Violence erupts at Sunlake High School (Florida) spring football practice

LAND O’ LAKES, Florida – Chaos broke out during a spring football practice at Sunlake High School on Monday.

Sunlake offensive coordinator Connor Ferst was allegedly attacked by Elijah McClendon, a defensive assistant coach with the team, and beaten to the point that he needed medical attention at a local hospital.

In an exclusive interview with SBLive Sports, Ferst, who previously coached at the college level, said he and McClendon had no previous tensions but that things suddenly turned violent between the two during Monday’s practice as the Seahawks’ offensive and defensive units were competing against each other in drills and a team scrimmage.

Ferst told SBLive Sports that he resigned on Monday night after the fight took place.

Ferst alleges that McClendon was engaging in some colorful trash talking with both he and his offensive players and, at one point, demanded that one of his players give him his pads so he could challenge Ferst in the Oklahoma Drill, a one-on-one full contact drill in which players engage each other at full speed within a confined area in a battle of physical toughness.

Ferst refused the invitation and said he called McClendon a “weirdo” and asked, “‘What are you doing? We are just out here competing.’”

Tensions died down momentarily, but when the Sunlake offense scored a touchdown, a few minutes later, in a two-minute drill, Ferst said McClendon yelled, “Kill yourself” three times as Ferst celebrated with his unit. At that point, Ferst said he admonished McClendon about his behavior in front of the team and then turned his back.

“Ten seconds after I turned my back, I was clocked over the head by Coach Elijah and my hood was pulled over my head,” said Ferst in describing the altercation. “I was choked with my whole hood pulled over my head and Coach Elijah punched me in the top of my head, split my head open, punched me in the back of the ear, (creating) a laceration in the back of my ear, bruised my ear. We tackled each other to the ground and when we went to the ground, I went into the fetal position and he started wailing on my left side, my ribs, that led to me having bruised ribs. I can’t even walk or do anything right now all because he’s a hot head.”

Ferst said the fight was eventually broken up by another coach.

SBLive Sports asked Bri Rolon, Ferst’s girlfriend, if the police were investigating the incident. “The the only thing that we know is that we were asked if we wanted to press charges and we said yes," said Rolon. "That is about all the communication we've had.”

Rolon said the police indicated that the case would be turned over to the major crimes unit to investigate because they anticipate it being a high profile case.

On Wednesday morning, SBLive Sports contacted both Sunlake principal Kara Merlin and Pasco County Athletic Director Matthew Wicks for comment on the incident. As of Wednesday evening, Merlin and Wicks had not responded. 

“I am new to the area,” said Ferst, who joined the Sunlake staff in January after meeting Sunlake head coach BJ Hall at a coaching conference. “I always said I never wanted to coach high school ball because of the madness and how unorganized (it is). But, I had an opportunity to be an offensive coordinator and I jumped on it, and I jumped on it at the wrong place.”

Hall, who is also in his first year at Sunlake, pursued Ferst after the initial meeting and offered him a position on his staff. Initially, Ferst came on as wide receivers coach and within 12 hours was promoted to offensive coordinator.

A report about the incident on WFLA.com stated two unnamed assistants were fired from the Sunlake football team following the fight on Monday and that Hall was suspended.

The report angered Ferst, who also served as an instructional assistant at Sunlake. He insists that he resigned and was not fired.

It’s the latest in a series of events that has taken place at the school in the last 10 months as Sunlake made a coaching change back on Sep. 6, two games into the 2022 regular season. Then head coach Allen Suber II was dismissed as the school’s lead man, leaving after just two games with the program. 

Suber is now coaching at Wharton High School in Hillsborough County. The Seahawks finished out the season under interim head coach John Gilmore, who went 0-8 in the final eight games of the 2022 campaign. Gilmore was not retained as head coach by the program, setting up a second head coaching search in in less than two years. 

Sunlake in two weeks is slated to host Sarasota in a spring game on May 18.