OCOEE KNIGHTS
2015: 6-4, 3rd in 7A District 4
Last Playoff Appearance: Never been since school was founded in 2005
Head Coach: Ben Bullock, 14-6 HC record
Key Returners: CB Dorian Jones (35 TKL, 4 TFL, 3 INT, 9 PBU, 1 FR) CB BJ Bohler (Transfer from Wekiva), LB Lyston Barber (46 TKL, 16 TFL, 7 SACKS, 1 FR, 3 PBU), OL Nate Roberts
The Scoop: The Knights are coming off of their first ever district-winning record in what was Coach Ben Bullock’s first season at Ocoee. But the upcoming 2016 season will easily be their toughest yet as the Knights play the likes of Apopka, West Orange and Hagerty.
Quotable: “It’s already scheduled, it’s already coming so lets not worry about it. Lets just worry about getting better today so that when we step on the field we are in the best possible position to be successful that we can be.” – Coach Ben Bullock
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Ocoee Knights cornerback Dorian Jones said it all. “We have a target on our back now so we can’t fall anything short.”
Last season the Ocoee Knights finished the season 6-4, 4-2 in districts, their first over .500 finish in districts ever. The improvement is obvious, and the work being put in this summer should keep the momentum rolling. Ben Bullock in his second season with the Knights, is all about the little things, that can pay off big.
“Let’s get through today’s summer workouts, and then tomorrow and just make sure that each day we are not wasting a day,” said Coach Bullock. “Like make sure that today is the best day of summer workouts we have had all year, tomorrow has to be better than today and just worry about that.”
The Knights are on the up and up with their new practice field proof enough of that.
The squad is going from underdog to competition.
“It feels like everything is getting better, like it is a good place to be now, it’s not somewhere that people go oh we don’t want to be here anymore,” said Dorian. “Now we got people coming in, instead of people transferring out.”
Players like BJ Bohler who transferred in from Wekiva to join a mean secondary led by Jones, two-year captain and Georgia State commit. Jones and Bohler might be the obvious playmakers for the 2016 season but it’ll take every member of the squad to fight through the toughest schedule possible at Ocoee.
“At the end of the day it’s a team sport, not an individual sport. I can’t win the game myself, one of our other captains can’t win the game themselves, everybody has to be on board to be able to get wins,’ said Jones.
Apopka, West Orange, and Hagerty are just a few of the Knights upcoming opponents. Tough? Yes. But do-able.
”It’s already scheduled, it’s already coming so lets not worry about it, lets just worry about getting better today so that when we step on the field we are in the best possible position to be successful that we can be.”
2016 Schedule
8/19: Bishop Moore
8/26: @Apopka
9/2: Lake Nona
9/16: Edgewater
9/23: @East Ridge
9/30: @Hagerty
10/7: @West Port
10/13: Lake Howell
10/21: Wekiva
10/28: Lake Minneola