Marion County high school football team in 2024

Sports preludes and recaps are best narrated in a storybook format. You have the preseason, your beginning of the story. A season may end with a championship or victory over a major opponent. The ending, well, that is a road to the state finals that every team wants to achieve. 
 
The Marion County high school football season has its own storylines in the making as well. Some coaching changes are indicating culture changes for several schools. It is almost like the start of a new Netflix series sometimes. 
 
We are here to provide you with a sneak peek of the trends before the start of the 2024 high school football season. Let’s see how these storylines unfold over the course of the demanding 10-week season. 
 
Belleview: A Trend in the Right Direction 

Since the Rattlers are in the middle of an administration change, there is time to look at a trend. In the last five seasons Belleview football had four different coaches. 
 
The current seniors, such as all-county honorable mention running back Nick Mills, have played for three coaches in three varsity seasons. Three different systems. Three different positions. Three times forced to gain the confidence of a new staff member, but this year is a little different. 
 
Belleview has a new coach in Josh Sigler, but he is not new to the players as he was an assistant coach last season. He saw the groundwork that was laid last year; now it is time to see what is being built on the second level. Armed with a growing program, a few surprises, and a team that knows what he expects, Sigler has something the other coaches haven’t had: Continuity, and that could be the difference for a winless team returning most of its roster. 
 
Dunnellon: A Class to Remember 
 
Dunnellon has an opportunity to become the king of Marion County football. Very few schools are returning the depth, talent and production that the Tigers have on their roster. 
 
Of their 13 all-county choices, six are back for their junior or senior campaigns. That is 2516 total yards, 32 touchdowns, 210 tackles, 3 interceptions, and 3. 5 sacks, and five forced fumbles coming back, an estimated 35% of the total production from six players. 
 
Sean Martin was the first of the 2025s to commit to a college and there are others who have to decide where they will be playing college football. Before that happens, they have an opportunity to do what Dunnellon hasn't done since the early 2000s: be the best team in the county with the record to back it up. 
 
Forest: Competition 
 
Forest’s practice field is a competition ground. The Wildcats are young this year but they have talent at every major position on the field. 
 
The quarterback competition consists of young, mobile gunslingers in sophomore Vanguard transfer Grayson Yancey and lightning in a bottle freshman Armani McFarland, who will be tasked with piloting Forest’s high-powered offense. The running back position has Division I talent in Jordan Strickland who is out for the season due to injury, which opens up more opportunities for the young talents of Jamarian Whitter and Kez Rivers to get more first-team practice. The tight end room is the epitome of the cutthroat with three athletes 6-foot-3 or taller, including senior Wesley Dinkins, who earned an offer to Indiana Wesleyan over the summer. 
 
The Wildcats are living by the saying that iron sharpens iron. With every snap, every rep there is a talented player standing behind. That is the right place to develop players who are willing to play on the field during the games. 
 
Lake Weir: Defending the Throne 
 
The newly expanded Sunshine State Athletic Association is sure to make the chase for a state title tougher than last season’s 12-team spread. As the pool depends, the new fish will understand that the only way to become the big fish is to go through Lake Weir. 
 
In their first year in the FHSAA-alternate league, the Hurricanes challenged themselves to the top of the heap and became the challengers in 2024. Each week, they will receive their opponent’s best, understanding that this is the time to compete with the crowned king. 
 
The question for Lake Weir: Can it take the heat? They have the DNA of a winner with several returning starters and battle-tested individuals in every class. The team will not deviate much from the set course given that head coach Jason Roberts is a man with a military touch. We will see how they stand during their first test on Aug. 16 against Bronson. 
 
North Marion: First-time head coach 
 
North Marion’s change at head coach puts Jeramiaha Gates in the driver’s seat of a team that consistently has raw talent. The Colts, who underwent transfers at the quarterback, running back, and other positions, were not at their best a season ago. 
 
That leaves a lot of space for the Gates era to take off and leave the past behind it. The new opportunities at North Marion have enticed some of the area’s best positional players. The Colts of last year had a freshman Isaac Smith who was throwing the rock. They will have West Port’s two-year starting varsity quarterback Brittin Stevens this year. 
 
Stevens was the first of many to join Gates to try and revive the Colts. They are intermingled with the unknown talents that were scattered in the 2023 lineup. Everyone is watching how Gates steers his ship and how far it will go in the waters of a top-heavy 2S class. 
 
Trinity Catholic: New staff 
 
In the last two seasons, the Celtics have been in Tallahassee for the final game to battle for the first state championship since 2010. Since then, the coaching staff has undergone its fair share of changes as well. It happens. Coaches develop, and new positions become available, but the 2024 staff shares one similarity with the 2023 staff: head coach John Brantley. 
 
JB Bynum is the offensive coordinator for Dunnellon. Defensive coordinator Steve Young is in Georgia. The Celtics have cleaned the house and are in for a culture shift with it. Gates, who was an assistant coach in the previous season, is now a head coach of his own team. 
 
Offensive and defensive line anchors G’Nirve Carr, Zach Johnson, and Gerrick Gordon are Division I prospects who transferred in the off-season. Trinity Catholic could be in for a rebuild between the transfer portal movement and new staff, but you never count out a team who knows how to win.

Vanguard: Chemistry 
 
Vanguard aims to replicate its historic season with another roster full of talented players. Last year’s group was mostly developed internally, this one has more players from the transfer portal. With coaching changes in every team, several of the area’s top football weapons seeking new homes ended up at Booster Stadium. 
 
Perhaps you recall Gerald “Juice” Walton, an all-county receiver who will now be rushing the field for the Knights this season. There is also sophomore returners, James “Bubb” Bethea, Sergarion Gunsby, and juniors who are more than capable of raising the “V” in even bigger ways. 
 
There is no doubt that the team has a lot of talent on the roster. The pure depth makes them look like last year’s team that had 19 players go on to play football at the next level. If the new-look Knights can gel, then watch out for exciting times even if there are pains of expansion. 
 
West Port: Chasing history 
 
By the end of this season, the senior Wolf Pack can pave the way for success at West Port. The group gets its fame in a pile of victories that no one in West Port’s 24-year history can boast of. 
 
Ethan Shepp, a two-year captain and the owner of the highest bench press, has been holding up the line for his quarterback for four years. With another great season, perhaps one that mirrors the success of the previous year’s record breaking six victories for the school. 
 
It is quite a request for anyone, but when you are a hungry wolf, you get the job done. It will be a record that will haunt some player and at the same time act as a motivation for other players. Shepp and the 2025 class take their hunt for history when kickoff begins on Aug.