- Oak Hall volleyball team, led by first-year coach Gianna Hooper, is 7-0 and will appear on The Prep Zone Sports Show Wednesday from 6 to 7 p.m.
- Gainesville Hurricanes football team, 0-2, faces Suwannee Bulldogs, 2-0, Friday at Live Oak’s Paul Langford Stadium in their first meeting since 2006.
- Class 3A Eastside Rams (0-2) will host 5A Buchholz Bobcats (2-0), ranked No. 4 in 5A, in an Alachua County football showdown at Citizens Field.
The Oak Hall volleyball team and first-year head coach Gianna Hooper will be guests on “The Prep Zone Sports Show” from locally owned Sonic Drive-In of Gainesville (Archer Road) from 6 to 7 p.m. on Wednesday.
The Class 2A Eagles are off to a 7-0 start following a five-set win against Rural regional finalist Union County (Lake Butler) on Tuesday. They have wins against defending Rural state champion Branford, 3A regional quarterfinalist Newberry, and they handed P.K. Yonge its first loss in a quad match this past Saturday.
Join Mainstreet Daily News sports director Mike Ridaught as he talks about Oak Hall’s season, Hooper’s first year with the program, and a potential playoff spot.
You can listen to the show ‘live’ and ‘archived’ online at ThePrepZone.com and Mainstreet Daily News (MDN).
Our first two football broadcasts were each decided by single digits.
Buchholz defeated Vanguard, 34-28, in overtime in Week 1 at Booster Stadium in Ocala, followed by Hawthorne winning an 8-0 defensive slugfest at home against Newberry last Friday.
This Friday night, we head north to Live Oak’s Paul Langford Stadium as the Suwannee Bulldogs host the Gainesville Hurricanes.
GHS (0-2) opened the season with a 28-26 overtime loss at home to Belleview, then fell 43-6 to rival Buchholz this past Friday night.
First-year head coach Ashour Peera, who didn’t join the program until June, said before the season that his team would be taking things quarter by quarter.
“The way I would assess the start of the season is our guys are very resilient,” Peera said. “They’re learning to deal with adversity. They knew what they were in for this year.”
Last year the Purple Hurricanes finished just 2-8 under then-head coach Ian Scott. Their current record is not indicative of the progress they have already made as a program.
“Some of the things that happened to us, like Sebastian’s (Jimenez) deportation deal and a few other internal things, were unexpected, but our guys have handled it,” Peera said. “They’ve been business as usual and they’re continuing to improve and grow daily within our program. And they’ve really changed the culture at the school with just how they conduct themselves and how they handle themselves on a day-to-day basis.”
Both teams combined for just three victories last season. However, the Class 3A Bulldogs (2-0) have already doubled their number of wins from last season when they finished 1-9.
“They’re very well coached, tough group of kids,” Peera said. “Suwannee has a long history of good football out there, so we’re excited and looking forward to going out there and playing.”
Suwannee head coach Kyler Hall is in his 11th season with the ‘Dogs.
“Yeah, it’s wild how quickly the years go by,” Hall said. “I have enjoyed being back home, being able to coach alongside guys that I grew up playing with, guys that coached me, and now you know the group of players coming through; I went to school with their parents, so it’s kind of full circle. My kids are coming up in the high school ranks now, so I’ve really enjoyed it. We’ve seen a lot of great times, there’s been some tough times, a little bit in between, but year 11, I’m thankful for the opportunity. I’m excited about this year, and hopefully we’ll make this a great year.”
Suwannee opened the season with a 35-0 win at Crystal River, followed by a 38-6 win at home last week against Lafayette (Mayo).
“We were in so many close games (last year), games that came down to the last couple of minutes with overtime; a lot of the games were decided by just a handful, and we were very young in many areas,” Hall said. “But many of those guys are back, and when you go through some growing pains and tough losses, you can pack up and run, or you can figure out how to get better and continue to work and I’ve seen this group do that.”
This is the first meeting between the Hurricanes (0-2) and the Bulldogs (2-0) since GHS defeated Suwannee, 21-13, in 2006.
Join Mainstreet Daily News Sports Director Mike Ridaught (Play-by-play) and former Gator football player Hank Rone (Color).
Coverage begins at 7 p.m. on 106.9 FM “I am Country,” followed by the kickoff at 7:30 p.m. In addition to radio, audio coverage of the game is available at IamCountryGainesville.com.
Class 3A Eastside will host 5A Buchholz in an Alachua County showdown at Citizens Field featuring two teams heading in opposite directions.
The Rams (0-2) lost at Fort White, 28-13, in Week 1, followed by a 39-15 loss at home to Forest (Ocala) last Thursday at Citizens Field.
Buchholz (2-0), which has wins against Vanguard and GHS, is currently ranked No. 4 in 5A by MaxPreps and 17th overall in Florida.
Last year, the Bobcats pulled away in the second half for a 29-19 win against the Rams for their 12th straight win in the series.
Join Cam Parker (Play-by-play) and former University of Wisconsin football player/coach Mac McCray (Color) beginning at 7:15 p.m. on MDN. Kickoff is at 7:30 p.m.
