​HAINES CITY — Kamari Smith and Daniel James are at Lake Wales, Deonte Fielder is at Lakeland, others have graduated. They all have moved on. The starters, including top players from a talented sophomore class, of the Hornets’ 2024 district championship team have all moved on in one way or another — well, almost all.Blake Herrington is the lone starter from 2024. What he thought he and his teammates could build on after winning the school’s first football district title in 25 years since his dad, Pat Herrington, took over as head coach in 2021 evaporated when there was an exodus of top players via transfer or graduation following the ’24 season. The Hornets crashed to a 2-8 season to begin yet another rebuilding project.One year later, Blake is leading Haines City into one of the biggest games in his career as the Hornets (4-3, 3-0) play host to Poinciana (5-2, 3-0) with the Class 6A, District 9 title on the line. The winner won’t officially clinch the district title but will be in a commanding position.For Blake, the game is up there with the district-clinching game against Ridge two years ago, but he noted for most of his teammates, this is likely their biggest game.“We don’t got the same guys that were there for the. district title,” he said. “I feel like for them, it’s a big game. So if it’s a big game for them, it’s a big game for me because it’s something we have to win. Every time we out here we say respect the City because people don’t respect it (Haines City) anymore. Everybody left. We had a bad season last year, so I feel like i’ts definitely as big as it was my sophomore year when we played Ridge and George Jenkins.”Blake is back in the same role he had in 2024 but, but he also has another. He’s one of the top wide receivers in the county — when he can play the position. With starting quarterback sustaining an injury two games ago against Auburndale, Blake stepped back into the role at quarterback, a position he has played on and off since his freshman year, including most of his sophomore season.Last year when he was able to stay at wide receiver most of the time, he caught 41 passes for 409 yards. He was the Hornets’ most prolific offensive player. This season, he is the Hornets’ leading receiver with 12 catches as they were breaking in a new starting quarterback in Yomar Lopez. With Lopez getting hurt, Blake has returned to quarterack.“We’ve got to win,” Blake said. “We got to win. I don’t want to go out without going to the playoffs. I actually want to make a run. So if moving tot quarterback is what I got to do to win, it’s what I got to do.”Herrington won’t necessarily carry the offense with his arm or legs. One of his great strengths is his football IQ — he’s the coach’s son, after all — and his job is to run the offense, make the right decisions, hand off to Franc Guillaume and others in the backfield then sneak in the occasianal pass for, hopefully, a big play.That was the form