With the opening round of the 2016 “Drive To December” playoffs here, here is a quick look of teams we didn’t expect to make the playoffs this season, but did! Put them all in down on the list of refreshing surprises, if you don’t mind!
POLLWhich of the teams making the playoffs surprises you the most?
5. CARDINAL GIBBONS
Talk about a season for the Chiefs under first-year head coach Matt DuBuc. The Chiefs totally blew expectations out of the water by racking up an 8-1 record and a District 5A-16 runner-up finish. Sometimes a fresh jolt of energy is all that is needed to turn the fortunes around, especially missing out on the playoffs the last few years. However, the path to the playoffs won’t be that easy.
4. BAKER COUNTY
Another team with a new head coach in place and seriously we thought it would take some time for the Wildcats to get rebuilt and be a playoff contender. But we didn’t think it would be this fast! Head coach Jamie Rodgers who led the Suwannee Bulldogs for the past several years prior to returning home has been able to work the magic that could put Wildcats to make their deepest run in school history here. Talk about a big change indeed!
3. MIDDLEBURG
Not a team that has a new head coach or anything like that. Instead, the Broncos were coming off a 0-10 season and were projected to finish fourth in District 6A-4. Boy, we were sure wrong about this one. The Broncos who came into the season with a 14-game losing streak made it 15 games lost in Week 1. Week 2, however, things changed and the Broncos picked up a win. Strangely the fact of Middleburg’s record being 4-5 going into the playoffs should be more like 6-3 at least with one game being lost 3-0 and another being lost in overtime. However, it speaks volumes for what Karl Smeltzer has done in changing the tide for the Clay County program that is making its first playoff appearance since 2003.
2. FROSTPROOF
Talk about being blindsided. This goes down for runner-up of the year on being blindsided. We didn’t even have Frostproof projected to finish third this season given the recent trend of everything that has gone for this rural Polk County school. Instead, they upset the apple cart in the process by taking out projected runner-up finisher Fort Meade in District 1A-8. For the Bulldogs this could be the start of something to get back to the level of football that Frostproof was once known for as a state championship title contender.
1. GULF BREEZE
We blew it on Gulf Breeze this year. Totally blew it. First, Gulf Breeze was coming off a 2-9 season which somehow included a playoff appearance that was earned through a tiebreaker spot last season. Second, Gulf Breeze hired a new head coach in the offseason to help lead the transition to rebuild the team. Third, we thought this process would take a couple of years at least. Well, we got prove wrong big time on this. Talk about going from 2-8 in the regular season to 9-1 and district champions in District 6A-2. No one saw this coming. Not you, not myself, not Navarre, not Pace, not Milton…well not even the entire state. Basically, everything we knew about Gulf Breeze got thrown into the trash can. And to be honest, they might not be done yet shocking everyone given that they are playing their best football right now.
