WATCH REPLAY: Prep Football Kickoff Classics Underway On Space Coast Daily TV
By Space Coast Daily // August 18, 2018
SPACE COAST DAILY TV SPECIAL PRESENTATION
SPACE COAST DAILY TV: The Friday Night Locker Room’s Orville Susong, Steve Wilson and Caleb Brown bring you the Brevard County Prep Football Kickoff Classic action as the Cocoa Tigers host the Clearwater Tornadoes.
SPACE COAST DAILY TV: Brevard County High School Football Kickoff Classic action features the Satellite Scorpions and Space Coast Vipers. On the call is Alan Zlotorzynski, Jordan Rocco and Gina Liberto.
SPACE COAST DAILY TV: Brevard County Prep Football Kickoff Classic action features Eau Gallie at Merritt Island.
BREVARD COUNTY, FLORIDA– The big story on the Space Coast this offseason has been the number of new head coaches that will walk Brevard County sidelines in 2018.
Starting with the Bayside Bears and former head coach Mike Nahl’s decision to step aside last November, right up until the middle of June when Titusville’s Wayne Lawrence also stepped down, the coaching carousel has been by far the top story over the spring and summer.
There were eight vacancies filled since the end of last season, and depending on where you are in the county, the two biggest vacancies filled during the offseason were the ones left by two of the winningest head coaches in the state – John Wilkinson of the Cocoa Tigers and Kevin Mays of the Viera Hawks.
Titusville 12 Seabreeze 3
One of those new head coaches made his debut last night as Andrew Capuano’s Titusville Terriers defeated Seabreeze in Daytona, 12-3.
Seabreeze hit the scoreboard first on a field goal and led 3-0 at halftime but they never scored another point as Terriers sophomore running back Jonathan Brown scored on touchdown runs of five and six yards in the third and fourth quarter to propel the Terriers to victory.
Titusville will face Melbourne next week in their regular season opener.
PALM BAY 34 MELBOURNE 7
Speaking of the Bulldogs, they were also in action on Thursday night but did not fare as well as Titusville did.
Melbourne traveled a few miles south on Babcock Street to take on Palm Bay and the Pirates dominated.
In search of his 24th playoff appearance in 25 years in 2018, Pirates head coach Dan Burke had his team in mid-season form. The Pirates did what they do best in winning 34-7 as they ran the ball, controlled the tempo of the game and played great defense.
Four Palm Bay runners reached paydirt in the contest.
Nate Wright started the scoring with a 61 touchdown run. Jaheim Mayes would score the next two Palm Bay touchdowns on runs of three and 27 yards. The Pirates led 21-0 at the half and after ‘Kobe Rutland and Michael Alves scampered into the end zone from three years out respectively, led 34-0 after three quarters.
The Bulldogs would finally score on a Davis Mallinger touchdown run but the game was well in hand. The Pirates will get set to host the Cocoa Tigers next week in their home opener, a game you will be able to see on Space Coast Daily TV.
FRIDAY GAMES:
Space Coast Daily TV will bring you three games tonight.
The team of Graham McGowan and Zach Clark will be on the campus of Merritt Island as new head coach Hurlie Brown and his Mustangs host the Eau Gallie Commodores and new head coach Christopher Sands.
The Mustangs reached the playoffs last season but haven’t won a district title in two years since winning five in a row from 2011-2015.
Brown, a 1987 graduate of Merritt Island and former University of Miami player, coached defensive backs and special teams for the Mustangs the last two seasons.
Sands was hired by AD Todd Oas at Eau Gallie High School to fill the coaching vacancy left when Tim Powers resigned last November. Sands joins the Commodores from Central High School in Brooksville, Florida, which is located north of Tampa in Hernando County.
The team of Alan Zlotorzynski, Jordan Rocco, and Gina Liberto will be on the campus of Satellite High School as the Scorpions host the Space Coast Vipers.
Under coach of the year Ted Kimmey, the Scorpions’ mantra in 2017 was to be and play uncommon. This led to an unexpected 8-2 finish and the team’s first home postseason win since the Reagan administration.
Taking over for Jake Ownes at Space Coast, new head coach Matt Diesel comes down a few miles from Titusville where he’s been the defensive coordinator the past five seasons. A graduate of Titusville, Diesel is the son of former Terrier head coach, Space Coast Sports Hall of Famer and Titusville county councilman, Dan Diesel.
The Friday Night Locker Room team of Steve Wilson and Orville Susong will be at the newly renamed Dick Blake Stadium in Cocoa, where the Tigers host the Clearwater Tornadoes.
Cocoa, the state runner-up in Class 4A last season, also has a new head coach for the first time in 14 years when they hired former UCF Knight quarterback Ryan Schneider.
Schneider spent last season as the offensive coordinator for the Melbourne Central Catholic Hustlers. Prior to that, he was winning state championships in that same role at St. Thomas Aquinas, and at University School.
The Tigers are loaded again in 2018, and while the end results aren’t expected to change much, how Schneider and his team achieve the result could be.
With Schneider at the helm, the Tigers are expected to throw the football more, something a few Tiger fans would have welcomed during last seasons Class 4A State Championship game loss to Raines.
The Tigers have one of the top players in the county in Mr. Everything, Willie Gaines, but leave no doubt that the football will see the air with more frequency than it ever has during the past 13 seasons in Cocoa.
Friday’s preseason games
- Eau Gallie at Merritt Island, 7
- Space Coast at Satellite, 7
- Clearwater at Cocoa, 7
- Astronaut at Centennial, 7
- Heritage at Winter Springs, 7
- Bayside at Harmony, 7
- Ft. Pierce Central at Holy Trinity, 7
- Merritt Island Christian at Bronson, 7
- Viera at Vero Beach, 7
Bold Games Broadcast on Space Coast Daily TV
Saturday’s preseason games
- Rockledge vs. Jacksonville Raines at Daytona Beach, 4:30
- Melbourne Central Catholic at Gulliver Prep, 7
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