Flanagan Pushes Forward With Another Young New Cast

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Every time Eric Rivera looks out to right field and sees the Flanagan scoreboard, it motivates him to keep working harder and pushing himself further. The Falcons junior center fielder sees the reminder of past state championship teams that have come through the program over the past dozen years, and it makes him want to add this 2015 season to that scoreboard, and to also have the names on this roster hanging in the school gymnasium with the other champs. To do that, Flanagan has to be the last team standing at the end of the year.

The Falcons graduated nearly every starter from a year ago, and the team is as young as it has been for a while. Nobody is using youth as an excuse and the team is as driven and determined as ever to make the state finals at jetBlue Park in Fort Myers, and to bring home the trophy. Under Manager Ray Evans the program has won nine district titles in eleven years, has been to nine regional championships, has advanced to states four times and has come home as state champions three times.

It is a high standard that the team holds itself to, and the guys admit that they would have it no other way.

“We just come out here every day and work hard, and we expect to beat everybody and to be the best at the end of the day,” Rivera said. “We expect to be at that final game at states because that is the type of team that we are. We come out here everyday and work hard and we look forward to show it on the field.”

Evans admits it is a tough place to play, and not everyone can handle the high standards both athletically and also academically. Kids come to Flanagan knowing that they are going to compete at a high level, and that they are going to play with some really good players right there next to them. They know that some how and some way they are expected to still be standing at the end of the season.

With a very new and young group this season, Evans knows other teams may be looking at now as a great opportunity to get on top of them. But the program has gone through changes like this in the past, and the 10 seniors who all graduated this year were once all a young group that started the exact same way as the current group. These new guys have been in the program for a while and now it is their time to shine.

“They have to hold onto the rope and carry the torch, so to speak,” Evans said. “We still have to groom them and they still need to improve. They are young and green but they play at a high level and are excited to be playing together for the next two or three years. Win or lose, we just want to give our best effort. Every game is important and you want to win every game, but that doesn’t always happen. You will have games where you don’t play well as a group, but hopefully that doesn’t happen often.”

Flanagan is used to seeing every team’s top arm, and to get every team’s best game. The Falcons would have it no other way, and they did not lighten up the schedule any this year just because they are inexperienced. After facing West Boca and 7A state champion American in the HSBN Preseason Challenge, Flanagan opens the season facing Columbus and Monsignor Pace in its own tournament. Douglas, St. Thomas Aquinas and Calvary Christian await the other side of that tournament bracket, as does Palm Beach Central, Park Vista, Killian and Archbishop McCarthy later in the season. The Falcons will also compete in the HSBN March Madness tournament that pits 32 of South Florida’s toughest programs together.

The team is hoping that as the season progresses they will grow and get unified as a team, and that they will be playing really good ball when they need to be playing really good ball. The coaches have reminded them several times that their first state title squad was made up of a majority of sophomores and juniors. They were able to be successful with young guys because they believed, they had great work ethic and they went about their business. This team reminds them of that group, as it is again mostly underclassmen that go about their business and get the job done.

“You want to learn as you go along and we do not want to take a step back here just because we’re young,” Evans said. “It doesn’t matter what age you are; if you can play, you can play. You have to give me max effort, and that is the one thing we stress. If your max effort isn’t enough to win it that day then that is OK. When you go home you want to be beat-tired and you want to be emotionally drained.”

The team is experienced in just the right places. The Falcons are strong up the middle and the pitching staff is still led by senior ace Gentry Fortuno, one of only four seniors on the club. Senior Dakota Doyle also bolsters the pitching staff, while Hunter Platt solidifies right field and Miguel Presno leads the defense as the team’s starting catcher. Miguel can get vocal when he needs to, and he shows great leadership skills as the most vocal guy of the bunch.

“Being a catcher you’ve got to be loud on the field all the time, and I’ve got to tell everybody what to do and where to throw it,” Miguel said. “When I was a freshman I didn’t talk at all and I became the leader that I am because they taught me to be loud and to be vocal. Catchers usually are loud on the field because they see everything. Gentry and Eric are also captains, but Gentry is focused on pitching and Eric has his outfielders. We work on the field, but I guess I have to be the loudest on the field.”

Miguel Presno has grown into one of the top backstops in the area, and will head on to play for Flagler College next year. He is a hard-working guy, and that influence has also helped the team in grooming its backup catcher, sophomore Alex Hernandez. Hernandez has followed Miguel’s lead to also work hard to transform his boy into a solid catcher’s frame, and Evans notes he could also grow into one of the best around someday.

“The young guys are learning a lot,” Miguel said. “They are paying attention and they are listening and have open ears. They are not trying to do it their way; they are trying to follow our footsteps and do it the right way.”

The pitching staff could not have a better guy to learn from other than Fortuno, a Central Florida commit who is one of the most accomplished pitchers in Broward County history. The right-handed ace gives the team confidence getting started, and the rest of the pitching staff may just get pieced together game by game until guys establish themselves. Among those vying for time on the mound are Eric Morrera, Steve Gonzalez, Jeremy Cook and Arrison Perez.

The majority of the players are sophomores and it remains to be seen what they can do at the varsity level. They are still trying to find an identity as a team, although they are coming off a strong fall season together. The infield includes sophomore shortstop and Miami commit Mark Vientos, as well as sophomores Ricky Presno and Arrison Perez.

The outfield corps will be led by Rivera in center, who is also committed as a junior to play for FAU. Eric Rivera is sort of the silent deadly type, but he has stepped forward to open his mouth and get more vocal this season. Evans assumes it will get better as time progresses. When the other two captains leave, Rivera is going to be the main guy out there next year.

“It’s just the same for me,” Rivera said. “I’ve been playing since my freshman year and I just come back with the same mentality to teach the young kids what to do and how to sprint out to your position every time. We just hope for the best this year.”

The Falcons have played in three of the last four regional finals, but have lost all three contests. Last season the team fell to eventual state-champion South Dade in an epic battle. It was a tough end to an outstanding season, and the returning guys are ready to erase those memories and thrive by doing the things that worked for them to get there again.

“Last year was a really special season and we did some things with the kids; and we aspired to win it all,” said Evans. “South Dade came in and beat us and did what they had to do to win at the end, which was hard for our seniors. But those guys that are still here got that taste, and it was a bitter taste at the end. At the end we want to finish on top. If it wasn’t about winning and losing then we wouldn’t be keeping score. Winning is very important.”

Nobody on the Falcons roster has any doubt that they can continue the tradition, and perhaps even take the team over that final hump and back to the state finals. The players push themselves to maintain that tradition, with that extra motivation to be the group that pushes them that final step to the finish line.

“We expect to be in that final game and we are trying to be in that state final,” Miguel said. “We haven’t done it yet since I have been here but we plan on doing it this year with a young team. Every year we want to beat what was done the year before, and last year we went to the regional finals. We didn’t like how it ended and we lost, so this is a new year and we are trying to come back strong and get back to that game and win that game.”

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