KEYSTONE HEIGHTS - Keystone Heights High's newest head football coach, Cameron Porch, has had a career of turning programs around and producing better seasons very quickly.

"I got to Bronson with four or five years of bad seasons and got them to a 5-5 and 6-4 season in my second and third seasons there," said Porch, who had stints at Baker County (offensive coordinator), most recently, three seasons at Trenton High and even a few seasons at Ridgeview High (2016-2018, 11-19 record). "Coming to Keystone Heights is a way for me to reconnect with my own family; I'm from Interlachen and going back and forth to Bronson and Trenton the past few years has been tough. Keystone Heights, I'm thinking will be my last stop so I can spend time with my own kids; now 10 and five years old."

At Trenton, in 2024, Porch finished at 5-8 with two wins in the FHSAA Florida Invitational Tournament with a FIT semifinal loss to state runner-up Dixie County.
Porch also got in on weightlifting teams at his previous schools.

"It's the catalyst all year for building the camaraderie in the locker room," Porch said. "Right now, weightlifting is big in Keystone Heights. Football had its day a few years ago. We'll just chip away at getting football back in the mix."

At Baker County, Porch orchestrated the 2025 Wildcats offense to nearly 20 points per game and a Class 3A region loss to eventual champion Raines High.
Porch was a multipurpose player in his Interlachen High days. Porch also had coaching seasons at 3A-Santa Fe; 6A-Gainesville, where he was part of a coaching staff that lost to Tampa Armwood in region play; and 1A-Bronson High, where he had seasons of 2-8, 5-5 and 6-4.

Porch had one year coaching stints at Berrien High in Georgia and Mount Dora High after leaving Ridgeview.

Porch, who inherits an 0-10 season last year under departed coach Steve Reynolds, knows his job will be challenging right from the start.

"I see it as an uphill battle, first, because I'm not in the hallways every day, and second, there are a lot of players that have left the program," Porch said. "It's tough to ask a kid to come out for the team when they have lost games."

Porch was very familiar with the connection of the boys weightlifting team and the football teams and hopes that his presence in the weightlifting room will help him to find some big, strong boys to handle the duties at the line of scrimmage.

"Coach Leavy Alvarez does a great job with the weightlifting as evident by district and region titles recently," said Porch, who coached Trenton weightlifting at his previous schools. "There is a good connection between weightlifting and success in football."

Porch commented on the transfers out of Keystone Heights and said his biggest thing is to find the kids in the school.

"I got a good group of coaches that have their eyes open in the hallways," Porch said. "That transition makes a tough situation a little tougher."

Porch acknowledged that his year one, with near 76 kids expected for spring football, will come with time and a winning attitude.

"I know the kids here hate losing as any 16-year-old athlete does," Porch said. "We want to bring back a good atmosphere to build on. I'm hoping for around 90 kids once school starts. Right now, we have like nine seniors with just three seniors playing last year."