Basketball
DUNEDIN, FLORIDA- The last time Dunedin High School’s boys basketball team won a district championship, the sitting U.S. president at the time was Lyndon B. Johnson.
That was 57 years ago when the Falcons were in the business of winning district titles and even a state crown. On Friday night, Dunedin ended nearly six decades of futility and coming off a winless 2023-2024 season, added to what has become one of the top turnarounds in the state.
Dunedin needed a strong third quarter to pull away in a 59-46 defeat of Nature Coast for the Class 4A, District 9 championship at the Frank L. Griffin Athletic Complex. The complex is named after the last boys basketball coach to lead the program to a district title.
“I told these kids that this moment was possible,” Dunedin coach Scott Johnson said after the victory. “These kids just really bought in and I love every single one of them. I’m just happy to be able to bring some of the tradition back.”
The contest started as more of a defensive battle as the Falcons (18-9) opened up with an initial 3-0 lead, but couldn’t find their footing shooting wise. At the end of the opening period, Dunedin led 12-11 and the second quarter featured more of the same.
With the Falcons leading just 22-19 heading into intermission, Johnson reminded his players at halftime that defense jumpstarts the offense.
“We talked about that everything starts on defense,” Johnson added. “We got some big turnovers and baskets. The kids stayed locked in the whole way.”
Solid ball movement leads to this Pierce Adkins’ 3-pointer
Dunedin leads Nature Coast 39-25 heading into the final quarter. pic.twitter.com/2BBYOXTmZw
— Andy Villamarzo (@Andy_Villamarzo) February 8, 2025
A dominant third quarter is what separated the two evenly matched ball clubs at the end of the day, with the Falcons out-scoring the Sharks (17-10) 17-6 in the period.
Timely offense for Dunedin came via Jalen Jackson, Deonte Mack and Sherwin Simmons, who finished the night surpassing the 1,000-point plateau for his high school career. Jackson and Mack each added 14 points apiece, respectively.
Though it was a special night for Simmons (team-high 20 points) individually, all the senior wing was worried about at the end of the day was helping lead Dunedin to a win that’s been a long time coming for the program.
“We wanted to bring the program back from where they were a long time ago,” Simmons said. “The team didn’t win any games last season and now we’ve won 18 so far. It was cool (to break 1,000 points), but I was focused on winning the game. Obviously it’s a cool thing to do, but it would have meant nothing without the win.”
— Andy Villamarzo (@Andy_Villamarzo) February 8, 2025
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— Andy Villamarzo | vi********@***********ve.com | @highschoolsi
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