Last season, under the direction of first-year head coach Rick Casko, the Seminole Ridge High School football program fell just shy of making the post season. But this spring, the Hawks are busy acquiring experience for a young squad that graduated 26 seniors.
“We have tremendous chemistry, and the kids worked hard in the weight room; they’re a good bunch of kids,” Casko explained. “There’s a lot of inexperience, but they’re working really hard. We’re going to go through spring, and that’s what we do this for; get these kids experience.”
The Hawks have moved to a new district for the upcoming season. Instead of facing Wellington, Palm Beach Central, Jupiter and Palm Beach Gardens in district play, Seminole Ridge will now sit amidst the likes of perennial power William T. Dwyer, Palm Beach Lakes, Royal Palm Beach and Martin County. The Hawks are known to never back away from a challenge and welcome the new adversaries.
Key returning players expected to take leadership roles for the team will include standout receiver Brandon Schabert, who just received an offer from Syracuse University. “Brandon is probably out for the spring, since he has a little hamstring injury,” Casko noted.
Reyan Blake and Logan Feuerback both return and will likely lead the way as two-way starters for the Hawks. The two rising seniors will anchor the receiving corps on offense and line up in the Seminole Ridge secondary on defense. Both have good speed and will be difficult to deal with on either side of the ball.
On defense, the Hawks will look to returning standout Andre Fuller. At 6-foot-2 and 180 pounds, he will make opposing offensive units nervous in the secondary as a cornerback. “He is being recruited and will play receiver as well for us,” Casko said of Fuller.
The trenches are where the Hawks will have to focus much of their rebuilding on, graduating most of the team’s offensive and defensive lines, so there will be a young line looking to get experience during spring ball.
The Hawks also graduated one of the best kickers in the county in Daniel Friere. There are three kickers batting it out for the role: Hayden Gray, Joseph Montante and Spencer Sullivan.
One of the biggest voids to fill is the one left by graduating quarterback Kaimyn Castilla. “That’s a big one,” Casko said. “The kid is such a competitor and had such a great year.”
Rising senior Shane Gooslby played behind Castilla last season. He now looks to carry the torch to lead the Hawks offense, but will be challenged by a pair of younger, motivated quarterbacks. “I coach quarterbacks, and Shane is going to be working all summer,” Casko said.
The Hawks are preparing to see who can produce in their upcoming spring jamboree on Friday, May 24 at Cardinal Newman High School, where they will face the host Crusaders and Broward’s Archbishop McCarthy High School.
