestling programs
are doing well and this weekend is a big deal
for Keys wrestling. The two schools, Coral Shores and Key
West because marathon does not have wrestling. Key West and
Coral Shores are gonna meet up in Key West along
(31:33):
with all the talent South Florida has to offer at
the big
annual Key West wrestling tournament. It's a big, I believe
it's a bit of a fundraiser for, for them down there.
So if you're interested in wrestling, go on down and
check out the Key West tournament. It's Friday night, I
think it starts about 430 all day Saturday, check out
the local wrestlers, you know, support the program because that's,
(31:54):
that's a grind that driving up to, you know, Orlando,
driving up to Fort Myers, driving all over the place.
It's hard, hard on a coach, hard on a team.
Give them your support, help them out.
Speaker 1 (32:05):
Is that the tournament that we went to last year,
we stepped in on that one last year. That's unbelievable. If,
if you have any,
any type of, I like amateur wrestling a little bit.
This is the tournament you need to go to. It's
not even like your standard wrestling tournament. Oh, I went
to a wrestling tournament in high school once and there's
one mat in the middle of the gym and you
(32:26):
watch these people wrestle, there's like 10 mat set up.
There's 10 air
is set up and there's all sorts of people wrestling
and everyone from all over the state teams from the
Panhandle teams from the Everglades, teams from Jacksonville. There's so
many teams here in Key West for this tournament. Let's
go out there and support them this weekend.
(32:49):
Now, can we move on to the athlete of the week?
All right. Awesome. So if you guys are listening to
this podcast, odds are you're reading the Keys Weekly and
within the Keys weekly sports. R one of the things
that Tracy loves to do, it's one of her favorite
things in the world is to honor and shine the
spotlight on one of our many athletes of the week
(33:10):
this week, the athlete of the week is Donovan.
In theory, he's a sophomore Coal Shores High School and
currently he's playing basketball. Why was he the athlete of
the week?
Speaker 2 (33:21):
Well, he had, he had, he put up 22 points
against Palm Glade's prep last week. He had quite, I
don't have the stats for him on Palmer, but he
did a great job there. He is, let's
Speaker 1 (33:32):
see,
18 points against Palmer for the 63 shooting guard and
he stole the ball three times and had seven rebounds
against Palmer. So that's a complete game right
Speaker 2 (33:42):
there. And that was, you know, they won that game
by a couple points. Now he is in some, in
some games. He is a, you know, the kind of
player that's assisting other people getting the rebounds, passing the
ball and then in other games, he's coming alive and
he's a sophomore. So that's exciting to see like this
young
really coming to his own. I have no idea what
this kid's gonna do. Junior year, senior year. He's already,
(34:04):
he's not, you know, a kid will say I can
dunk and you'll watch him and they, they sort of like,
you know, touch the rim as the ball comes off
the hand. This kid can dunk, he's getting air, he's,
his head's above the rim. His hands are, he is
a phenomenal athlete and I mean Coral Shores has this
gem and
it's, you know, bad news for key ring marathon for
(34:26):
the next few seasons.
Speaker 1 (34:27):
I do know he's also a baseball player. He also
carries a 4.42 weighted GPA in mostly A P classes
and you know, the, the world's opening up for him
and congratulations to Donovan. Congratulations to the family. I know
that they're both teachers and
I know that his one, grandmother was the deputy superintendent
(34:47):
here for a long time. So, congratulations to you guys. Um,
keep on keeping on. So, what are you looking forward
to most this upcoming week?
Speaker 2 (34:57):
I think some of the exciting, the exciting matches. Definitely.
Tonight's basketball games will be, will be a good one
between the girls of Marathon and Coral Shores and the,
you know, the boys Marathon, Coral Shores, the soccer match
with Marathon and Key West next week right before the break. And,
you know, I think that wrestling match is gonna be awesome. I,
I know that they've been working hard. Key West has,
(35:21):
they're the perennial district champions. They have so many of
them that they're running out of space
on the gym wall. So I think those are some
of the key things to watch and then these athletes,
they need a little bit of a break for Christmas too.
You know, we get tired as, as teachers and the
kids get tired of students. But these athletes have been
on a grind that traveling. If you're from Key West,
you're in that, that bus atmosphere or van atmosphere for
(35:43):
hours on end. Same with the coaches, everybody needs a
break
and I, I'm actually looking forward to the break the most,
but as far as matches and, and tournaments go, those
home team or community events. I think those are the
most exciting.
Speaker 1 (36:00):
Let's all go out and support all of our teams
this upcoming week. Let's have a big showing at the
Key West high school marathon soccer game because we love
inter Keys rivalries. So if you're in Key West and
you don't have anybody on the team, go check it out.
I'm sure they have a good concession and you know what,
the weather is really nice.
Speaker 2 (36:18):
They have a gorgeous
feel down there too. If you haven't seen it, if
you haven't been there, go check out the backyard. It's amazing. It's, it's,
they've got the turf, it's painted beautifully. They've got a
great atmosphere. A lot of fans will be out there. It's,
it's a great place to go and, you know, just
sit down, watch a game and then go do some
holiday shopping or, or what have you.
Speaker 1 (36:38):
Thank you guys so much for listening today and we're
looking forward to talking to you guys next week.
Popular Podcasts
Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang
Ding dong! Join your culture consultants, Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang, on an unforgettable journey into the beating heart of CULTURE. Alongside sizzling special guests, they GET INTO the hottest pop-culture moments of the day and the formative cultural experiences that turned them into Culturistas. Produced by the Big Money Players Network and iHeartRadio.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by Audiochuck Media Company.
The Brothers Ortiz
The Brothers Ortiz is the story of two brothers–both successful, but in very different ways. Gabe Ortiz becomes a third-highest ranking officer in all of Texas while his younger brother Larry climbs the ranks in Puro Tango Blast, a notorious Texas Prison gang. Gabe doesn’t know all the details of his brother’s nefarious dealings, and he’s made a point not to ask, to protect their relationship. But when Larry is murdered during a home invasion in a rented beach house, Gabe has no choice but to look into what happened that night. To solve Larry’s murder, Gabe, and the whole Ortiz family, must ask each other tough questions.