TAMPA, Fla. — The Gaither High School football team is in the state semifinals for the second time in four seasons. But making it that far this season was not expected after a 2-5 start.
“We knew it was a slim chance, but we knew we’d somehow make it happen,” defensive tackle Antonio Henley said.
The Gaither players and coaches believed and they can pinpoint the exact moment their season turned around.
“What happened, we played Jesuit,” head coach Kirk Karsen said.
Back in week seven, Gaither took Jesuit, the top team in the state, over and lost 36-35. That loss dropped them to 2-5.
“We clicked when we played Jesuit,” Henley said. “That’s when the team started believing. Got on that groove. We lost by one point in overtime. After that, we started blowing teams out.”
“I think it was just the confidence in that game, just knowing we can play with that team,” quarterback Jayce Nixon added. “That team was pretty hot, too. We were waiting for that rematch and we got it.”
Gaither has not lost since — six straight wins while avenging their regular season loss against Jesuit last week in the Class 3M Region Championship.
“What it did for us is it galvanized us,” Karsen said. “Me and the coaches believed this was a really good football team. We just played a brutal schedule.”
They will now travel to Ft. Lauderdale to take on St. Thomas Aquinas, who is 12-1 and ranked number six in America. Henley, who has 21 sacks this season, welcomes the challenge.
“It’s going to be some real competition,” he said. “I haven’t faced any real competition. It’s just been easy for me lately. I’m really excited to see how I perform against a top team.”
“It’s your measuring stick,” Karsen added. “You want to find out where you are as a program. You want to find out where you are as a coach. I’m sure they want to find out where they are as players. You couldn’t ask for a better measuring stick.”
