- December 13, 2025
When Greg Shirley became Flagler Palm Coast’s head boys basketball coach last year, he intended to create a family culture. He didn’t know it already existed.
Several of the Bulldogs have been playing basketball together since they were in elementary school. Five of them, all seniors, will be in the starting lineup together when the Bulldogs open the season on Nov. 18 at home against Seabreeze.
“I just can’t wait,” Nateshawn Royal said. “It’s the first time all five of us are starting at FPC all at the same time.”
Royal (8.7 points per game), Siah Sanders (9.8 points) and Anthony Hampton (16.3 points) were the Bulldogs’ leading scorers last year on a team that finished with a 15-12 record. Zac Murphy, this year’s team captain, was a defensive stopper off the bench last season.
The fifth starter, Nate Perry, averaged 13.2 points for Matanzas last year. Now he’s back home.
“My freshman year I was here,” he said. “But I had an issue, so I went to Menendez and then last year I went to Matanzas. Now I’m back here at the school I was zoned for.”
Johnny Hampton, Anthony’s father, coached his son and Perry when they were 9 and 10 years old.
“They won 18 in a row, and I knew they were going to be good then,” Johnny Hampton said.
Johnny Hampton has been an assistant coach with FPC through four different head coaches. He also coaches the Flagler United AAU program. Perry has played with his friends at Flagler United each summer.
“Even when he played for the other schools, he’d play with these guys over the summer,” Johnny Hampton said. “It was like he never left.”
Six FPC seniors in all, including Jack Wronowski, attended Bunnell Elementary School together and played basketball in the Flagler County Basketball Program at the Carver Center.
Royal joined Perry and Anthony Hampton on the Prospects team when they were in sixth grade. Sanders joined a year later. Murphy also joined the team in middle school.
“We’ve got great chemistry,” Royal said.
“We all know what our strengths and weaknesses are,” Sanders added.
They also hold each other accountable, Anthony Hampton said. That’s something, Johnny Hampton said, that they learned by themselves.
“When one of us messes up, we all mess up,” Murphy said.
That hasn’t been happening much, Shirley said.
“They have all improved since last year,” Shirley said. “Zac can get from one side of the floor to the other faster than anyone, and he makes plays for his teammates.”
The four guards can all push it up the floor, said Sanders, the lone forward at 6-foot-6.
“Last year, we had another big man who played with me,” Sanders said. “Now that we have more guards on the floor, we can play a lot faster.”
As 9- and 10-year-olds, it always seemed like there would be a next year to play basketball with their friends. Now, as seniors, they realize this will be their last chance to win a championship together.
“There is way more effort than last year,” Murphy said. “You can tell every player has some type of heart in the game. We’re all invested.”
