Justin Martin, who became the Key West High School athletic director at the beginning of the school year, will continue to coach the school’s girls’ soccer team as well. He admits that doing both is tough, but doable.
“We had a meeting recently that I couldn’t make,” Martin said of his soccer coaching duties, “but I have a lot of assistant coaches who filled in.” The team’s assistant coaches are JV head coach Daniel Waters, plus varsity assistants Woody Alfar, Megan Coe and former coach Scott Paul.
Martin indicated when he became AD that he still wanted to coach girls soccer and principal Larry Schmiegel indicated the two of them would see what the double load would look like. When no one applied for the coaching position, the answer was simplified — Athletic Director Martin is still Coach Martin.
The past long weekend looked to be a major sports weekend and it was, but it turned into a major sports news weekend as well. While sports fans (myself included) were wrapped up in Thursday’s NFL showdown between once-beaten Green Bay and unbeaten Arizona, it was announced that Florida Panthers NHL coach Joel Quenneville, whose team was unbeaten, had resigned, caught up in the Chicago Blackhawk sex scandal in which an assistant coach attacked a player. Quenneville, the Chicago coach four years ago, apparently knew about the crime and did nothing about it.
Also, during Thursday’s exciting game, it was announced that the Miami Marlins had signed shortstop Miguel Rojas for two years for a total of $10 million. The baseball season’s outstanding performers, including Baltimore’s Trey Mancini, the Comeback Player of the Year as he came back from colon cancer, were named. And in pro football, the Rooney Rule was essentially doubled, with teams looking for general managers or coordinators having to interview two minority candidates instead of one.
During Thursday’s college football game, a film clip was inserted showing Mississippi State coach Mike Leach humorously discussing his favorite Halloween candies. Leach has lived in Key West and when unemployed helped coach the Conchs.
I can’t get away without mentioning Thursday’s game in which Arizona became the last team to lose its perfect season status. Let the 1972 Miami Dolphins celebrate still being the only team with a perfect season. Green Bay won, 24-21, when newcomer Rasul Douglas, taken by Green Bay from Arizona’s practice squad just three weeks ago, intercepted a pass in the end zone with 15 seconds left. Of course, if the 5-yard pass had been complete, Arizona would have won. Or if the Cardinals had one more play, a short field goal would have tied it and forced overtime.
It was speculated that the top candidates for college football’s Heisman Award are quarterbacks Kenny Pickett of Pittsburgh, Mississippi’s Matt Corral and Ohio State’s C.J. Stroud.
And the weekend was just starting. On Friday, the World Series continued between Houston and Atlanta and the redhot Miami Heat played Charlotte (and Memphis on Saturday, winning both).
On Saturday, there was naturally a full schedule of college football games with Michigan at Michigan State and Miami at No. 17 Pittsburgh, followed by Florida at No. 1 Georgia and Penn State at No. 5 Ohio State in the evening.
Michigan State upset Michigan; Miami stunned Pitt and jumped back into the ACC title race. Florida kept up with Georgia until giving up three TDs in the three minutes before halftime and the Buckeyes finished barely ahead of Penn State.
How could Sunday top all this? Well, the Miami Dolphins were in Buffalo with the Bills a 14-point favorite. Surprise, surprise. The Dolphins teased by holding the Bills to a 3-3 halftime tie before falling apart in the second half and losing 26-11, with a late Buffalo TD awarding victory to those who bet on the Bills. In upsets, the Jets surprised Cincinnati, 34-31, and the Steelers beat the Browns, 15-10.
Tennessee beat Indianapolis in overtime but paid a horrible price. The team’s and the league’s leading rusher, Derrick Henry, injured a foot and could be out for the rest of the season. That could mean playing time for Key West’s Mekhi Sargent, who has not been active for the Titans’ last five games.
If that weren’t enough for you, a similar set of games, pro and college, starts tonight, Nov. 4.
