Dr. Phillips football motivated to finish this fall -- Observer Preps

Heartbreak comes with the territory.

It seems like an inescapable truth for a program with as much success and tradition as the Dr. Phillips High football team. When you’re good enough to be a state-title contender each fall, anything less than a championship is going to be a disappointment.

Sure, winning more games than most programs could dream of, being relevant every season and graduating player after player into the college football ranks is better than the alternative.

But conversely, losses in the state playoffs sting more than any regular-season defeat.

For Dr. Phillips’ Class of 2018 alone, there has been the 24-21 loss to Manatee in the regional championship in 2014; the 20-19 loss to Osceola in the regional championship in 2015; and then there is the headliner of the bunch — the 14-10 loss to Miami Southridge in last fall’s FHSAA Class 8A State Championship.

After leading 10-0 through three quarters that night Camping World Stadium, Dr. Phillips was outscored 14-0 in the game’s final quarter. 

It was a painful final act for the Panthers’ Class of 2017 seniors, a group head coach Rodney Wells has said is the best to come through the program.

Fortunately, painful losses are something Wells, a veteran coach and a Dr. Phillips standout during his own varsity career, embraces.

“They’re going to carry that pain from the state championship throughout every practice and throughout everything that we do. All those guys that were on the field, they have a chip on their shoulders — they want to get back and finish.”

— Rodney Wells

“They’re going to carry that pain from the state championship throughout every practice and throughout everything that we do,” Wells said. “All those guys that were on the field, they have a chip on their shoulders — they want to get back and finish.”

That journey starts with the Panthers’ Aug. 24 opener against Orange City’s University High. It will be followed by the usual murderer’s row of big games that Wells likes to schedule, with opponents including Timber Creek, West Orange, Apopka and Daytona Beach’s Mainland High.

The mission is to finish, but although there are a handful of returning starters who were on the field to feel that pain in downtown Orlando last December, there are also plenty of newcomers and returners who will be thrust into completely new roles.

Luckily, Wells’ affinity for scheduling tough opponents extends to the spring and the preseason, so Dr. Phillips already has a good idea of where it stands after a convincing win over Winter Park — a regional finalist in 2016 — in the spring and an exciting 30-27 loss to Osceola — state runner-up in 2015 — Aug. 18 in a Kickoff Classic.

“We’ve got a young group that’s eager,” Wells said. “I’m happy with the mesh.”

Standing out among the crop of newcomers is East Ridge-transfer quarterback BeSean McCray. McCray, who joined the team earlier this year for the spring season, has been around his teammates for long enough to understand their motivation to return to the state final.

“I feel like I lost, too,” McCray said.

Whether or not it was his teammates’ motivation, McCray must have been channeling something in his preseason debut for the Panthers. The senior signal-caller completed 20 of his 24 pass attempts, good for 235 yards and two touchdowns.

With offensive weapons such as Davarius Bargnare, Devodney Alford and Japerri Powell, coupled with McCray’s speedy mastery of the team’s system, the Panthers are looking forward to improving each week this season — and hopefully playing into late November and December, again.

Contact Steven Ryzewski at [email protected].