Circle Christian golf duo retires; baseball stars receive honors
Scott and Sean Richardson, believed to be the only father and son tandem to have both coached Florida High School Athletic Association state championship golf teams, are walking off the 18th green together.
Both are retiring from successful coaching careers at Circle Christian.
Scott started Circle’s golf program in 1999 and won four state championships (2007, 2008, 2014, 2017) in 21 years of coaching. He is believed to be one of only two men to have coached four boys state title teams in the sport (Bud Beech of Nease has five titles). The elder Richardson also had two state runner-up teams, two third place squads and two more finish fourth.
Sean, who played on the school’s first boys golf team coached by his dad, was the boys JV coach for five years and then became the Centurions’ varsity girls coach for the past seven seasons. His girls teams made seven straight state tournament appearances and won a 2013 state championship. They also had two runner-up finishes, two third place showings and one fourth place.
The Richardson has coached 26 golfers who went on to play in college.
Both men have family changes that prompted the move. Sean is now married with with his first child born two months ago. And Scott now has three grandsons close by and is helping to house and take care of his 88-year-old old father-in-law.
The father-son Richardson duo will continue to run the Qdoba Tournament of Champions boys and girls events, as well as a new boys JV tournament that starts this year.
Windermere High senior Carson Montgomery, an FSU signee who could go in the first round of next month’s Major League Baseball Draft, was voted by Orange and Osceola county baseball coaches as the area’s top senior all-star nominee for the Florida Athletic Coaches Association.
The annual FACA District 11 honors are determined by coaches who belong to the coaches organization.
Montgomery pitched 11.2 innings for Windermere before the coronavirus outbreak forced the cancellation of the 2020 high school season. He was 1-0 with 23 strikeouts and a 1.80 ERA. He was also batting .370 (10-for-27).
Edgewater outfielder Anthony Weeden, who batted .600 for a 9-0 team while holding a 4.0 grade point average, and Dr. Phillips outfielder Brandon Fields were second and third in the voting, respectively.
Fields announced via social media last week that he is withdrawing from the Major League Draft and is committed to enrolling at South Carolina on a baseball scholarship. He was recruited by the Gamecocks as both a football and baseball player but said he has decided to focus on his “first love”, baseball, and “putting my dreams of being a 2 sport athlete at the next level on the shelf.”
Montgomery was also selected as 7A player of the year and Weeden was the 6A player of the year. The 4A player honor went to Bishop Moore’s Dom Scavone. Isaac Sewell of The First Academy was the 3A player of the year and Foundation Academy ninth grader Braden Holcomb was the 2A honoree.
Coaches of the year, by class were:
7A — Chuck Schall — Olympia 6A — Casey Gierke — Edgewater
4A — Tony Mehlich — Bishop Moore
3A — Scott Grove — TFA
2A — Jack Chambless — Legacy Charter
Matt Cleveland, who spent the 2019-20 season as a University of Miami assistant coach, is returning to Central Florida and high school baseball.
The former Hagerty and The Master’s Academy coach was hired as head coach for Spruce Creek of Port Orange. He replaces accomplished veteran Johnny Goodrich, who had major success with the Hawks and is now the general manager of the Orlando Scorpions travel team high school age program.
Cleveland was the Hagerty High head coach for three years, including a state runner-up finish in 2017. The Huskies went 70-21 with two district titles and two region titles under his watch.
Prior to that Cleveland compiled a 190-131 record over 12 seasons at Coral Spring Christian (2003-14) and then coached two seasons with a 29-16 record at The Master’s Academy (2015-16).