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Don’t write these FL teams off just yet. Brentwood Academy plays in a watered down playoff, and was in a dog fight with an average private Texas team two years ago. Barely won 21-14 and was considered national top 50 UMS won state but it was a small school title, and outside the state top 5, Alabama can be pretty pedestrian. Chaminade was in a dog fight because the coaching is lacking. Western has been trending upwards the last few years. Winter Park has came out of nowhere like Wekiva due to the rise in transfers. If they continues then they could hold their own. Hoover lost a stud to transfer and isn’t the Hoover of old. Cocoa can surprise them for sure. I don’t have high expectations, I just hope to God they can all make it competitive

Columbia, I'm not saying that Hawthorne was bad, Actually they were pretty sound. I'm saying that due to last season's schedule Pahokee was not as good at the end of the season as they should have been. I've seen less talented Pahokee team destroy a team like Hawthorne in the past!

99.8% of teams in Florida would love to be trending downward like St Thomas LOL As talented as this 5'10" WR may be, I hardly think losing him is going to hurt STA that badly when looking at the big picture of their program. Who knows, STA may end up with an "upgrade" for his replacement.

Of course not and I’m glad it was some new blood and I hope for more new blood this upcoming season

Lol I mean we technically are our own state lol #FACTZ south Florida is a entire demension within its self lol

Richard Leonard/OL-Cocoa could play baseball in college also as a power hitter. Great eye hand coordination. Ladarious Tennison/ATH-Rockledge is a one man team. I feel bad for Rockledge when he graduates.

*Dates are to be confirmed. PAHOKEE(AWAY) DEERFIELD(HOME) MIRAMAR(HOME) BOYD ANDERSON(HOME) HOLLYWOOD HILLS (HOME) STRANAHAN (HOME) NORTHEAST (AWAY) ARCHBISHOP MCCARTHY (AWAY) ELY (AWAY) PIPER (HOME) GOOOOO PANTHERS!!

To quote Larry the Cable Guy... "I don't care who you are that right there's funny" The first mom joke was ehh, but the follow-up was good. As for a team that I think makes the biggest, the easy answer is Gadsden County. They are getting Corey Fuller back at the helm. Fuller turned around Godby teams that had gone 3-6 and 2-7 the previous two seasons before he arrived. He then led to 11-1 and 11-2 seasons. When he took over East Gadsden (now Gadsden County) the first time, the team had not won more than 5 games in the previous 6 seasons they ended up with seasons of 5 wins, 10 wins, and 8 wins. I think Gadsden County probably has 5 winnable games on the schedule. So if we are just talking who makes the biggest jump it is Gadsden. Now, is Gadsden going to compete for a state championship, no. As for another team to keep an eye on is King's Academy. They were state runner-up and got up early on Chaminade-Madonna with the score being 10-0 early in the 2nd. C-M then scored the next 38 points. King's was a senior laden team from what I could tell, but state semi-finalist is a possibility if they can reload. With Oxbridge ending their football program, those players had to go somewhere. I am sure a couple ended up at King's, Cardinal Newman, American Heritage -Delray and large publics in Palm Beach County.

I'll try to do better. It's the off season. All the recruits haven't moved yet.

What good is being undefeated in regular season with no championship I would take .500 regular season and state title or even appearance over undefeated regular season just to get bounced in first or second round every day of week

If Booker T Washington Which is 4a on your list, Why is Bolles or Glades Central not on there?

Jacksonville traffic is the weirdest thing to me. Whenever I travel there on 95 or 10, the traffic is usually ok. You get off on JTB or University or Beach and all of a sudden there is just random stops. No rhyme or reason, just 100s of cars in a small area (no accident, no police). Orange Park area is even worse though. Everybody rides on the same darn road (Blanding). Yuck, I would sooner drive all the way to Fletcher across Jacksonville rush hour traffic than to ever drive to any of the Clay County schools during rush hour. There will always be the balancing act of how far will people be willing to drive vs how "nice" of schools do we insist on. I think for Fleming Island, PV, Nocatee, those adults made those decisions. "I want very nice house, no riff raff, and nice schools even if it means that I have to drive an hour each day." I don't think they are going to change their minds in the short term or at least not enough to cause Bolles to have their admissions office flooded with people willing to pay that cost.

I was only pointing out the fact that Vero has lost at home before. Whether its in the playoffs or not. You stated that Vero has not lost at home since 2012 against a loaded Ft. Pierce Central team. Don't understand why you would hang your hat on the fact that they are dominant at home in the regular season but lose at home in the playoffs....just saying

This is true to a degree, but they had to play these teams. Nobody else would play them. Did anybody really think Flanagan, Cooper City, and the other merry minimums on their schedule last year were going to hang around to get beat by 70 again? They're a 2 time defending state champion that is bringing back a team that would compete for a state championship without a single transfer, instead they have 21 transfers and word is they have some legit super stars transferring in shortly once the summer scholarship goes into effect. (It's the scholarship for learning disabilities). As for Chaminade and Vero. I stand by my statement, If Chaminade is healthy they'll win this one. I'm not saying it'll be a blowout, but they'll end up with more points. They play Central/Carol City/AHP and like years past, they play those super powers early and will lose to one or two of them. By week 7 they'll turn into Super Chaminade and wipe the floor with everybody else except JaxTCA who will have turned into Super JaxTCA by then. I've seen this story to many times.

Vero Beach is playing in a spring jamboree at Boca Raton on May 22. 1st half: Vero vs. Dwyer 2nd half: Vero vs. Boca 3rd half: Dwyer vs. Boca

Merritt Island hasn’t been good since I was a glimmer in my mama’s eye. Lol

I remember that 03 year well. LOL had quite the season dominating weak Pasco competitiion. Not sure who they played in the 1st 2 rounds but they won those as well. Then came the 3rd round. I was in town (from college) so I went to the game vs Melbourne Palm bay who featured, Joe Cohen UF, Xavier Carter LSU, Reggie Nelson UF, Zach Slate ECU and a few others I cannot remember. They beat LOL in a rare below 40 degree weather game 42-7. The next week they played Lincoln at home in the state semis rematch from the Fog Bowl from a year ago and won going on to win the state title that year.

Brentwood Academy lost to 2 teams last year they were both behind CCC in the national rankings. A couple hundred spots behind CCC. So they are definitely beatable. If I was a betting man I would take BA straight up, but that’s why they play the game!!!

We barely just missed the list lol

I read somewhere that Brentwood's tuition is 19k per year and they boast of being the top school in Tennessee. My guess is they have lots of resources for their football team, including a good coaching staff.

...where these schools would play if in Florida. Bishop Sycamore 6A Brentwood Academy 4A Hoover 7A Pickerington Central 6A UMS Wright 3A

I actually communicated with a few individuals this morning in the media who wanted my opinion. I think outside of the game Mainland drew that this is going to be rough for Florida, but the teams going are going more for the experience. I focus on small school football. Last year Chaminade drew Muscle Shoals a very good but not great Alabama team. This year, the team that replaced Chaminade is CCC, a very good football team in their own right. Instead of drawing another very good team of the quality of Muscle Shoals, they draw a 4 time defending state champion that would smoke Chaminade and probably be favored to beat JaxTCA that early in the season. Cocoa is a very good nationally recognized program that has athletes to spare, but they draw Hoover, Alabama. Cocoa has a history of fielding varsity rosters of 38-45 and sometimes not even that many. They'll draw a team that will field a varsity roster of 80+. I mentioned in another post, but I think they just went off of the 2018 Maxpreps state and national rankings. I wish good luck to all the teams in Florida all of them deserve to be invited and represent Florida even if we'll be taking a few on the chin.

That's why y'all and bolles were the most hated teams in the city because y'all never played and quality teams... Y'all aboutnto earn respect from entire state win or lose record

I'm going to all of them I'm excited ... We didn't play school like this at all win I played for Trinity ..

They will take a few losses but will be prime for state. All I know I will get to watch most of these games since I just moved to Jacksonville.

I think what winallthetime meant is that TCA wasn't quite good enough in 5A to win it all like they would probably be able to do in 3A. We all know how good TCA is. But, if your goal is to win the championship and you have come up short each time, then you are just not as good in 5A as you would be in 3A which is probably understandable given that 5A provides more difficult opposition.

How often has a team won a state title having played all of its playoff games on the road? It is very rare. Here are a few that did...a truly remarkable accomplishment 2012-Godby won 4 playoff games on the road and then traveled to Orlando, where they beat Immokalee for the 5A title. Those four playoff games involved travel to West Florida, Wakulla, Bishop Kenny(Jacksonville) and Robinson(Tampa). 2009-Glades Day won 3 playoff games on the road and then traveled to Orlando, where they beat Warner Christian for the 1B title. 2003-Carol City won 4 playoff games on the road and then traveled to Gainesville, where they beat Edgewater for the 6A title. Outscored opponents 102-13 in those 5 games. 1976-Panama City Bay won 3 playoff games on the road and then traveled to Ocala, where they beat Delray Beach Atlantic for the 3A title. Interestingly, they beat Ocala Forest in the state semi in Ocala and then returned to Ocala for the final. Several teams won 4 playoff games on the road, but then fell short in the state title game: 1998-Estero 1999-Southridge 2004-Lake Gibson 2008-Northwestern 2009-Deland

From 1929-2018 OOS games 1938 vs Morristown,TN 7-25 L 1948 vs Warren Easton,LA 19-33 L 1949 vs Bass,GA 20-13 W 1949 vs Greenwood,SC 7-26 L 1999 vs Hueneme,CA 36-20 W 2008 vs Central Gwinnett,GA 34-14 W 2010 vs West Point,MS 0-14 L 2015 vs St Edwards,OH 28-47 L 2018 vs Bob Jones,AL 36-39 L

I would think that Cardinal Gibbons is going to try and push a little harder with the folks in admissions to get some more guys in

Damn all the people crying on Facebook and Twitter make me think that we had 20K at 2A and 3A instead of the 1000 that were actually there. I am willing to bet the attendance is higher this coming year than 2018 (if Pahokee isn't in 1A finals). 2A and 3A will be a wash and lower but it won't matter as they are so low already. 4A attendance will be fine as long as Cocoa is one of the teams (especially if it is Wednesday night). 5A-8A will be their norms with 8A maybe being lower since they won't have the really local team. With some of the major Miami teams spread out in different classifications, I think you might see a higher attendance. I don't think there is that much of a difference between Daytona and Orlando in terms if driving from South Florida.

Yeah, now it'll only be 40-45% empty.

Proseteye, I saw on the schedule that OTC is playing Calvary Christian. This is a good game as Calvary Christian has a prolific QB and some talented WR's to throw to. OTC has been in a 2 steps forward, 1 step back rebuilding process. Let's see if the new coach and a senior laden team gets the Celtics over the hump. While JaxTCA is in your region I think the more immediate focus should be on winning a playoff game. This will go a long, long way to re-establishing the Celtic brand in Marion county. You won't have to worry about Chaminade or CCC, they are in regions 3 and 4 respectively. First Academy is in region 2 this year. OTC is a team worth following, there's some good things happening.

In order to make this list, which is comprised of teams currently in 5A-8A, a team had to win 5 or more regional titles, win 32 or more playoff games, and appear in at least one state title game. St Thomas Aquinas-22 regional titles, 8 state runner-up titles, 10 state titles, 104 playoff wins Lakeland-14 regional titles, 1 state runner-up titles, 7 state titles, 68 playoff wins Manatee-15 regional titles, 2 state runner-up titles, 5 state titles, 61 playoff wins Armwood-13 regional titles, 7 state runner-up titles, 2 state titles (1 vacated), 57 playoff wins Northwestern-10 regional titles, 2 state runner-up titles, 6 state titles, 54 playoff wins Carol City-11 regional titles, 2 state runner-up titles, 5 state titles, 50 playoff wins Plant-10 regional titles, 2 state runner-up titles, 4 state titles, 49 playoff wins Miami Central-7 regional titles, 1 state runner-up title, 5 state titles, 41 playoff wins Southridge-9 regional titles, 4 state runner-up titles, 2 state titles, 1 co-champion state titles, 45 playoff wins Osceola-10 regional titles, 4 state runner-up titles, 1 state title, 40 playoff wins Lincoln-8 regional titles, 2 state runner-up titles, 3 state titles, 45 playoff wins Dillard-8 regional titles, 3 state runner-up titles, 2 state titles, 40 playoff wins Southeast-7 regional titles, 3 state runner-up titles, 2 state titles, 39 playoff wins Apopka-7 regional titles, 1 state runner-up title, 3 state titles, 38 playoff wins Merritt Island-7 regional titles, 1 state runner-up title, 3 state titles, 45 playoff wins Columbus-7 regional titles, 4 state runner-up titles, 33 playoff wins Naples-9 regional titles, 1 state runner-up title, 2 state titles, 44 playoff wins St Augustine-8 regional titles, 2 state runner-up titles, 1 state title, 39 playoff wins Mainland-8 regional titles, 1 state title, 43 playoff wins Vero Beach-7 regional titles, 1 state title, 39 playoff wins Deerfield Beach-8 regional titles, 1 state runner-up title, 37 playoff wins Dwyer-6 regional titles, 1 state runner-up title, 2 state titles, 38 playoff wins Palm Bay-6 regional titles, 2 state titles, 36 playoff wins Ely-6 regional titles, 1 state runner-up title, 1 state titles, 33 playoff wins American Heritage Plantation-5 regional titles, 1 state runner-up title, 4 state titles, 34 playoff wins

I've been waiting 5 years for my Celtics to start producing like the teams of old. I thought that last season was the one where they would emerge with new HC Thomas at the helm. The team did well at the start and then reverted to type in the second half. This season they have a Senior heavy team with experience at most positions. Thomas is historically a winning coach so hopefully he will be able to put it together for 2019 so that we can at least be in the playoffs and maybe do some amazing things.

Columbia, I just saw something interesting. Typically, I would ask this in the form of a hypothetical question, but I won't bother to try and disguise things. It appears that the kid who got the "invitation" from IMG currently plays for Robert E. Lee. Based solely on the fact that IMG apparently/allegedly wants the kid to attend IMG, I'm going to assume he's a pretty good football player. Lee is now in the same district as Columbia. If you're the coach at Columbia (or even a big fan who follows high school football closely and who posts on high school football message boards), what do you do if you think IMG has crossed the line? On the one hand, you may feel compelled to report the violation (regardless of whether you think the FHSAA will do anything about it). On the other hand, if you stay quiet on the issue, then one of your district opponents just lost one of their best defensive players, which presumably increases your chances of beating Lee this season. Ethical dilemma?

Some more guesses for the list: Miami Northwest, Miami Central, Glades Central, Lakeland, Hillsborough and Columbia. I'd be willing to bet STA is the school with double-digit players in the NFL right now, but I don't know what the number is.

Without looking it up, I would guess that STA and Lakewood (St. Pete) are two of the teams.

Monsignor Pace down here is Dade will be much, much better. Their problem is there are in a brutal region (Carol City, Gibbons, Booker T, USchool).

Orange Park

While I don't believe they'll challenge for a state title this coming season, I think Tampa Steinbrenner will qualify for the playoffs next season......which would be the 1st time they've done that in 4-5 years. They have a nice QB Haden Carlson that can make all the throws... (His dad played for the Bucs as a backup QB). Rising Jr Deon Silas that was a nice play maker for Steinbrenner last season as a soph, all of their WR''s are returning and I want to say 2-3 members of its OL also returning. On Defense I believe they had 5 Sophs either start or see significant playing time.....with Austin Brannen and Desmond Mamudi really standing out to me! I want to say they'll be returning 8 players total from their starting defense of last season. The only teams they lost to last year all qualified for the playoffs, and they beat East Lake HS in a post season bowl game. For me there a team I'll be keeping eye out for next season, because I do expect them to make some noise in the Tampa Bay area!

IMG can actively recruit. They don't play for a state championship so they don't have to adhere by FHSAA rules. That was my understanding at least.

Man that's a crazy schedule!!!! Did they learn anything from last year??? Got beat up physically and mentally last year!!!Ha d nothing for the playoffs left. I've seen Pahokee teams with less talent destroy a team like Hawthorne from last year.

If you made it to the semi finals then you were region champs. The region championship is the 3rd round of the playoffs.

Corrected in original post. Booker T should not have been on the list. Replaced with American Heritage Plantation. Thanks for pointing out.

Judging by the look of Bolles teams over the past 5 years, they have had vastly less talent than in the past. I think them getting any athlete in is not a reality.

I have no idea but they are a similar type of kid. Upper class.

Bolles has 17 state title appearances You have to win a regional title before you can make state finals so they would at minimum have 17 regional titles

I usually don’t get into theses debates but how many of those loses came to teams that actually went on to win state ? If I’m not mistaken only south ridge and Flanagan went on to win it all right

Defense is stacked and they probably got transfers from neighboring schools I don't think Vero will schedule a team that's too much for them and it's hard to beat em at home

Dam tough ass schedule