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SportsWise FAU Owls Football – On the Path to Success By Rob Chiavetta When you think about major college football in Florida, then you think of Miami, Florida, Florida State and perhaps even Central Florida, but Florida Atlantic? Not likely. What’s even more unlikely is when you see a schedule that includes Clemson, Kansas State, Oklahoma State and the Steve Spurrier led South Carolina Gamecocks; you figure it can’t be part of FAU’s schedule. However, you would be mistaken. As a member of the Sun Belt Conference, to see a nonconference schedule of the aforementioned is suicidal, but not for Head Coach Howard Schnellenberger. Schnellenberger enters his seventh 28 October 2006 season as The Owls first and only head coach to date, and he continues to push the program to compete at college football’s highest level. While the program is still in its infant stages, Schnellenberger believes that in order to be the best, you must compete against and beat the best. Howard Schnellenberger has always been known as the man to call when it comes time to rebuild a college football team. He started by resurrecting the Miami Hurricanes, a team which was on the verge of college football extinction, and led them to a National Championship in 1983. Schnellenberger then moved on FAU Head Coach Howard Schnellenberger to Louisville and eventually turned the Cardinals into a 10-1-1 team in his sixth year at the school. So, what was the master-architect of college football thinking when he decided to return to coaching in 1998, not to just rebuild a program but to build one from the ground up? Although Schnellenberger is a bit “longer in the tooth” now than he was back at Miami and Louisville, it became clear right away that he hadn’t lost his touch. He started by attaching his name to the school and helped raise $15 million to get the program off the ground. Then, he got busy recruiting. His initial class came together and became a tough football team from the get-go. Despite a quick jump to Division I-A, the Owls won 11 games in 2003 and followed that with nine more wins in 2004. The 2004 season included wins over Hawaii, North Texas and Middle Tennessee, but it also marked the end of the road for Schnellenberger’s first recruiting class. When the Owls settled in as full-fledged members of the Division-I Sun Belt Conference last year, they did so with one of the most inexperienced teams in the conference. The result was a 2-win season, matching Schnellenberger’s worst year since arriving in Boca Raton. So with the challenge of now competing regularly on the Division-I level, the coach, who has built his reputation on rebuilding football programs, is now busy rebuilding the program he initially built. While several young starters took their lumps in 2005, 15 return in 2006 with some experience. Add to that what may be the best recruiting class in school history, and the future is once again looking bright. With the brutal 2006 schedule, the overall record may not look favorable, but rest assured the program is headed in the right direction. So let the rest of the schools in the Sun Belt be forewarned – if you want to beat Florida Atlantic, you’d better do it this year, because the master rebuilder is once again on his path to success. — Come out and support the Owls, Palm Beach County’s very own major college football program. Visit http://fausports.cstv.com/ for ticket info. ❂
Community Sports & Recreation “Happenings” Community Profile By Rob Chiavetta Johny Sturgeon, Acreage Athletic League Tackle Football It’s late in the game. The score is tied. Your offense has been struggling against a tough defense all day. You have very few opportunities left to score and the game is on the line. What do you do? You get the ball in the hands of “The Big-Guy!” The “big-guy” is Johny Sturgeon who plays tight end and linebacker. At 13 years old, Johny stands 5 feet 11 inches tall weighing 175 pounds. When you watch him play, he looks like a man among boys. The game situation above was for the 2005 Acreage Tackle Football League Championship for 11- to 12-yearolds. The league uses college team nicknames for its league team names. Johny was captain of the Longhorns, and just like how the Texas Longhorns won college football’s National Championship so did the Longhorns of the Acreage Athletic League. Vince Young carried the Texas Longhorns to the championship and so did Johny for his Longhorns, literally. With less than 2-minutes remaining in the championship game with the score tied 7-7; the Longhorns had the ball at mid-field. The play sent in was just to get the ball in the hands of the big tight end. On a 3-step drop the quarterback fired the ball to Johny on a quick slant over the middle and Johny’s determination took over. He covered the ball and took off down the field like a bull, shedding off would-be tacklers along the way. The last potential tackler jumped on his back about the 20-yard line, and it wasn’t until after just crossing the goal line did Johny hit the ground. The Longhorns held on for the 14-7 victory! You often hear about college football recruiters wanting to recruit children as early as possible. Well, if NCAA rules did not prohibit such activities, they would already be calling on Johny. Johny is now just entering his third season of football and is presently playing in the Acreage Athletic League. However, originally slated to play high school football at Seminole Ridge, he has recently moved to western Lake Worth and will attend Park Vista High School next year where he will be a welcome addition to the Cobras. During his first season of organized football, Johny was placed on the offensive line because of his size and was instructed to just go out and push-around the guy in front of you. It wasn’t until the subsequent summer when he attended Zach Thomas’ intense football camp at Nova Southeastern University did his skills begin to truly develop. He learned to use his size to do more than just overpower the player in front of him. “The camp experience is what really propelled Johny into having the great season he had,” said Johny’s dad, Johny Sturgeon Sr. He Are you part of a team or program that you are proud of? We would like to profile or list your community program, league, team or individual sports announcements, accomplishments or results in upcoming issues. Please email to sports@floridawisemagazine.com or contact Rob Chiavetta at P: 561-714-8542. Longhorns’ captain Johny Sturgeon, 13, of the Acreage Athletic League Tackle Football has worked hard since to improve even more this season. Johny is an eighth grader attending Christa Mcauliffe Middle School in West Boynton. When not playing football, he enjoys fishing, playing paint ball and video games. His favorite video game is no surprise: “Definitely Madden ’07,” says Johny. ❂ FloridaWise <strong>Magazine</strong> 29
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