Lake Minneola head coach Walter Banks sensed complacency setting in after his 2020 team became the first Lake County program to reach an FHSAA state championship game since 1983.
The excitement and sense of satisfaction was hard to contain, even after the Hawks ended their season with a 46-0 loss vs. Miami Central in the Class 6A final in Tallahassee in December.
“It carried over at first in a negative way when we started over in January,” Banks said. “The kids thought they had arrived and didn’t think they had to work as hard anymore.”
“I had to break it down to the returning guys that this thing started four or five years ago with the hard work and the leadership that’s been passed down,’ he said.