Familiar faces meet each other in their first district game

District games means crunch time in high school football. 

They are critical for determining if a team will make it to playoffs, as well as their rankings. And if you want to be set up for success, you need to win them. Winning a district championship is even more critical, because that can allow a school to achieve an automatic spot in the playoffs, but that comes later in the season. 

Dr. Phillips and Olympia High Schools are two teams that compete every year in a district game, and they will meet again on Friday, Sept. 26. The contest is the first district game of the season for both schools and their coaches —  who are off-field friends. 

Olympia’s head coach Travis Gabriel was hired in 2018 and regarded Dr. Phillips head coach Rodney Wells as a friend and a mentor. Wells played for Dr. Phillips when he was in high school and has coached the Panthers since 2011. He was inducted into the Dr. Phillips Athletic Hall of Fame in May 2019.

During Wells’ time as a Panther student-athlete, he played with Gabriel’s brother, Doug. Gabriel went back to South Florida to finish playing there but has been back in the Orlando area for more than 20 years, Wells said. 

“When he was coaching at Boone, we were close, and (that continued) when he got the head coaching job (at Olympia),” Wells said. “We always talk once or twice a week about life, football. We’re good friends.”

Wells said a lot of the head coaches in the area are close friends because nobody else truly understands the weight they have on their backs on a weekly basis. 

“As a head coach, everything falls on you — every single football player in the program, along with the community, along with raising money,” he said. “It’s a tough job. So we all lean on each other and talk to each other about — not just football, but off-the-field issues.”

Heading into a game with a friend across the sidelines doesn’t make the game any different. 

Each team is going to play their hearts out, especially with a district win on the line. But no matter who wins, the coaches will hug afterward and talk about the game. 

“Maybe we’ll go get some wings,” Wells said. 

Tracking back to their last three seasons, Olympia won in 2022. Dr. Phillips returned the favor in 2023 during regular season and in a playoff matchup. Last year, the Panthers blew out Olympia, 42-0. 

Wells described Friday’s tilt as a playoff game because of the point system. 

“We have two goals every year, and one goal is to win the district, and the other goal is go 5-0 in the playoffs,” Wells said. “This being the first district game, it’s a big game and regardless of the records, Olympia is always a good game. 

Olympia is currently sitting at 1-4 this season, while Dr. Phillips is 4-1. 

PANTHERS WITH HOME-FIELD ADVANTAGE 

Dr. Phillips has the home-field advantage this time around. 

The Panthers have played five out of its 10 games this season and Wells has seen an abundance of positives. 

“The biggest thing is the leadership of the team, which is usually difficult at the beginning of the season because we lost 30 seniors last year,” he said. “A lot of these guys are new starters. … The guys we got, the team I chose to be captains have been doing a great job.”

This season the team has been prioritizing working on its chemistry. During the game against Ocoee Friday, Sept. 12, Dr. Phillips was down but the team stayed believing in each other, which made Wells proud. 

“They kept playing, “ he said. “They had to fight through adversity because our starting quarterback went down with an ankle sprain, so our backup quarterback ended up going in and wanted the game for us. I just saw the belief and the team spirit the whole time.” 

The Panthers’ starting quarterback, Camren West, was injured during the third quarter against Ocoee. Wells said he has had improvements in his ankle and has returned to practice since then. But he hasn’t been cleared yet to play against Olympia. Because of the tenderness of ankles, the staff wants to make sure West is 100%, so he doesn’t have a repeat injury. 

The injury has given sophomore backup, Tien Williams, the opportunity to showcase his talents and future. Developing the younger players is one of the things Wells loves about his job. 

“That’s the fun part, seeing guys grow, develop and get offers and go off to school,” he said. “The family part of it is big. We preach faith and family as we teach football.” 

He asks his players for three things: a 3.0 GPA, never get in trouble and participate in every activity they have in season and off season. Wells sees tremendous growth from the players who follow that and listen to the coaches who are “some of the best in the state of Florida.”