2021 SCHEDULE BREAKDOWN: Dwyer could make the playoffs with competitive schedule

Palm Beach Gardens Dwyer has always been known as one of the tough traditional powerhouses and third-year head coach McKinley Rolle wants to keep that going. With that scheduling is a key factor in how well Dwyer will do or be ready for those games that really matter come time for the playoffs. Let’s take a look at the 2021 schedule for the Panthers.

DWYER 2021 SCHEDULE

Preseason – 8/20 – TBD
Week 1 – 8/27 – at Jupiter
Week 2 – 9/3 – at Wellington Palm Beach Central
Week 3 – 9/10 – Palm Beach Gardens
Week 4 – 9/17 – Fort Pierce Westwood*
Week 5 – 9/24 – West Palm Beach Palm Beach Lakes
Week 6 – 10/1 – Sebastian River*
Week 7 – 10/8 – Boca Raton
Week 8 – 10/15 – at Belle Glade Glades Central
Week 9 – 10/22 – at Stuart Martin County*
Week 10 – 10/29 – at Loxahatchee Seminole Ridge*
Week 11 – 11/5 – BYE WEEK

* – District 7A-8 Game

FOUR DOWNS

FIRST DOWN

Key District Game: With the district being considered a North district and the fact it is a combination of schools stretching almost 100 miles in length along the I-95/Florida Turnpike corridor, it provides a remarkably interesting plethora of teams here. If there is one game, we truly feel could be a key district game, it might be the Week 9 (10/22) contest against Martin County given that their coach is awfully familiar with the workings of football in Palm Beach County. For Dwyer, they will want to key in on the talent that Martin County brings back and this would be where they could likely win the district championship if they are on the winning path in 2021.

SECOND DOWN

Key Non-District Game: There isn’t necessarily a WOW factor non-district game that stands out here, but if we narrowed it down to two games it comes down to Week 1 (8/27) against Jupiter and Week 7 (10/8) against Boca Raton that would be great key non-district games.  For now, we say Boca Raton is probably the best of those two games and that is the one we will say is the key non-district game for now and one that could tell us a lot more about where the Panthers stand at before finishing the season up with three straight games on the road.

THIRD DOWN

RPI: The RPI factor here is very fluid for the Panthers. It would be highly critical of them to win the district outright to guarantee a spot in the playoffs given that anything could happen with the teams on the schedule. Teams like Palm Beach Central, Fort Port Pierce Westwood, Glades Central, and Seminole Ridge have been consistent making the playoffs over the last few years, but after that, that is where things can get wonky. If Jupiter, Palm Beach Gardens, Martin County, and Palm Beach Lakes can have decent seasons, that will go a long way for the Panthers if they do not secure a playoff berth with the district championship, but that remains to be seen.

FOURTH DOWN

Biggest Takeaways & Thoughts: This schedule is probably to have been expected as South Florida starts to recover and come out of the COVID-19 pandemic. No wow factors necessarily on the schedule, but the opponents are familiar ones mostly for Dwyer, especially like crosstown rival Palm Beach Gardens, Seminole Ridge, and Glades Central on sitting on the schedule. Now what is interesting overall is that the road games are bookend at the start and end of the season with all the home games sandwiched in the middle portion of the schedule. That puts the bye week at the end of the season which could prove beneficial for the Panthers if they want to make a deep playoff run come November.