marc daniels university of central florida football
DELAND QUARTERBACK CLUB — Marc Daniels, second from left, talked about the past, present and future of University of Central Florida football at a recent meeting of the DeLand Quarterback Club. He also spoke about his career as the Voice of UCF, and told side stories about things happening while on the job and about Scott Frost, the former football coach at UCF and Nebraska. From left are Scott Weiss, Daniels, Bob Sharff and Becky McDonald, captain of the DeLand Quarterback Club. PHOTO BY FRANK WOOD

Volusia County Schools has announced that Superintendent Carmen J. Balgobin and VUE President Elizabeth Albert have agreed upon a plan for making up the instructional time lost due to the impact of Hurricane Ian. Instruction was suspended at all Volusia County public schools for five days due to the storm, resulting in a loss of 25 hours of instruction.

In order to recover instructional time lost and recognizing that changing the calendar to have school on previously identified makeup days may negatively impact family plans, an agreement has been reached to convert seven early-release Wednesdays to regular school days, recovering seven hours of instruction.

The identified dates are Oct. 26, Nov. 2, 16, 30, Dec. 7, 14 and Jan. 4. These dates will be regular school days and will not end an hour early. Any professional learning planned for these dates will be canceled. A revised calendar will be made available on the VCS website.

Students can get ahead with University of Florida Dual Enrollment. It is open to high-school juniors or seniors who meet the following criteria: 3.6 cumulative unweighted high-school GPA; and one of the following: SAT 1,100 composite; PSAT 1,130 composite (PSAT 10/NMSQT only); or ACT 22 composite.

For more information, go to dualenrollment.dce.ufl.edu.

There will be no school at Volusia County public schools Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 8, so all adults can go vote. Public schools will be closed Friday, Nov. 11, to observe Veterans Day.

Monday, Nov. 21, is the start of Thanksgiving Holiday Week, with students returning to school Monday, Nov. 28.

Heritage Middle School

Heritage Middle School in Deltona congratulates Dr. Allison Sheridan for being selected as one of the Social Studies Teachers of the Year by the Florida Council for the Social Studies.

Deltona High School

Three students at Deltona High School have been selected as Tomorrow’s Leaders: Katie Berrios, Natalie Bradley and Jimmie Stone.

Deltona High has also brought back “Future Me Friday,” with Destiny Daniels and Dylan Faster being selected this past month.

Pine Ridge High School

Jennifer Lupica, who teaches social studies at Pine Ridge High School in Deltona, has been selected as one of the Social Studies Teachers of the Year by the Florida Council for the Social Studies.

ESE teacher Holly Taylor has been named the school’s Teacher of the Year.

Pine Ridge has also recognized four teachers with special honors: David Peralta, Spirit of the Month; Lakiesha Callahan-Miller, Teacher of the Month; Sandra Gomez, Panther of the Month; and Christina Marrero, Classroom of the Month.

The Lady Panther volleyball team has won the FHSAA district tournament and will advance to the FHSAA regional competition.

Taylor Middle-High School

The soccer program at Taylor Middle-High School in Pierson is having a fundraiser by selling Fan Cloth shirts through www.fancloth.shop/sukec. The sale ends Friday, Nov. 11. See a member of the soccer teams for additional information.

The Wildcat 5K road race will be at 7:30 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 12. The event is walker-friendly, and is open to all levels. Go to https://runsignup.com/Race/FL/Pierson/TaylorWildcat5K to register, which costs $25; student entry costs $15, and the Virtual 5K costs $20. Packet pickup is 3-5 p.m. Friday, Nov. 11, at the high-school concession stand next to the track at 100 E. Washington Ave. in Pierson, or at 6:15 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 12.

West Volusia high-school football

On the evening of Oct. 21, there were only three football games featuring West Volusia high schools. DeLand High was the only one with a win that night, as the DeLand Bulldogs downed Orange City University, 50-0. Pierson Taylor lost to Keystone Heights, 38-0, and Deltona Trinity Christian Academy was stopped by Mount Dora Christian Academy, 50-0. Deltona High and Pine Ridge of Deltona had the night off.

Friday, Nov. 4, is the last night of regular-season high-school football. Any games after that will be part of the FHSAA playoff system, leading up to the state championships.

DeLand is playing two games this week: On Tuesday, Nov. 1, the Bulldogs will make up their game with Spruce Creek, which was postponed due to Hurricane Ian. Then the Bulldogs will play again Friday, Nov. 4, against Flagler Palm Coast for Senior Night. Both games will be at 7 p.m. in Spec Martin Memorial Stadium in DeLand.

Other games Nov. 4 have Deltona at Orange City University and Pine Ridge of Deltona at Port Orange Atlantic; Pierson Taylor travels to Daytona Beach to face Father Lopez. All games are at 7 p.m.

West Volusia high-school cross-country

All the West Volusia high schools with a cross-country team moved in the FHSAA district play Oct. 22. Those teams in the eight top positions of their district tournament move on to regional competition, along with the top three individuals whose teams did not advance.

DeLand High and Orange City University competed in the District 4A-2 meet at West Orange High School. Neither of the girls’ teams advanced, while both boys’ teams did.

The DeLand Lady Bulldogs placed 10th, whi le the University Lady Titans were 11th. However, two members of the University girls’ team advanced, as they were the second and third individually: Morgan Harvill was in 11th place at 20:03.90, and Hannah Judge was 13th at 20:10.40.

DeLand High’s Sydney Neira was the fourth individual just missing advancing as she placed 15th at 20:31.6.

The University Titan boys were fifth overall, while DeLand was seventh. Corey Johnson led the way for the Titans with a 13th-place finish with a time of 16:57.3, while the front-runner for DeLand was Riley Garrison in 27th at 17:46.30.

The other point-scorers for University and advancing are Chase Penna, Royce Eggert, Tyler Sintscha and Mason Brown. Advancing for the Bulldogs will be Diego De La Vega, James Gannon, Michael Mandell and Jesse Pack.

Deltona and Pine Ridge competed in the District 3A-3 meet at Winter Springs High School. The Deltona boys placed fifth and the Pine Ridge boys were 12th, while neither school had a full girls’ squad.

Leading the way for the Deltona boys was Carlos Cerrud, who finished 11th with a time of 17:58.2. His teammates Lincoln Davis, Lowell Cummings, Renn Telles and Richard Cueto will advance.

William Steinebach was 17th overall for Pine Ridge at 18:21.1. The top girl runner for Pine Ridge was Nancy Peters, along with Raegan Hatch for Deltona.

The girls’ and boys’ teams from Pierson Taylor advanced as they competed in 2A-3 district, with the girls finishing third and the boys finishing fifth. The boys’ squad was led by Arnulfo Cabrera Lopez in 11th place at 19:15.0, while advancing with him will be Ezequiel Mancilla, Steven Aguirre, Rayli Hernandez and Jose Mendez.

The Taylor Lady Wildcats were led by ninth-grader Dayamy Mancilla in 15th at 23:12.0. Vanessa Alejo, Ashley Fuentes, Ava Castro and Linda Aviles will be going to regional with her.

West Volusia middle-school cross-country

The championship race for the Volusia County middle-school cross-country program took place Oct. 22 at DeLand Middle School, with the DeLand Southwestern Middle School boys winning the crown for the boys’ competition and the girls’ team of Ivy Hawn Charter School in Lake Helen winning the girls’ crown.

The Ivy Hawn girls scored 46 points to outdistance Daytona Beach Hinson and DeLand Middle School, each of which had 83 points. DeLand placed third with a tie-breaker.

Other West Volusia schools placing included Orange City River Springs in seventh, Deltona Galaxy Middle in eighth, Southwestern in ninth and Deltona Middle in 10th. Deltona Heritage did not have a full team.

The other schools in the meet were New Smyrna Beach Middle, Ormond Beach Middle, Port Orange Creekside Middle, the Burns School, Port Orange Silver Sands Middle and Holly Hill School.

Ivy Hawn was led by Kyleigh Morales in second place with a time of 14:50.0 for the 2-mile course, while also on the Ivy Hawn group that scored points were Justice Lott, Alice Acuna, Jayme Dillon and Sophia Lefiles.

The top runner for the other West Volusia girls’ squads were DeLand’s Kaitlyn Hansen at 15:32.97, River Springs’ Sophia Weinrich at 15:36.15, Galaxy’s Juliana Ortega at 16:53.02, Southwestern’s Alexis Martinez at 15:31.71, Deltona’s Viviana Hurtado at 16:09.48, and Heritage’s Haxeleigh Zillman at 18:43.40.

The Southwestern boys scored 65 points to win, while Ivy Hawn was third with 83. The other West Volusia middle-school finishers were DeLand in seventh, Galaxy in eighth, Heritage in ninth and River Springs in 10th, while Deltona Middle did not have a full team.

The champion Southwestern Tigers were led to the finish by Solomon Lorenzo in fifth place at 12:43.78. Also scoring for Southwestern were James Johnson, Will Murray, Evan Paulino and Chad Carwile.

Other front-runners for the other West Volusia schools were Connor York for Ivy Hawn, who won the race in first with a time of 11:46.33; DeLand’s Roch Sias at 13:55.44; Galaxy’s Kaden Garcia at 14:17.97; Heritage’s Daniel Morales at 14:39.62; River Springs’ Israel Mullins at 15:32.47; and Deltona’s Connor Rivera at 12:32.47.

DeLand High School Athletics

The DeLand High School Lady Bulldog volleyball team claimed the championship trophy for their FHSAA district tournament. They defeated Spruce Creek, 3-0 (25-21, 25-15, 25-20) and Lake Mary, 3-0 (25-23, 25- 20, 25-20).

The Bulldog boys’ bowling team claimed the Five Star Conference title. Prior to the tournament, the boys defeated Matanzas, who were 13-0 in regular-season play.

The DeLand High School football program would like to thank the following for being Helmet Sponsors: The Baumgartner Company, Gunby & Company/ Raymond James, United Southern Bank, Maureen Kemp of Kemp Realty Group, Morgan and Beth Gilreath, Big Rig 2, Taylor and Nordman, P.A., Mr. and Mrs. Michael Nordman, Aero Door International, LLC, and Steen Associates, LLC (Dr. and Mrs. Mac Steen).

Stetson University

Stetson University will be adding two new university holidays to its 2023 calendar: Juneteenth (June 19) and Veterans Day (Nov. 11). The latter will be an official holiday for students, faculty and staff.

Stetson University Athletics

The Stetson University women’s basketball schedule has been announced, with the Lady Hatters’ first game of the season being played at home at 7 p.m. Monday, Nov. 7, against Flagler. Highlights on the schedule include games with Miami, Furman, Louisiana Tech and Florida State.

The home schedule besides the Flagler game includes Johnson on Tuesday, Nov. 15; Furman on Saturday, Nov. 19; Denver on Friday, Dec. 2; UNC Greensboro on Thursday, Dec. 15; Winthrop on Sunday, Dec. 18; Akron on Monday, Dec. 19; North Florida on Monday, Jan. 2; Central Arkansas on Thursday, Jan. 12; North Alabama on Saturday, Jan. 14; Bellarmine on Thursday, Jan. 26; Eastern Kentucky on Saturday, Jan. 28; Florida Gulf Coast on Saturday, Feb. 11; Austin Peay on Thursday, Feb. 16; Lipscomb on Saturday, Feb. 18; and Jacksonville State on Wednesday, March 1. The ASUN Tournament will be March 4-11.

The Stetson men’s soccer team lost to Lipscomb, 2-1, with Alessandro Gabbani scoring the Hat goal. The Lady Hatter soccer team lost to the same school, 1-0.

The Stetson football team played a close game with Dayton, but lost, 23- 20. The Hats travel to St. Thomas in St. Paul at 2 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 12, while they close out their 2022 season with a home game against Presbyterian at 1 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 19.

The Lady Hatter volleyball team dropped three games by losing to Central Arkansas, 3-2 (19-25,25- 18, 20-25, 27-25, 11-15); to Liberty, 3-0 (22-25, 22-25, 12-25); and to Florida Gulf Coast, 3-0 (27-29, 12-25, 10-25).

The Stetson home athletic calendar has the volleyball team hosting Bellarmine Friday, Nov. 4, and Eastern Kentucky Saturday, Nov. 5, with both matches starting at 6 p.m. in the Edmunds Center.

The men’s basketball team plays host to Johnson at 7 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 10, while the women’s team travels to Miami the same day to play at 11 a.m.

College honors

PHOTO COURTESY ABRAHAM BALDWIN AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE

Cydney Slapa, an animal-science major from Deltona, has been selected to serve as the president of the ABAC Ambassadors, one of the most prestigious organizations on the Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College campus in Tifton, Georgia. The Ambassadors assist the college by representing and promoting the college at a variety of community and campus events. They work to maintain positive relationships among students, faculty, alumni and the community.

— Send school news to Tony Tussing via email: at flacoach43@hotmail.com.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here