For the sixth time in seven years, a Pasco County middle school is one of two across the state honored for sportsmanship by the Florida High School Activities Association.
Stewart Middle School in Zephyrhills has won the FHSAA's Fred E. Rozelle Sportsmanship Award, an honor Bayonet Point Middle has won five times since 1997.
The award also gives $500 to the school's athletic program with the chance to earn another $1,000 if Stewart edges Roulhac Middle School of Chipley for the state's overall middle school sportsmanship honor.
"It says a lot not only about our kids, but our coaches as well," said Dennis Duffy, the school's athletic director for the past 31 years.
"We all believe very strongly in good sportsmanship and do what we can to have everyone follow the rules and respect officials and other schools."
Stewart was nominated by the Lake Region Officials Association, which handles the officiating for the school's football and basketball games.
"We've won such an award in the county a few times when the district used to award it but never anything like this," Duffy said. "And the $500, to tell you the truth, it came at the perfect time."
The $500 already has been earmarked for a sudden need for athletic equipment. The school found its football helmets needed to be replaced after rats got into the storage room where they were kept, a refurbishment that will cost about $500. Duffy and Stewart principal Jackson Johnson Jr. will represent the school at an FHSAA banquet in Tampa on June 12, when the state's overall middle school winner will be announced.
Duffy said one thing that might have helped Stewart earn the honor is a longstanding tradition of holding in-school basketball and volleyball games with Pasco Middle School in Dade City, which promotes the school's biggest rivalry with the full student body in attendance.
Stewart, like most county middle schools, fields boys teams in football, basketball, soccer and track and girls teams in volleyball, basketball, soccer and track.
