MANATEE — Elijah Freeman was named Bayshore's new head football coach Tuesday. Freeman, who played for the Bruins in the 1990s, spent the past eight years as an assistant coach at Palmetto.

With the Tigers, Freeman was a defensive backs coach and special teams coordinator.

He also played at the collegiate level with Tulane University, where he was a team captain and defensive most valuable player his senior year.

The Bruins opened the position up following Jean P. Gordon's decision to leave coaching in early December. A pool of roughly 100 applicants were trimmed to 11.

Those 11 participated in a first round of interviews before the list was cut again. Just three names made it to the final stage. Freeman battled former Bruin and current assistant football coach Willie Joe Walker and Bayshore's current offensive line coach, Tyler Zebkar, in a final round of interviews.

Walker coaches in Idaho, while Zebkar was a player for the 2000 state champion Venice Indians.

For more on this story, check out Wednesday's Bradenton Herald.