Broward

HIGHLANDS CHRISTIAN

Highlands experienced a coaching change in the middle of the summer after former coach Morgan Haut stepped down.

Athletic director Reg Cook hired Bob Goff as Haut's replacement.

PINE CREST

Pine Crest chose the wrong time to be an independent.

The Panthers, who end a two-season hiatus from district play after this year, made remarkable strides in 2007. The team finished 6-4 and found emerging quarterback Nick Becker.

Even though the independent status disqualifies Pine Crest from the playoffs, Becker said the approach remains the same.

"That's something you always look forward to," he said. "Not having that, you just have to go out and compete every game, just have a goal to win every game and then go from there."

Players realize the work they are putting in during the transitional period is laying the foundation for future success.

"People are becoming more and more committed," Panthers senior receiver/defensive back Marvin Pierre said. ". . . We're going to be in a district next year. Kids are getting into the system. Kids are working hard coming into the summer. Coaches are instilling in us the work ethic that good teams are supposed to have."

Even though the playoffs are beyond reach, the Panthers still have goals.

"We've been working hard all summer," said Becker, who passed for more than 1,700 yards and 18 touchdowns last season as a sophomore. "We were 6-4 last year. I think we can go undefeated. That's our goal -- to go undefeated."

POSNACK JEWISH

Posnack's athletic program has steadily gained in stature every season.

The Rams took what many around the school consider the biggest step last year when they announced the formation of a football team.

"We're still in shock that our school that our school is actually having it," Posnack Jewish running back/defensive back Zack Leeds said. "I remember the first day that we had that meeting, we're all sitting there just kind of like in awe and amazement of what's about to happen."

The school hired Jay Horwitt to coach the team. Leeds estimates only "one or two" players have a football background, with many -- including himself -- coming over from soccer.

"You've got people that are on so much different of a level than other people," Leeds said. "The coaches are balancing it out. That's been a little hard. It's toughened a lot of us up that haven't played any sort of physical sports."

Despite having yet to play a game, the team has already brought members of the school closer.

"We've had state championship-caliber soccer teams, and we're competitive in a lot of our sports," Leeds said. "But there's never been an atmosphere in the school and the unity that a football team has. People that didn't even know each other, even that we're a small school, we're just sitting around in our free time [talking about football]."

SOMERSET ACADEMY

When Somerset Academy announced it was going to start a football team, interest among the school's student population was high. More than 100 signed up in November, and the team takes the field for varsity competition this fall.

"We had, originally, 100 sign ups last November, pledging themselves to actually do the program," Somerset Academy left tackle Mathias Rodriguez said. "To come into it myself, I thought this would be a fun opportunity to finally play sports as a team and also as a family for the school."

Rodriguez said the initial stages were trying.

"The first day of practice was very intense physically," he said. "I've never done anything like it before. I know some of the players on the football team beforehand. Learning about everyone else was kind of different. It was a brand new experience."

Not being a student of the game, Rodriguez went purely on what his coaches told him.

"Coach told me where to go, and I stuck with it," said Rodriguez, a second-team nose guard. "I'm not very big on football. My original intention was, 'Oh I get to hit people? Yeah.'"

With the first game just days away, the excitement is building.

"It's a first-year program, and, for most people, this is their first year ever playing football," Rodriguez said. "It's an exciting new experience for all of us. We've been waiting for this for a few years, maybe four or five. It's a brand new opportunity for all of us. We're excited to start the new year."

WEST BROWARD

West Broward, comprised of students from several schools, opens its doors for the first time this August, although a certain group of its students spent much of the summer together.

The football team begins play in the school's inaugural year, and many players are thrilled to be part of the growing process.

"It's exciting," said Bobcats quarterback Christopher Leyva, who came over from Cypress Bay. "It's the first year the school has been built. This is pretty much going to be the building blocks for the rest of the years. It all depends on this."

Leyva believes the football team can provide an identity for his fellow first-year schoolmates and help form the school's traditions.

"I think it's going to be great," he said. ". . . Everyone's going to know. It's going to be a brand new school. There's going to be kids from all different places. Everyone's going to pretty much ride on this football team as an identity. This football team is going to be, pretty much, the identity of the school."

The school will play eight varsity games against other Broward schools, all of which gave up their bye weeks to play the Bobcats.

Leyva supports the idea of a varsity schedule in Year One.

"I like that," he said. "I like a challenge. I think it will be better for us. . . . We're playing varsity, yeah, it's going to be a disadvantage. We don't have any seniors, but still that's just going to help us build up. We're just going to get better and better.

WESTLAKE PREP

Two years ago, Westlake Prep offensive lineman/defensive lineman Claudyson Calixte did not know much of his future.

He figured he would go to college locally and try to earn his degree.

After he joined the football team last year, however, Calixte's plans have changed. He starred for Westlake as a junior and said he has been in contact with Auburn, Miami and Georgia -- among others -- about continuing his football career in college.

"I had no plans," he said. "My plan was going to Miami Dade College before football. I finally played football, and I fell in love with it."

Calixte, who projects to an offensive lineman in college, never played football before last year.

"Last year was my first year playing football," he said. "I never played. . . . I caught on really quick. A lot of people say that. When I go to camps, I do whatever I have to do. We have good coaches."

Over the past couple of months, Calixte's performance at various camps helped him attract interest from numerous colleges.

"I've been getting a lot of attention," Calixte said. "There's a lot of attention. We have a recruiting coordinator. We didn't have him last year. He's been bringing in a lot of scouts, and I've been going to combines and stuff like that and showing off what I've got."