Each year, the Florida High School Athletic Association honors schools in each classification that best exemplify good sportsmanship. This year, Dr. Phillips High School received the Fred Rozelle Sportsmanship Award for Section 2 in Class 8A. Section 2 covers all of Central Florida from Ocala down through Osceola County. Dr. Phillips High School stresses the value of winning the right way. DP has not had a coach or player ejected from any contest in over four years. The addition of the Rozelle Award adds to an already impressive list of achievements by the program this year. DP finished the year as the Floyd E. Lay All-Sports Champion for women’s sports and third overall in Class 8A. Academically, the program finished 6th in the FHSAA’s Academic Team Championship standings.
At the annual Orlando Sentinel Varsity Awards show last night, Dr. Phillips won five awards and a runner-up finish in the Sentinel Super Six Varsity Cup standings. Six-time State Champion Bridget Blake collected another Central Florida Women’s Cross Country Runner of the Year Award and later in the evening, Blake earned her second Women’s Track and Field Athlete of the Year Award. Flag Football phenom Hannah Schaible, a three-sport star, earned her third straight Player of the Year honor and capped off a remarkable year by winning the Central Florida Female Athlete of the Year across all sports. Central Florida’s Female Team of the Year Award was presented to DP’s two-time defending State Champion Women’s Basketball team and at the end of the evening, the DP athletic program earned the runner-up trophy in the Varsity Cup standings. You can read lists of all DP athletics’ individual and team achievements at the links below:
Individual Achievements: http://dpathletics.ocps.net/announcement_view.asp?nid=23
Team Achievements: http://dpathletics.ocps.net/announcement_view.asp?nid=31
Dr. Phillips announced three coaching changes. DP Graduate and Softball coach Danielle Perrotti is now the school’s Athletic Trainer. County rules do not permit her to coach while being Athletic Trainer, so the new Softball coach is Ralph King. Coach King comes to DP from Harmony High School where he guided the Longhorns to the Class 4A State Championship game in 2011 and compiled a career record of 93-43-2 over ten years.
Sheila Taylor, who recently led Apopka’s Track and Field to a third-place finish in the 2012 State Championship, will start in the fall as the Cross Country and Track and Field coach. She replaces Peter Blount, who is stepping down. Coach Taylor has been a Panther before and coached at Olympia, Wekiva and Apopka before returning back to DP. She will head up both Cross Country teams this fall as well as both Track and Field teams in the spring.
