LAKE WOTH – The Park Vista Cobras want their recognition as one of Palm Beach County’s better teams right now.
They have earned the right to be called that, particularly after their stunning 17-9 home victory over then-tenth ranked Jupiter in Week 2.
To be completely honest, not many outside of the Cobras circle envisioned them starting their season off with a 2-0 record. But here they are, ready to crash the Palm Beach County stage and blow by every team on their regular season.
Beware of Park Vista, which was selected as our Team of Week 2.
“We deserve it and everyone needs to be on the lookout for PV this year,” said senior quarterback Brock Hansel, who threw for 200 yards and two second-quarter touchdowns in the Cobras eight-point win over the Warriors. “We work so hard and our coaches do a great job to get us prepared every week.”
Park Vista avenged last year’s season-ending road loss to Jupiter in a big way.
“After losing 34-0 last year to them, losing wasn’t an option for us,” said Cobras senior lineman Kameron Basis said. “Coming into the week we knew we had a lot to prove to not only our community, but to the county as a whole. So throughout last week we came together and bonded as team, trusted our coaches and their game plan. We saw the result on Friday night.”
Basis, who recorded five tackles, three tackles for loss, one quarterback hurry, and one forced fumble last Friday night, had more to say about Park Vista’s shining moment.
“Going into the season, we had a lot to prove with new coaches, how we finished letting up 69 points and only scoring seven in our last two games of last season and having a mostly new roster,” Basis said of Park Vista, which finished with a 3-3 record last year after starting at 3-0. “Knowing that most people didn’t think much of us really helped develop the chemistry we have with the coaches and teammates, which really helped us execute on the field.”
Park Vista assistant coach Rufus Thomas said he is happy about what his team has accomplished thus far. But he also wants the entire program to keep everything in proper perspective.
“It feels good to be selected as Team of the Week and to be recognized for what we did,” Park Vista assistant coach Rufus Thomas said. “However, I feel like we didn’t play to our full potential and we had a lot of mental mistakes that we will work on. But overall we got the win, and now it’s time to focus on our next opponent.”
NOTE: Park Vista is now ranked at No. 10 overall and No. 8 in the public school rankings.
After a bye in Week 3, Park Vista will be favored to win its next three games at the very least, which are against Lake Worth (0-1) in Week 4, Royal Palm Beach (0-1) in Week 5, and Santaluces (0-2) in Week 6.
We will see what happens over the next few weeks ahead for the Cobras.
