High School Varsity Football Touchdown Preview: Seffner Christian Academy, 2025

Head Coach Travis Puelo and his Crusader program have cultivated a family environment with his players and fans. The 13-year coach hosted his and his program’s first home campus football game last season. They now play all of their home games on the school’s campus. Puelo said that the night home game atmosphere is electric and unlike anything that he’s been a part of in his 17 combined seasons as head coach at Seffner Christian and Cambridge Christian.

Seffner Christian Academy built a brand-new field house last year with a new football field, a practice field with a fresh grass surface and light poles. A press box and scoreboard will be added as well.

The school has new pregame ceremonies and traditions for every home game. The team’s Crusader mascot rides out on a horse and the players run down a hill into the stadium through a blow-up apparatus with a smoke machine, to set the atmosphere.

Puelo has always put a big emphasis on team chemistry. The players and coaches go on a team-bonding mission trip to Tennessee every season. A record 31 players and coaches went this year. A total of 47 players and eight coaches also attended a team football camp together in the summer where they bonded by playing basketball and paintball and practicing football.

“This team is special in the regards of the bond, the unity, the brotherhood; this team has come together,” said Puelo. “The five captains that we’ve named are really good kids. We have a bunch of really good kids that have great GPAs, and they don’t cause any problems and always say, ‘yes sir, no sir.’ We may not wow everybody coming off of the bus, but teams that are bonded and tight-knit and actually play for one another may surprise some people down the road.”

The Crusaders played in the new Sunshine State Athletic Association (SSAA) conference and made the playoffs for the first time in three years last season. They finished 6-3, eventually losing to the state champions Jupiter Christian 34-20.

He said that he has a 50-man roster for only the second time in his tenure at the school. The roster, which has 14 seniors and 14 freshmen, has had some instability problems the past few years with transfers leaving and entering the program at a high rate because of the new rules.

Senior captain signal caller Gabe Hagan will distribute the ball and spread the field in this high-powered spread offense. Puelo said that the second-year quarterback had a great summer playing seven-on-seven and throws a nice, tight spiral, reads the field well, is very cerebral and has a very strong arm. He isn’t the typical dual threat that the team usually runs with, he’s more of a drop-back passer who can occasionally run. He will also be throwing to his brother, receiver Ben Hagan. Puelo said that it’s been a long time since he’s had the same quarterback in back-to-back seasons.

Seffner Christian’s senior captain leading rusher, Keion Moore, is returning, along with the quarterback’s two favorite receiving targets in junior Luke McLaughlin and junior slot receiver John Snellings. Senior transfer tight end from Freedom High School Liam O’Brien will add to the offense as well. Senior captain ATH Tyndale Pittman is a great athlete at 6’4” and 195 pounds and will play several different positions, including the X-receiver.

Puelo likes his depth on defense, especially the defensive line, which he says he will have a rotation up front of 15–20 players that can play on both lines. Junior captain center Mitchell Pearson will anchor the offensive line. Senior kicker/punter Sutton Knight has a big leg and will handle all the kicking duties. They have eight returning starters on offense and six on defense.

The coach said that his team is hardworking, blue collar and trained really hard in the offseason in the weight room to become more physical. They want to be more physical on defense and finish in the red zone on offense. “Pursuing excellence” is the team’s motto.

Schedule:

8/15 vs. Duval Charter

10/24 @ St. Petersburg Catholic