When looking back on 10 weeks of the season that have played out already and with district play already concluded (except for one game in one district), we are wondering which teams have surprised us by missing the playoffs.
We came up with a list of about 10 teams that seemingly surprised us by missing the playoffs, but we will narrow it to five here and give you some thoughts on each one missing in that list of five.
Dwyer Panthers
This has to be the most complete shocker of them all in the list of teams that surprised us in missing the playoffs. Dwyer, the defending Class 7A champion, we all knew was going to be down compared to last year’s team, but still have enough to contend maybe to at least the third round of the playoffs. Instead the first loss in Week 1 against Glades Central set off the alarm somewhat, before Dwyer pulled seven straight wins together, including five district wins. However, we knew Atlantic was showing something brewing that could likely push the district into a tiebreaker to decide the playoff spots. So with that Atlantic won Week 9 needing Dwyer, Atlantic and Royal Palm Beach to win out to force that tiebreaker. Little did we see West Boca Raton actually playing the spoiler roll right down to perfection by beating Dwyer and keeping the Panthers out of the playoffs for the first time since 1998.
South Dade Buccaners
Another team we knew would not be like last year’s state championship winning team, but we didn’t expect them to go from state champion to being non-existent in the playoffs in a flash like Dwyer. South Dade has talent, maybe not as much this year, but just to see them not defending their Class 8A state championship was unexpected. The Buccaneers will now will have to try to regroup going into 2015 to bounce back and perhaps become a team in the future that we expect to contend for future state championship and not be looked at as total fluke in winning it all last year.
Pasco Pirates
We knew Pasco was in trouble if Zephyrhills was to mount much of a game in the Nine-Mile War (which they did), but managed to pull off the win overtime. What we did not expect to happen was this: Be eliminated after eight straight trips to the playoffs under Tom McHugh…in a tiebreaker. Yes, Pasco getting eliminated from the playoffs in a tiebreaker was a complete shock considering we expected them to at least get one chance to knock off Zephyrhills again in the second quarter of the tiebreaker, but Nature Coast again proved they were for real in contending for the runner-up spot in District 5A-6. Not to totally fault Pasco here though for all of this happening, they lost several key players during the off-season, which made it tough to fill those shoes. All of that could have likely been the difference maker for Pasco to be back in the playoffs once again this season.
Cardinal Gibbons Chiefs
What is worse for a team: Losing a game the last second or winning six straight to drop the next three games and miss the playoffs? The latter part has to be the feeling for the Cardinal Gibbons Chiefs who were at one point this season ranked No. 2 in Class 5A before dropping three games in a row to Miami Jackson, Blanche Ely and American Heritage-Plantation. The Miami Jackson and American Heritage games, both district games, have the Chiefs sitting on the sidelines for the playoffs this year. This is not what anyone expected to see coming from the Chiefs after the 6-0 start and now the Chiefs will enter the off-season looking to see what they can do to not be caught in this position next season.
Tampa Catholic Crusaders
This is one team we don’t understand on how they managed to miss the playoffs after several big names in talent showed up for the Crusaders. Looking back they didn’t get their first win until dropping the first four games of the season, before pulling off a three game win streak and winning a couple of games when it was mostly needed. However, dropping a key game against Lakeland Christian was the likely writing on the wall with a tiebreaker coming at Berkeley Prep (a team they had beaten to stay alive in the playoff hunt). Tampa Catholic did win the first tiebreaker over Fort Meade, but couldn’t pull off the upset over Berkeley Prep in the second tiebreaker again to get in, forcing a state semifinalist from last season to sit at home for the playoffs this year.
Other teams that surprised us in missing the playoffs: Pahokee, Ribault, Port Charlotte, Springstead, Sandalwood
