Sarasota Christian makes transition to 11-man football

Sarasota Christian School is ready for the challenge. 

After one season of flag football and two seasons of Sunshine State Athletic Association eight-man football, wherein the Blazers notched a 15-8 record and two postseason appearances, the program is making a transition to play in the SSAA 11-man ranks. 

The program will still be competing against smaller schools, like East County's The Out-of-Door Academy and Bradenton's Saint Stephen's Episcopal, but the move is a sign that the Blazers want to grow their program and see what it can become. 

At a Suncoast Gridiron Media Day event on July 26, Sarasota Christian Head Coach Jacob Spenn said the team is excited to show what it can do at this level of football. 

"It will be different," Spenn said. "We have never done a kickoff before. There are not any in eight-man. But everything else plays out the same." 

Spenn said that playing eight-man has shaped his program in unique ways. In eight-man, Spenn said, defenses have a normal number of defensive linemen, but offenses lose up to three blockers to stop them. That, in turn, forces offenses to focus on developing skill position players, quickly getting them the ball in space — quarterbacks have approximately 1.5 seconds to get rid of the ball before taking a hit, he said — and letting them make plays in the open field. Moving up to 11-man, where teams have 3-4 seconds to throw on most plays, will be a luxury.

Photo by Ryan Kohn

Still, Spenn is excited to get those extra blockers back, he said. It is likely that the Blazers will not have the size on the offensive line that some of their opponents do. That was also the case in previous seasons, Spenn said, and the team figured out how to win anyway. 

Part of overcoming that size difference? Teamwide leadership and discipline, as well as an exuberant attitude. 

Spenn said the team expected to have 55-60 kids at football practice when preseason practice opened July 29, a large number for a school of Sarasota Christian's size and a sign that the program is in a healthy place, Spenn said. 

Within that 55-60 kids are a number of talented players. The offense will be led by junior quarterback Ben Milliken, who played in just six of the team's 11 games in 2023 because of an injury, yet still managed to throw for 1,079 yards and 13 touchdowns. Milliken will have a number of weapons to use, including junior athlete Justin Brock, who had 563 rushing yards, 260 receiving yards and seven combined touchdowns — and who was athletic enough to fill in for Milliken when he was injured, throwing for 1,115 yards and 15 touchdowns himself. Brock said he will primarily play receiver this season. Sophomore Daniel Jacinto (340 rushing yards, eight touchdowns) and junior Austin Kerle (318 yards, six touchdowns) will have a chance to make noise on the ground. 

Junior receiver Travis Miller, who is coming off an ACL injury suffered during basketball season, led the Blazers in receiving yards (545) while senior receiver/tight end Randall Collins led the team in receiving touchdowns (10). Junior Colton Loftus (496 yards, six touchdowns) was also a major contributor. 

"We're going to have talented players that don't get the ball as much as they should because we have other talented players," Spenn said. 

Photo by Ryan Kohn

On defense, it was Jacinto, who doubles as a linebacker, that led the way with 110 tackles (5.5 tackles for loss), stopping anyone who came in his vicinity. But he did not do it alone. Senior defensive lineman Carson Spenn (15.5 tackles for loss, 1.5 sacks) will put teams in poor position with backfield tackles, alongside Kerle (8.0 tackles for loss, 1.0 sacks). The Blazers only had four interceptions a season ago — perhaps a result of eight-man football teams getting the ball out quickly — but Jacinto had two of them, and could have more in 2024. 

The Blazers will play a nine-game regular season, plus a home preseason game against Canterbury School on Aug. 10. All games begin at 7 p.m. Sarasota Christian will open regular-season play Aug. 16 on the road against Old Plank Christian Academy. The Blazers' first 11-man regular-season home game is Aug. 23 against Bishop McLaughlin Catholic. 

In Spenn's mind, the transition to 11-man football is no reason to start slow. The team is playing to win games, he said, while also keeping its culture in-tact. 

"We have been super young," Spenn said. "We still are young. But the core of our team now is juniors and sophomores, and before it was freshmen and eighth graders. There's a great camaraderie and they have a lot of fun. They are just looking forward to playing football."