Matanzas players ran six laps around the track, plus a warm-up lap, as part of their annual Red, White and Blue Workout honoring a fallen hero. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Matanzas football players did 24 walking lunge steps during each of six rounds of the Loredo Workout on June 26. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Matanzas football coach Matt Forrest presents the new glossy black helmet the Pirates will wear this season. Photo by Brent Woronoff
A decal on the front of each Matanzas football helmet lists the player's Palm Coast section to show pride for his neighborhood. Photo by Brent Woronoff
One group does air squats as part of the Loredo Workout, while another group hydrates. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Linemen Logan Walker and Jaxson Narrington run 400 meters around the track as part of the Loredo Workout. The Pirates did six rounds of the workout. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Matanzas High School linebacker Jack Ferguson said the Red, White and Blue Workout — the conditioning session and celebration marking the end of the first half of summer activities for the football team — is a trial run for himself and an exercise in team building.
The rising senior is planning a future in the military and will attend the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy in Kings Point, New York, after graduation. Grueling conditioning will be the norm, he said.
“Their big motto is, ‘Deed, not words,’” Ferguson said. “And I feel like this right here is really the best example of that because we all want to talk, we all want to say we want the work, we want to win and we want to represent our country, but we have to do stuff like this where it really takes a grind. Today, we're pushing past what we think we can do, which is exactly what they would want in the military.”
Matanzas held its sixth annual Red and White and Blue Workout on Friday, June 26. The event has become a tradition in Matt Forrest’s six years as the Pirates’ head football coach. It is always scheduled at the end of the week before the Fourth of July and honors a fallen service member with a CrossFit Hero Workout.
After the workout, the team plays Pirate Ball (Ultimate Frisbee with a football) and enjoys a cookout lunch presented by the Pirate Pride Booster Club to celebrate the end of the first part of summer workouts and a week off before round two of summer activities begins.
“Our second session is where we're really going to see how much gains we made over this entire off season,” Ferguson said. “We're going to max out and see where we're at going into the first game [in August].”
This year, the Pirates did two CrossFit Hero Workouts, honoring Army Staff Sergeant Edwardo Loredo and Army Specialist Donald L. Nichols, both of whom were killed by improvised explosive devices in Afghanistan in 2010 and 2011, respectively.
As Ferguson noted, the workouts aren’t easy. The “Loredo Workout” consists of six rounds of 24 air squats, 24 pushups, 24 walking lunge steps and a 400-meter run (a lap around the track). In all, they ran seven laps around the track, including a warm-up. The “Donny Workout” followed, consisting of a series of several deadlifts and burpees.
Before they started, Forrest talked about the significance of honoring fallen heroes.
We want to get together in fellowship. We want to work hard, number one, but we want to understand that to be able to do this and to come out here is a privilege.
— MATT FORREST, Matanzas football coach
“The reason we get to play football, the reason we get to go to school, the reason we get to all be together in this setting is because there are always people that will fight for your freedom and right to do so,” Forrest said. “We want to get together in fellowship. We want to work hard, number one, but we want to understand that to be able to do this and to come out here is a privilege.”
As they honored fallen heroes and celebrated our nation’s independence, Forrest also presented the Pirates’ new football helmets for the 2026 season. The glossy black helmet has decals on each side with Matanzas written in script and a blue and silver stripe down the middle. On the front of the helmet between the two top facemask clips, a personalized decal identifies the players’ Palm Coast section to give them pride in their neighborhood.
