Summer camp! 3 takeaways from Palm Beach County FCA padded football session

WEST PALM BEACH — A padded-up huddle of football players is hard to come by in the summer, be it for a much-needed vacation from school or lessening the notorious stick that accompanies Florida heat.

Seven teams – Berean Christian, John I. Leonard, Lake Worth, Olympic Heights, Santaluces, Seminole Ridge, and Treasure Coast – gathered at Lake Lytal Park on Tuesday and Thursday for 11-man scrimmages, taking the chance to put their trenches to the test after an offseason jampacked with skill-heavy 7-on-7 play.

More Summer Action: 7-on-7 high school football at Keiser University

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More: All small-school schedules for the 2022-23 cycle

Local teams will have the opportunity to reconvene at a second FCA-sponsored session from July 26 to 28.

Here are three takeaways from the first week of camp.

1. Former Jupiter coach Tim Tharp finds new role

This time last year, Tim Tharp was sweating it out on the field at Jupiter High, where he served as head coach for five seasons until stepping away in January. This July, the coach best-known for the 56-20 record he established over eight years at Palm Beach Gardens High can be found doing the same thing – only as the North County Director for Palm Beach's FCA chapter.

In "retirement", volunteering with the FCA, Tharp is actually taking a more active role in Palm Beach County sports, planning camps like last week's and "school huddles" throughout the academic year for not only local football programs, but basketball, baseball, soccer, and more.

"This is a great opportunity because it still gives you the chance to impact kids. To me, there's nothing like being the head football coach because of your influence," Tharp said, motioning to Santaluces head coach Hector Clavijo III in the midst of giving his team a post-camp speech.

"You've got their attention. There's just something special about that," Tharp said.

While early on in his new role with the FCA, still seeking volunteers to direct "Central" and "West" county events, Tharp's long-term goal is educating the area on how sports are a platform for teaching youth how to do things the "right way.

"it doesn't necessarily have to be the biblical way, but just doing things the right way, treating people the right way, and running a program the way it's supposed to be – to keep teaching kids there's more to life than football," Tharp said.

2. A new Santa is coming to town

Looking to start a legacy of his own in Palm Beach County, Clavijo arrived with a pomp and circumstance that he's gone at lengths to make sure his team, Santaluces, will match come a Week 1 home matchup against Inlet Grove.

Clavijo's young, but in the short four years since taking his first head coaching job at Champagnat Catholic, he's already built a resume a number of South Florida coaches would envy: four trips to the state championship and two rings.

Despite going 1-8 in 2021, their lone win 14-0 over John I. Leonard, the Chiefs are no exception to Clavijo's standard.

For one offseason, even if it's just practice, Santaluces has transformed.

Santaluces faced Seminole Ridge in the Hawks' home opener last season, riding back to Lantana with a 51-12 L.

In scrimmage on Thursday – both teams missing starters – Santaluces shut out Ridge 28-0.

"I feel like playing in pads helps everybody because you're gonna knock down, get back up, and that helps everybody come together, have fun, and score a lot of points," senior quarterback Prichard said. Since February, the three-star has earned three offers, one being a preferred walk-on from Florida on July 13.

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The early enrollment hopeful is grateful for how King's "prepared" him academically and athletically for the strides he's making under Clavijo, who's made the small-school-to-big-school transition "easy."

"Everybody plays 7-on-7 in the offseason so everybody should be pretty good at that, but the battle comes in the trenches," Prichard said. "That's where all the football is played and if you don't have that right, you're not going to win a lot of games."

In Keiser University's 7-on-7 tournament last Saturday, Santaluces ran a characteristically different offense – one that carried them from an unlikely journey through pool play to the championship matchup against winner Palm Beach Central.

In turn, Clavijo made a change at offensive coordinator and the self-proclaimed "defensive guy" appointed has been calling plays for the "first time" in his career since.

Palm Beach Lakes transfer Derrick Williams responded particularly well to the transition, raking in two rushing touchdowns against Ridge.

"We're trying to make him like our Swiss-Army knife," Clavijo said, excited to have a secret weapon in his arsenal. "It's gonna be a problem for other teams because he's so fast."

"I'm coming off a bad season. I had an injury. That's just put more motivation in me to go [to Santaluces]," Williams said, expecting a scholarship offer to accompany his upcoming junior year.

"I like it because he uses me a lot around the ball – the discipline, the culture, it's tougher."

At long last, two head coaches later, longtime Chiefs and incoming transplants from around the county have found the "players' coach" they've been looking for in Santaluces' latest hire.

3. Seminole Ridge ready for rebuild

Seminole Ridge's Chad Chieffalo knew his work would be cut out for him upon being promoted from former Rick Casko's staff to head coach in January.

Even though Santaluces' route on day three of Ridge's second full-team camp of the summer could make it seem as though the program's in for a departure from its winning ways, that's not the case.

On the second day, Ridge shut out Treasure Coast, the squad that dealt Palm Beach Central its lone 34-0 loss in Class 8A region finals last season, finishing 10-2.

"They're [Treasure Coast] like the gold standard out here. They're what most of these teams strive to be in terms of success and how they do things," Chieffalo said.

And Seminole Ridge pulled it off mid-"sorting out" their quarterback situation ahead of the season without graduate dual-threat Will Rimes, "moving on" in light of RB1 Sebastien Christian's transfer to Inlet Grove, and consistently fielding seven or eight underclassmen who will be taking their first varsity snaps this fall.

"That's a huge win for us and for our kids," Chieffalo said. "Just to get that victory gives them the confidence I think that they need to go out against the next team doing better."

"It's an opportunity for us to put a lot of really young faces out there to see what they can handle," Chieffalo said. "This is so valuable because we can't recreate this scenario practicing ourselves – they just come out ang give me everything they've got every day. I'm happy."

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Palm Beach County FCA padded football: Three takeaways from summer camp