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Miami High almost did it last year. Sedrick Irvin took over the program for one year They went from doormats to one win from the state championship game last year losing to Atlantic in the semis. They lost their coach and they dropped back down to 4 wins this year. Irvin jumped to Southridge and is at it again. Unfortunately this will become more common and I think high school recruiting is never going away. It has always been around, but in the shadows, now it's out in the open. I wouldn't be surprised if high schools start to get in trouble for recruiting players with cash. There was one five star player here in Miami that was supposedly "bought" and transferred to a rival school after spending his first three years at one school. It was so out in the open that it was even discussed on local sports talk radio. Another instance, Hialeah High this year went 9-1 and made it to the playoffs. They are a perennial 4-5 win team. Coincidence? They were led by some promising freshmen. I'd be shocked if those freshmen stayed at that school another year or two when you have Central, Northwestern, Jackson, Booker T, and Carol City within 15 miles.

Good afternoon all, The football re-class approximates will be out next month. What changes do you think will come about? Teams moving up or down in class? District mix-ups? I am hoping Miami Central, Carol City, and Miami Northwestern all get placed in different classes. That might not fly with the "powers that be". But it would be nice. They could still have their annual regular season battles. But to have all 3 of those teams in the same district with their enrollment numbers is far beyond time for change.

8 teams is a nice start. It would also make for some better match-ups prior to the New Year. Other college championships have many more qualifiers.....starting in early December, 16 schools seems about right.

I would like to see Cocoa move back to the north bracket. South - University vs BTW, and North - Cocoa vs Raines in 4A would be better for the playoffs.

I'm not 100% sure, but I believe Tampa Plant was 1-9 in 2003. Robert Weiner became the coach in 2004 and the team went 3-7. In 2005, Plant went 9-3. And in 2006, in Coach Weiner's third year as head coach, Plant went 15-0 and won the State Championship.

If you want to know why Armwood does not show up well to state finals (attendance) its because they have no real local fan base... All the kids are basically commuters.

Cocoa had 5 turnovers and 3 missed FG's vs Raines. They are a good match for the playoffs. The score was misleading. However Raines was ready to take advantage of Cocoa's mistakes. I can see Raines in the finals next year if they stay in 4A.

68 Bartram Trail 7A 62 Dr Phillips 8A 63 Manatee 8A 65 Osceola 8A

https://www.theledger.com/sports/20181211/coaching-carousel-tate-to-bartow-stanley-to-ridge Tate can get Bartow back on the map, if he's there long enough.

Palm Coast Dr P Manatee Osceola

Most private schools are really small, stress academics first, are part of a church or other religious ministry, and sports are just something they offer. If they have a good year or win a championship, then awesome, otherwise its back to school.

A unique thing about Venice is that, I believe, they are the only High School in Venice. Much easier to keep your own players that way. One thing that I haven't seen mentioned is the sheer number of high schools there are now in single cities. When Bill Castle took over Lakeland in '76, there were 2 high schools in Lakeland (Lakeland & Kathleen). At that time, Lakeland had a student population of 2613. Since that time, Lake Gibson, George Jenkins & Teneroc were built...and Lakeland Christian and Victory Christian started playing football. All of them ate into Lakeland's student population. So there are now a number of high school football programs in a concentrated area. Honestly, Lakeland is the most 'tradition rich' school in the area. Many (probably most) kids at other schools have parents/grandparents/great-grandparents who played/went to Lakeland. And, they usually want their kid to go there as well. You can have kids living within walking distance from each other going to different schools. If they see one school with the chance to win a state championship and get them more exposure to college recruiters.........

JD Jones took over at Wakulla in 1976 or 1977(not sure which). Lost to Dunnellon in the State Championship in 1978, beat Clermont for the State Championship in 1980 and Clewiston in 1981.

Exactly correct. Playoffs second year. Lost to Armwood in round 2. Won State in year 3.

Just a Coach, if that is how you feel, fine. I hope that you never approach an official during one of your games that you coach, and complain about to many fouls being thrown or how your team has eight fouls, and the other team has only two fouls. Officials don't want to hear that from any coach.

Jeremy Brown: Jefferson County 2011 1st year won John Palmer: Port St Joe 2014 1st year won, 2015 2nd year lost Andrew Thomas: Trenton 2012 2nd year lost, 2013 3rd year won

Cocoa new coach Schneider took them back to the state finals in his first season as their head coach.

OldSchool: No one understands how to interpret data better than I do, it was a major part of what I did in the performance of my job. I used to have saying about data....."The numbers don't lie, we do" and by that what I mean to say with that is that numbers can be manipulated/spin'd to say whatever one wants. I understand that each situation regarding a individual transfer could potentially have its own special circumstance, but as I already pointed out with the Lakeland list I posted ......every single one of those players either started or saw significant playing time Friday night during the state title game. That's good and fine but the sheer number of transfers (because they were in fact starters or getting significant playing minutes), on that list should of lit you up with concern in the same manner you became alarmed about Mandarin.......numbers like that just don't happen as a happen stance anomaly. Manatee has had over the last few years, receiver groups, similar in talent to what Mandarin had this year......what Manatee has lacked was a QB capable of playing the position to 1/2 the level Mandarin had this year. If you were honest about the big difference this year compared to last year at Mandarin, it would have to be the QB.................without that QB Mandarin doesn't win the state title this year.

Billy Livings-Vero Beach, took over in 1980, won state title in 1981.

Like Bishop Moore in Orlando, Columbus has an excellent coaching staff. Similar to Bishop Moore, a certain number of kids do come in to play football. However, historically, neither school has made a state championship an over arching priority. Thus, both programs (Columbus to a greater extent and for longer) have produced in their respective regions good, competitive teams without going in the direction of AHP and St. Thomas. This may or may not be changing at Columbus, time will tell. With that said, I don't deny the fact that Mandarin got several quality transfers (it was more quality in my opinion that quantity per se). However, it seems to me that they hit pay dirt with one particular player, the QB, Carson Beck. For if Apopka, West Orange or Dr. Phillips for that matter, let alone Wekiva, had this kid this past season and made the necessary adjustments to their offense to accommodate him, I dare say any of those teams would have won the state title this year with what the other talent they had. He is that good at this stage of his high school career. The other players that transferred in just cemented the title for them.