Coral Springs cheer squad wins first state title

Coral Springs coach Annette Goldstein didn’t need the final results to consider her cheer squad’s rise this year “a little fairy tale.”

The Colts already held the Broward County title, upending three-time state champs Coral Glades in the process. On Saturday night, they made the state finals for the first time in school history.

The best fairy tales, though, have a happy ending. And that came to pass, too — dethroning their crosstown rivals to win a tightly contested showdown for the Class 2A Small Non-Tumbling crown.

“It was a little bit of a surprise,” Goldstein said after the results were announced at Silver Spurs Arena in Kissimmee. “The competition was phenomenal. The No. 2 team, the No. 3 team — it could have been any one of us.”

The Colts scored 81.75 points on their final routine, finishing just 1.5 points ahead of Coral Glades. Taravella was a distant third, giving city schools a sweep of the top three spots.

More hardware was to come from the Class 1A Small Non-Tumbling results, where Coral Springs Charter completed its own Cinderella story — and a roller-coaster evening — with runner-up honors behind Callahan West Nassau.

Proceedings were held up for nearly 20 minutes after the Panthers’ routine, when Jillian Schibelli went down with a likely concussion after catching a wayward elbow from a teammate as they celebrated their performance.

“They just kind of let go of their stunts to hug each other, and that’s when her flyer kind of elbowed her in the head,” coach Emonii Word said. “They were all real close in that pyramid, so that’s why it happened.”

Schibelli was taken to a local hospital for observation, missing the medal ceremony for a team that essentially began anew after the school didn’t field a team last year.

“They started in September [by learning] basic skills, and now it’s elite skills,” Word said. “Usually it takes teams two or three years to get those skills.

Coral Glades happened to be next up after the Panthers, enduring a long wait backstage while Schibelli was attended to.

In that sense, it might have been a fitting end to a season of adversity for the Jaguars, who lost one of their key performers to a broken thumb after regionals. Coach Chelsie Kazanjian also was without top assistant Caitlin Plante, on bed rest during a tough pregnancy.

“It’s been a rough few weeks,” Kazanjian said, “but they pulled it together.”

The most heartbreaking performance of the weekend belonged to Florida Christian, which looked primed for its first state title in 1A Small Non-Tumbling — until Kaylee Padron lost balance atop a lift, came down and injured her right knee.

With Padron unable to get back up, the Patriots lost the center of their closing pyramid sequence. As trainers checked her knee afterward, several teammates crumpled to the floor in sobs in a nearby exit tunnel.

“I knew she was hurt, because she doesn’t stay down,” coach Alicia Rivera said. “Initially, you see she’s not getting up — what’s wrong? And then I think it sets in for everybody — that’s it. It was over for us.”

FCS wound up seventh. “We thought we had it,” said Rivera, her voice cracking. “They’re heartbroken, but it happens.”

GIRLS’ BASKETBALL

BOYS’ BASKETBALL

This story was originally published January 31, 2015 at 10:58 PM with the headline "Coral Springs cheer squad wins first state title."