Sports
What's New With the Newsome Wolves in 2011
The Wolfpack said goodbye to their leading receiver, Joe Worth, but his brother, QB Will Worth, is still a fixture on the team.
It’s a brand new season for the Wolves. They took the practice fields in their powder blue jerseys and helmets Monday for the first time in this 2011 season.
“You just don’t ever get tired of this,” said defensive backs coach Jason McCarty.
While many things remain the same for Newsome, many things are going to be different. Yes, they’re still going to run the Wing T. Yes, Will Worth is going to be the centerpiece of the offense.
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But , who was a captain and two-way star for last year's team, is gone, continuing his football career at Navy.
Newsome also makes the jump from Class 5A to Class 7A in 2011. Its new district is much the same as its old district. , while still on the schedule, jumps up to 8A and out of district, while Brandon and East Bay come in.
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East Bay will probably not pose much of a threat to break Newsome’s streak of three consecutive district titles. Brandon, however, finished 11-2 last season and could make it a three-horse race between Newsome, Plant City and Brandon. Durant cannot be counted out either.
The old Class 5A-District 6 (with 2010 records) looked like this:
- Newsome 8-4 (4-0 in district)
- Plant City 6-5 (3-1)
- Durant 7-4 (2-2)
- Bloomingdale 2-9 (1-3)
- Riverview 0-12 (0-4)
The change in district doesn’t hurt the Wolfpack too much, but the regional teams they will face in the playoffs — should they make them — will be tougher than what they’d see in 5A.
The new 7A District 8 looks like this:
- Newsome 8-4 (4-0)
- Brandon 11-2 (2-1)
- Plant City 6-5 (3-1)
- Durant 7-4 (2-2)
- East Bay 1-10 (0-3)
- Riverview 0-12 (0-4)
The schedule leads off with two very tough road games, at Tampa Bay Tech and Jefferson. Then they play Hillsborough. The back stretch of the season will be a real deciding factor in the district, with a road game at Brandon, a bye week, then home for Durant and and at Plant City, all district games. They close the season at Bloomingdale.
Head coach Ken Hiscock likes their chances to get that fourth consecutive district title.
“It’s our goal,” he said. “It’s a 14-week season; we want to get better every day.”
The turnout was impressive at the first week of practice. Hiscock said there were about 64 kids on the varsity team and 50 on the JV team. He expects 40 to 50 more to beef up the JV squad when school starts.
“We had a great offseason, a lot of younger guys came out; we have a small senior class and a big junior class,” Hiscock said.
The Wolves certainly seem to be headed in the right direction.
Stay tuned to Bloomingdale Patch as we go through the position battles next week.
