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Sports

Friday, 11 May 2012 11:42

Aarestad02

Aarestad

Aarestad’s contract not renewed after 2 seasons

By Rick Pedone
Sports Editor
A week and a half into spring football practice, Celebration finds itself without a head coach.
Ben Aarestad, who led the Storm for two seasons, said Thursday that his contract was not renewed by Principal Laura Rinehart.
“I didn’t get reappointed for next year so I am no longer the head football coach here,” he said.

Aarestad said he doesn’t understand why Rinehart waited until five days into spring practice to make the decision, rather than to do it several months ago.
Storm Athletic Director Chris Lavoie said he could not comment about why Aarestad was not retained.
He said Storm assistant coach Eric Scrivens, the former Liberty High head wrestling coach, would lead the team through spring practice.
“We’re going to try to fill the position before the end of the school year,” Lavoie said. “There may be in-house applications, but this just happened so we’re still in the formative stages of the search. I know Ms. Rinehart has other faculty positions to fill and she probably wants to work this in with those hires.”
Aarestad came to Celebration prior to the 2010 season after one year as an assistant at Lakeland High.
He was the defensive coordinator and head coach at Hialeah American for four seasons.
The Storm was 4-6 in 2010, tying the 2003 team for the best record in the school’s history, but last season the Storm, decimated by graduation, was 0-10.
At the county’s other high schools, it has been business as usual.
St. Cloud’s Brad Lennox, who took over in March, is leading his team for the first time. Lennox, a former Bulldogs assistant who was at OHS for the past two seasons, replaced interim coach Chad Ansbaugh.
“At quarterback, we need somebody to step up,” Lennox said. “Linebacker is another place with a big need.”
Ian McKenzie and Ian Rinehart are among the candidates at quarterback, Ansbaugh, now an assistant, said.
Running back Eric Pfeifer pulled his hamstring at the state track meet last week and missed practice.
The county’s other high school coaches return: Doug Nichols at Osceola, David Benson at Liberty, Marlin Roberts at Gateway, Jerrad Butler at Harmony, Corey Fleming at Poinciana and Mike Bonneville at Life Christian. Glenn Harris coaches a seven-man squad at City of Life Academy.
College coaches use spring practice as a scouting opportunity.
Already, Osceola High running back Stafon McCray and defensive back Hassan Childs have been offered Division I scholarships, according to Nichols. Neither player has verbally committed to a college.
McCray led the county in rushing yardage last season, and Childs, at 6-1, has good size, Kowboys defensive coordinator Scott Spencer said.
“They see a lot of potential with his size, and he has decent speed,” Spencer said. “I guess we’re doing OK for now.”
Nichols said at least one Big Ten school is interested in McCray, who also has been linked to Florida and UCF. North Carolina State recently offered Childs.
Nichols is looking at juniors Dwight “Scooter” Fagan and Daequan Harrison at quarterback.
“They’re pretty even right now,” Nichols said. “Running backs look good, O-line not so much. Defense is pretty solid all over.”
Osceola will have its football alumni day next Saturday at Kowboys field from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. A 5-on-5 flag football tournament will be among the activities. All former Kowboys coaches and players are invited.
Liberty’s Benson, starting his third season as the school’s head coach, will use the spring to identify a quarterback. Sophomore Terrell Bonds, who led the county in passing yardage last season, has transferred to Hollywood McArthur High, Benson said.
Benson has been through this before. Sophomore quarterback Greg Hankerson transferred to South Florida after the 2010 season.
“We’re having fun experimenting with new offensive schemes,” Benson said.
Gateway Coach Marlin Roberts expects to see progress from his team this year.
“We’re so far ahead of where we were last year,” he said. “We had a good freshmen crop this year, so hopefully it will pay off for us.”
Spring games begin Friday when Celebration hosts Life Christian and Windermere Prep at 6 p.m. City of Life visits Eastland Christian at 4:30 p.m.
On May 24, Osceola travels to Lake Gibson, St. Cloud hosts Ocoee and Florida Air visits Gateway.
On May 25, Mount Dora visits Harmony, Liberty goes to Cypress Creek and Poinciana travels to Orange City University.