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Have the Lakeland players really been in quarantine or are they doing a Miami Northwestern quarantine?

Stop being a hater and hating on my rankings. I ranked more than 5 teams I just grouped them together

Lakeland Some guy named Castle I will take Lake Gibson in a close one

Sure, there may have been things going on. I have no way to say either way. I'm just saying I can't imagine there being any helmets, pads or tackling. There weren't scrimmages with 11 vs. 11 and live tackling. And that is a HUGE disadvantage, given the other team has been practicing full steam ahead and played two full games. A die-hard hater of Lakeland would likely be able to concede that much. Remember, Navy had workouts before BYU, but no full team stuff, scrimmages, or tackling. And BYU, who probably isn't ANY better than Navy beat them 55-3 despite having no games under their belt. They just had the advantage of scrimmages with tackling, whereas Navy abstained. Never in the history of Lakeland (or anywhere else) has a team tried to play a game coming off two weeks of being shut completely down, unable to hold practice as a team of any kind, until Tuesday before a Friday game, while the opponent has been able to practice consistently and played two games. Look, if you're not a Lakeland fan, you're rooting for Lake Gibson. You'll surely enjoy tonight's outcome. You just shouldn't act like it's an accurate, final judgement of the two teams for 2020. Due to a global pandemic, with arbitrary rules where luck (in avoiding positive cases) plays a huge role, the playing field hasn't been remotely the same here.

Don't categorize Miami "schools" with 1 school in particular. Only school was Miami Northwestern sir.

haha good question! I wouldn't know. I have to imagine full blown practices and scrimmages have almost certainly been out regardless. If they've had no scrimmages and no games of any kind, that's still a huge disadvantage even if small groups of players got together for 7-on-7 or whatever.

I respect your opinion. There are some people who would say that today's hs football is terrible for our children...that it encourages violence, causes potential long-term health problems, ie concussions, promotes individualism over team (recent emphasis on "stars"), causes "undeserving" kids to get financial aid that should arguably go to excellent scholars, in some cases has caused a culture where machismo and accompanying sexual abuse is nurtured and has led to gang rapes, etc etc. But some of us espouse the merits of our game and say that the good it does outweighs the negatives. Likewise, there are aspects of rap music that are very good for the kids (even the stuff with the naughty words) and people who do not understand that likely do not understand the history of rap and its cultural origins.

Like I mentioned in another thread, Lakeland was forced to shut down all operations September 8-22, or Tuesday. No practices and of course no games. Gibson has been practicing consistently and has two games under their belts. I can't see how this isn't a huge advantage for LG. I think it's a three touchdown advantage. I have no idea how good Lakeland really is since they have not been seen in action for ANY time, spring, summer or Fall. A rough guess might have been that Lakeland is two TDs better than LG. If that's correct, and the advantage from practicing/playing vs. not practicing/playing is 3 TDs, LG wins the game tomorrow by a TD. So, I'll take LG 21-14. Lakeland would win a game played under equal circumstances 28-14.

Osceola beat them 35-14 in the final four.

I think this depends a lot on how much one figures the way the season has started (or not) impacts the two teams heading into the game. Lake Gibson has been consistently practicing for several weeks and has played two games, including one against a decent team. Lakeland was ordered to shut down completely on September 8 all the way through this Tuesday of game week, and has played zero games. Is a couple of days of practice, following two weeks of not being allowed to do anything, with zero games under the belt, the exact same thing as being allowed to practice consistently and play two games? I can't fathom anyone saying it is. Of course, if you're rooting for the team that's been able to practice and play, you'll likely argue that not being allowed to practice and play is no disadvantage. If Lakeland wins by one (1) point, it is reasonable to say that, all things being equal, they are three or more touchdowns better than Lake Gibson.

It's ridiculous to claim a team that beats the other teams playing in the state championship playoffs is not a state champion. Are you not a state champion if you beat a team in the championship game that is depleted by injuries? You can only play the team on the other side of the field; you can't control how they got there or who they brought to play. As for an asterisk, that's pure nonsense. Is there an asterisk next to Henry Aaron's name in the record books. When Babe Ruth played, the teams played about 144 games a season. Aaron played in 162 games a season. Should all baseball records have an asterisk if a player had the opportunity to play more games than the previous record holder? No! You live with the situation at the time.

The "opt out" option was designed for teams/counties that couldn't start the season when everyone else could (because of COVIID) to still get in a full seasons' worth of games. Also, there was some thought that a team who had only played 4 or 5 games by the time the playoffs started might be at a competitive disadvantage compared to teams that had played 9 or 10 games. So, the FHSAA allowed teams to opt out of the playoffs/state series. In exchange, teams that opted out could continue to play games through the end of the year (more or less). For example, south Florida teams that weren't able to start their regular season until October could still get in a "full season" by opting out of the playoffs and continuing to play other opt-out teams while the "opt in" teams were playing playoff games,, with the possibility of some sort of county playoffs or "bowl game" at the very end of their expanded season. The decision to opt out or stay in really came down to a decision of whether a coach or county AD wanted to give the kids 10 +/- games or, alternatively, about half the number of regular season games, but a chance to play for a state championship. I think that's it in a nutshell.

I still don't understand "WHY" any team or group would opt out of the playoffs. What is the purpose? I understand that they are opting out but have no idea why they are opting out? Does this have something to do with the virus? If it does then what is the difference in continuing to play playoff games after playing regular season games. Does the virus differentiate between playoff and regular season? Just asking.