Who Is This Central FL Team? St Pete NE

[OldSchoolLion 1,742]

• Had a legendary coach who spent nearly 30 years at the school.
• Was the first team from their county to ever win 13 games in one season.
• Once had a 43-game regular season winning streak. 
• Once went 46-4 over a 4-year stretch.
• Might have won a state title if not for a certain powerhouse team they met more than once in the playoffs.

1. Who is the team?

2. Who was their famous coach?

3. Who was that powerhouse team?

[badbird 1,490]

Don't think this is correct but John Sprague Sarasota Riverview

[OldSchoolLion 1,742]

5 hours ago, badbird said:

Don't think this is correct but John Sprague Sarasota Riverview

Sorry, badbird, it is not Riverview.  Good guess, though.  Sprague was there 30 years.

[badbird 1,490]

Next guess South Sumter Inman Sherman Bolles

[OldSchoolLion 1,742]

18 minutes ago, badbird said:

Next guess South Sumter Inman Sherman Bolles

Another good guess, but not the write one.  Sherman was at SS for 32 years.

[DarterBlue2 1,810]

Pretty sure this is not right:

Apopka

Chip Gierke

Manatee?

[OldSchoolLion 1,742]

11 minutes ago, DarterBlue2 said:

Pretty sure this is not right:

Apopka

Chip Gierke

Manatee?

no sir...this one is a little tricky

[skyway 142]

Rod Shafer, Lake Wales. Streak ended following 43-42 loss at home to Auburndale in 1995.

[OldSchoolLion 1,742]

45 minutes ago, skyway said:

Rod Shafer, Lake Wales. Streak ended following 43-42 loss at home to Auburndale in 1995.

Nice guess, but no.  Shafer was "only" at Lake Wales for 21 years.  A Polk County team won 13 games in a season way before Lake Wales first pulled it off.  Lake Wales had 3 straight undefeated regular seasons back in the early 90's.  This team had 4 in a row at one point.

[Just A Coach 258]

Northeast High School(St. Pete)

Coach was Jerry Austin

Lost to St. Thomas Aquinas in '96 and '97

I know that team all too well

[OldSchoolLion 1,742]

18 hours ago, Just A Coach said:

Northeast High School(St. Pete)

Coach was Jerry Austin

Lost to St. Thomas Aquinas in '96 and '97

I know that team all too well

Jerry Austin was hc of St Pete Northeast from 1979-2006.  During those 28 seasons, he went 196-104 and had 21 winning seasons.  He did not run a fancy offense. Rather, he believed in a running a limited number of plays executed very well. 

Between 1996-1999, SPN went undefeated each regular season and compiled a record of 46-4 over that span.   In 1997, his team became the first in Pinellas County to win 13 games in a season.  They ran into eventual state champion St Thomas Aquinas in the state semis that year.  And just like in 1996, STA knocked them out of the playoffs.  They did give STA a good game each time, though.  

Austin was an assistant coach at Seminole for 10 years before going to SPN.