The Bloomingdale High School boys’ soccer program is having one of its best seasons to date, winning a district championship, a Western Conference title, a regional title and recording a 20-1-1 overall record. The school recognized former state championship soccer teams in the regional quarterfinals against Sickles High School on February 13. The Bulls won the game 4-0.
The program honored Bloomingdale championship teams from the 1993, 1995, 1998 and 2001 seasons. Rob Woodard, who coached the ’93 and ’95 teams, was in attendance, as well as former players from every team.
In attendance were Rob Brown, Ryan McCoy, Scott Kasprzyk and Richard Steinestel, who played on both the ’93 and ’95 state championship teams; Rob Hill, Alex Ruiz, Shawn Edwards and Chip Atkins, who played on the ’95 team; Chaz Richard, representing the ’98 team; and Daniela Davila, representing the ’01 team.
The ’93 state championship was the first in Bloomingdale High School history for any sport. The ’95 state championship team started the season ranked number one overall in the state of Florida and finished with the same ranking and a 25-1-1 record.
The 2024 Bulls hope to continue the strong tradition of winning state titles. They were the number one overall seed in the region and avenged their loss last season to Fort Myers on February 21, beating them 3-2 in overtime to advance to the state semifinal. Bloomingdale won the Hillsborough County Western Conference Championship on January 19, beating Wharton High School 3-1. They also won the 6A District Championship on January 31, beating Palmetto High School 3-1.
Bloomingdale is led by fourth-year head coach Dennis Perello, who was selected as the Federal Division Western Conference Coach of the Year. Perello thinks that his team’s unselfishness has paid dividends this season. He said that the team has scored about 20 more goals than they did the season before.
“I’m proud of the focus and hard work that the kids have put in,” said Perello. “Their consistency and their desire to play at the top level every game is unmatched. Sometimes you play down to your opponents, this year we’ve taken the step to where we are playing at a higher level every game that we’re playing in.”
Josiah ‘Jojo’ Davila-Richardson, Stefan Vera and goalie Zane Hydock were named to the All-Western Conference First Team. Defenders Adler Stone, Jason Knipp and Hayden Laufenberg were named to the second team. Davila-Richardson will attend Wake Forest University on scholarship in the fall.
