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Sports

Falcons Football Begins New Chapter

New head football coach Max Smith has a simple approach to the game.

The sound of the Highlander Band drum section thumping, the cracking of helmets and pads and blowing of whistles pervaded the football stadium on a recent May day.

New head football coach Max Smith has a simple approach to the game. If you win every day in practice, then you’re going to win the game on Friday.

Smith, 26, was hoping that duplicating the adrenalin-tickling ambiance of a regular season game for the recent spring inter-squad would entice more students to come out for the team.

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The inter-squad looked sharp for spring — no bad snaps or fumbles, a few dropped passes, but nothing to be too concerned about. Soon-to-be senior Anthony Diviney looked comfortable in the pocket and decisive when it was time to scramble.

Smith, who replaces 2010-2011 head coach Jack Benson, is building the Falcons football team from near scratch. He takes over a 2-7 team that graduated 12 seniors and is looking to establish itself in a completely revamped district, which was broken up and re-aligned into a much larger pool of uncharted opponents. Dunedin High is the only team left in 5A District 8 from last season.

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That exodus looks like their biggest obstacle.

“Right now, it’s just numbers, getting the kids out here,” Smith said.

Smith comes over from being the offensive coordinator at Pinellas Park under head coach Ken Crawford.

“He (Crawford) taught me about building relationships with the kids,” Smith said.

Prior to Pinellas Park, Smith was the defensive coordinator and secondary/wide receivers coach at Northeast High School, where he served for three years. Smith was a receiver at Mount Union College in Ohio, where his team won two Division III national championships.

Mike Anderson, a longtime member of the Dunedin High football coaching staff, is helping Smith on the defensive side. He’s seen several coaches pass through the program and brings a bit of stability to the staff.

Mike Lawrence oversees the running backs. Ciro Esposito is the defensive line coach and the head coach of the junior varsity team.

With the football district re-alignments, Dunedin will lose the familiarity with opponents. Powerhouses like East Lake and Countryside high schools moved up in class and won’t be around to beat up on the Falcons' re-building team. However, Robinson and Jesuit high schools in Tampa move in. Both teams made the playoffs last year, and while Robinson graduated a lot of talent last year, it's always a strong team.

Smith is realistic, however. He doesn’t expect to take over the district, but he does expect to improve last year’s 2-7 record.

“I want to have a winning season this year," he said. "Six wins is our goal.”

The Falcons play their spring exhibition game tonight (May 27) at Northeast High School in St. Petersburg at 7:30 p.m.

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