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Sitting here, in South Florida, and I’ve been watching UIL (Texas) high school football championships, LIVE. For the last few days (for FREE). And can’t watch any Florida high school championships…man I miss them Sunshine Network days.

Wow! Just wow didn’t see this coming , the tigers crowd talking mad trash , they yelling “it’s gone b a long ride down alligator alley back to dade” lol hahaha whewwww talk yall trash jesuit. when I see games like this it really take me back to what I’ve been saying COACHING, solid competent coaching is so vital. so much was said about Miami northwestern talent & their speed & how Jesuit was gonna be overwhelmed & yet it’s the tigers overwhelming the bulls. why because of coaching , then boys in Tampa are well coached to the “T” & their O-LINE & D-LINE are fit,disciplined & understands their assignment. down here in south Florida we praise speed, size & athleticism but it’s our COACHING that needs to be evaluated, our o line play down here is suspect especially vs teams who actually is well coached. All I can say is CONGRATS TIGERS! You wasn’t intimidated by the Miami mystic & the bright lights.

Congrats Vero Beach I mean Dillard

No! You Continue To Cover Your School, it’s Not About Who Stays Or Who Goes iF You Bleed purple, White & I think Gold if I’m not mistaking then You Bleed Your School pride Regardless Of The Fact. I Have Never Stopped Rooting For Dillard, Covering Them or Going To The Games. And we’ve had a lot of bad seasons, every year or every other year coaching changes & Through it All I’ve Still Bled Blue & Gray. for decades we Couldn’t keep players home, Now Not only Do we keep them for the most part, other kids from other schools want to come in and be apart of our program.. for decades we couldn’t keep a coach & within the last 3 years we have had two of the best coaches 1, of them my friend who suddenly passed away in 2020 after going undefeated and getting coach of the year in his first year. we went from being a laughing stock and disrespected to now being a top 10 school in all of south Florida, we’re on a 24 game win streak, we won the first Annual tri county championship & were coming back even better this year. point is @ColumbiaHighFan2017class regardless of how bleak it seems now, regardless of how frustrated you may be with the front office now, you don’t jump ship you hold it down and be the face of Columbia high school.

Please join in the search for crib boy. Look in bushes, trees, behind couches, or under spot rugs. It’s a typical trait of those who “trash” then “Dash”.......

As a South Floridian ... we reject the inclusion of Sarasota County. We stand firm at 5

I was able to narrow down the search area to

Biship Sycamore will play your JV team on Thursday night and stick around and play your varsity team on Friday night if you promise them that the game will be live-streamed.

It was good to see team champions from Jacksonville, Madison, Venice, Tampa, Ft Laud, Hollywood, & Miami. Crib boy said everything runs through Miami-Dade but actually they were in 7 classifications & were eliminated in all but 1 class. Jesuit beat down the 305 & beat 954. Hillsborough had 3 terrific teams in the finals! Pine Forrest went under the radar & out played Jesuit, but didn’t outscore them. Venice made Apopka look outmanned with their strictly run offense. Gibbons & Cocoa was a tremendous game. Chaminade ended the season as good as any team in the State. Aquinas smothered TBT early. Rockets, Dade’s only champion were exceptional! Whata great season....it simply goes by too fast.

Hawthorne trash. Madco by 40. Madco beats every other team in playoffs this year and beats IMG by 14. (Sorry, just channeling my inner Jesse).

This is a tragedy. The state of Florida has the best talent in America, but the coaches are paid like shit, and the state association is incompetent in showcasing their student athletes. Such a waste. Like a smoking hot chick wearing Amish gear. Lol

Lee. And the Jacksonville newspapers won't report it.

Where’s Jesse.....I know the GREAT Madison Co. didn’t lose to Hawthorne, a 1A school????

For what it's worth, I take a look below on the two classes I consider most competitive at this stage of the playoffs: Class 8A: The four teams left are: Apopka, Osceola, Palmetto and Seminole. Due to Broward and Palm Beach county schools not being able to participate and only one significant Dade County school choosing to participate, the Orlando area has benefitted greatly this year and will, by default, have at least one team in the finals. Seminole at Apopka: This game will be the last opportunity for Touchdown Timmy to beat the Darters. He played youth football with many of the kids on this Apopka team and I am sure he would like to have the upper hand this time. He led Seminole teams that lost to Apopka in the playoffs during his freshman and junior years at Seminole. As of this minute, I favor Seminole to win and Timmy to get a measure of revenge. The Seminole team is as physical and athletic as Apopka and is more balanced. For Apopka to win, it will either have to replicate last year's regional finals performance when it was the defense and special teams that put the offense in a good position to score, or APK's coaching staff will have to pull another rabbit out of the hat similar to what it was able to do against Winter Park. Despite the Seminole offense being likely the best Apopka has faced this year, I don't think it will score more than 17 points. However, if the Apopka team that played West Orange and Lake Mary shows up, the 17 points will be enough and Seminole will move on to the finals. I am rooting for Apopka, but believe Seminole will likely win this game in a fairly tight match. Osceola at Miami Palmetto: I believe most will expect Palmetto to win this game. However, I believe Osceola has a legitimate shot at this game. The biggest blotch on Osceola's record is its loss to Vero Beach. It is not losing to VB, there is no shame in that, as VB is a very good team. No, it was the margin of victory. At the half, VB led Osceola 13-7 in what had been a very tight game to that point. In the second half, Osceola fell apart. Having watched the video of this game carefully, I believe that the biggest factor in this game was the fact Osceola's QB was likely injured in the second half. Why do I think this? On its first possession to begin the second half, Osceola used the backup QB. No disrespect to this kid, he may eventually turn into a great QB for all I know. However, it was obvious that he was either not game ready or was overawed by the circumstances. This resulted in an interception that ultimately led to VB scoring points. Though the starting QB came back the next offensive series, he was largely used as a game manager, handing off the ball thereafter. Given the tools he has I can only surmise he was injured and, therefore, the ending score was not reflective of the relative merits of both teams. No, I am not saying Osceola would have come back to win the game. I am saying that the final score would have been respectable. While I favor Palmetto to win with Osceola travelling to Dade, if Osceola can replicate its performance against Edgewater, it has a live chance of winning and I would not be surprised if it did. Forecast for the finals: If we get a Palmetto versus Seminole final, I am picking the Seminoles to win by 14. Why? While I have a lot of respect for Palmetto's defense, I think Seminole will score 24 points (yes I have more respect for the Darter's defense than Palmetto's despite the stars and all)). I don't see Palmetto scoring more than 10 to 13 points on Seminole unless over the next two games they substantially refine their offense. Class 7A: Selecting this class as being very competitive may come as a surprise to many given the fact that the vaunted St. Thomas Aquinas is still alive and in the hunt. Why, then, do I see it as being very competitive? The answer lies in the video of the Aquinas vs Venice game. In it, I saw a team with great special teams, very good offensive and defensive lines. But I also saw a team that had good but not great players at the skill positions, and one that had vulnerabilities on defense. For that reason, I don't see smooth sailing for Aquinas. No, I am still making them the favorite to win it all. But they are going to have to work hard for it, and I would not be the least bit surprised if they lose to one of the two teams they will have to face. St. Thomas Aquinas at Bloomingdale: If Bloomingdale comes to play and executes flawlessly, I think they can beat St. Thomas at their place. What will it take to win? Flawless execution with minimal, if any mistakes. In looking at the regional finals video Bloomingdale was able to overcome and beat a team that was slightly more athletic by executing where it mattered. If their kicker can find a way to make St. Thomas march 80 yards on each of its offensive series that would help a lot. Giving them the ball at the 35 or 40 as they did in the Tampa Bay Tech game, is not a good strategy against Aquinas. With that said, I am going to go out on a limb and pick Bloomingdale to pull the upset in front of delirious home fans and win by 3. I was very impressed with the way the team handled red zone situations, particularly going for two, and in particular, the winning touchdown out of a "swinging gate" formation. Perhaps I am biased because I saw shades of Rick Darlington in some of the calls. Edgewater at Niceville: Despite the more than 7 hour trip, I am going to pick the Eagles from Orlando to beat the Eagles from the Pandhandle. Why? There are two reasons: First, Edgewater is taking this game very seriously and is actually traveling to Niceville on Thursday. In the past, they have tended to drive up the day of big games, and I think it has cost them. The second reason is the matchup. The Edgewater Eagles football team is a very athletic, experienced one. In the skill positions, the only significant loss from last year's finals was I. Connelly who was a very, very good weapon for them at running back. With that said, his replacement, as well as his younger brother, should be good enough to pick up significant yards against Niceville. Having watched Niceville's game against the Bobcats from Gainesville on tape, this Niceville teams reminds me of last year's team, or for that matter the first Niceville team that lost to Dwyer. It is fundamentally sound with a couple good to great athletes, and a number of good to very good high school players. Edgewater, on the other hand, has legitimate talent at the skill positions on both sides of the football. For that reason, if they can eliminate some of the raggedness that has dogged them this year (probably due at least in part to the impact Covid-19 has had on its schedule), then I expect that, to a lesser degree, it will overwhelm Niceville in similar fashion to how Apopka overwhelmed Steinbrenner in the 8A semifinals last year. Too many weapons are hard to overcome if they are firing on all cylinders. Forecast for the finals: If it ends up being Edgewater versus Bloomingdale as I expect, I am hard pressed to pick a winner. Suffice it to say, that I think it will be an intriguing matchup and should be well worth the price of admission. I am pulling for Edgewater to finally hoist a trophy, but they need to overcome the finals jinx. I think the winner will be by less than a touchdown.

Jesse your out of control. Do you and Columbiafan share bunk beds?

LOL. A blowout is worse than a heartbreaker. At least PF can walk away knowing that they were not outclassed or outmanned. After the shock, they will be fine. It's ALWAYS worse for the team that's blown out. They can never live that down.

Don't forget the gridiron report and the best ever after a Friday night game; the Beef O' Brady High school report on the radio that would entertain you while driving home from an away game! Man, those was the good ole days! Texas still has all of this!!!

1A: Hawthorne vs. Madison County 2A: Champagnat vs. Trinity Christian 3A: Chaminade-Madonna vs. Berkeley Prep 4A: Cocoa vs. Cardinal Gibbons 5A: Merritt Island vs. Miami Central 6A: Jesuit vs. Pine Forest 7A: Tampa Bay Tech vs. Aquinas 8A: Venice vs. Apopka

Cocoa is going to have to play a really solid game to come away with the W. Cardinal Gibbons is loaded with talent from top to bottom. Their biggest strength on defense is that front four pass rush. They get pressure really consistently with only 4 so it would behoove Cocoa to run plays that develop quickly. Misdirection runs and Play Action slam passes could cause their pass rushers to freeze for a split second which would give the Tigers enough time to break quick passes off to keep the ball moving. The Tigers Have to avoid mistakes and turnovers that cost them field position or points because that will not be conducive to winning the ball game. Offensively, Cardinal Gibbons runs the ball... a lot, to say the least. The Chiefs’ front five o-line is one of the best in the state, if not the best. They hit hard and force space for their shifty backs to operate. Cocoa will need to keep at least 6 to 7 men in the box at all times and probably play some Cover 1 early to at least contain their running game and prevent them from throwing screens, swing routes, quick outs, and zips, all of which represent the cornerstone of Cardinal Gibbons’ offense. As the game wears on, Gibbons will come out of their shell and begin to throw slants, curls, and “whip” routes in order to force Cocoa out of a Cover 1 where they will take a shot. When this happens Cocoa needs to begin blitzing and playing more cover 2-3, sending 5 or 6 men at most to try to make their quarterback uncomfortable and get a turnover from them. All of this is easier said then done but if any coach could get his kids ready for a task like this it’s Ryan Schneider. Great guy, by the way. Best of luck, @KeemD321!!

Cocoa's D-line was very small last year, we had two guys under 200lbs on the line then. This years D-line average size is 265 lb across the line.. Cardinal Gibbons dominated in the trenches last year. I've been a major Cocoa fan since the 80's. This years 6 ft 5 QB is the best I've seen since the 2009 and 2010 QB. Plus he has 5 D1 receivers to throw to. This doesn't mean DJ Arroyo the quarterback for the last four years wasn't any good, he was just too short 5 ft 7. But Cocoa Coaches came up with great schemes for him as well , He ended up with over 8000 passing yards in 4 yrs.

The first departure was an opportunity to coach at a big name program, Valdosta. He left in good standing which is why he was immediately rehired after he and the Wildcats parted ways. I think that his second departure was a combination of getting that itch, and the fact that Apopka had not made a deep run in the recent past leading up to his departure. It did not hurt that the Enterprise job paid a lot more than any Florida public school did. As I understand it, the Apopka coaching job is not currently open, so coming back to the Darters was not a current option. Also, perhaps, he just wants to see what he could do with a program like Deland. There is decent talent in the zone, but their coaching situation has been relatively unstable over the last 20 years. If he can keep the talent home, they could make the playoffs with some frequency.

Congrats to your Eagles, Jones was a tough out.

A team that passes an average of only two times per game cannot beat Apopka unless they have truly elite talent on offense. TC has some good, but not great, backs. Running the single wing against Apopka pretty much doomed them to defeat. To beat Apopka, you need a very good passing game. Venice has this. It's going to be the green giants against the boys in blue. This game will likely sell out.

Yes.

RIP Joe Pinkos. I did not know him but always looked forward to seeing how my team would be predicted to do. His rankings will definitely be missed and prayers to his loved ones and family who knew the legend.

Josh, consider making the "Pick 'em" contests (regular season and/or playoffs) an 'official' part of this site and name the contest after Joe. "The Pinkos Pick 'Em.' RIP to Joe and peace and condolences to his family.

I never met him and can only speak from the standpoint of his tremendous contributions to the world of high school football which cannot be overstated. However as I get older, I appreciate times gone by and cherish what lies ahead because we all have to make that journey sooner or later. Peace to his family and all those that are directly affected by Joe's passing that had the pleasure of knowing him personally. One day, it will all make sense. RIP Joe...

My worst fears have been confirmed. I suspected that all was not well with JOE P. Rest in Peace!

Big urban schools are always going to poach from smaller schools with less resources. It’s unfortunate but I understand why it happens and there’s not much that can be done to stop it at a local level. As far as scheduling, it would behoove any team that expects to make a deep playoff run to schedule some tough quality opponents. Don’t have to break your back playing the IMG’s and STA’s of the world but playing some tough area opponents (i.e, Cardinal Gibbons, American Heritage, Central,) would certainly help as you get an understanding of the physicality and power of other teams. Beating up on local garbage isn’t going to prepare you for an opponent like STA or AHP in the playoffs. Have to challenge yourself in order to bring your play to the next level.

tried to tell you boss man… homestead with the victory. dade kids just do it a lil different

At the start of the season I would guess at some of my picks and get them right. As the year progressed I'd research teams and make a pick based on common opponents, average margin of victory, etc. My picks started to fall off. I've gone back to just guessing.

I've been waiting for this game all season. I couldn't decide whether to talk trash or keep it civil, LOL. These are high schoolers we're talking about. I have my own person feelings about this match so I do my best to keep it above board. Will it live up to the hype? I don't know. What I can say is Dillard has an opportunity to add their name to a very short list teams from a historical aspect. Historical, you say? Not many teams defeat STA and even fewer manage a victory at Brian Piccolo. I'm pulling for you! Follow your game plan and keep your composure. Then when they least expect it, follow the instructions below: Dillard, repeat these actions and you will defeat St. Thomas

So you talk trash without knowing anything about the young man, run your mouth before you have any knowledge... damn don't they teach anything out in Madison. Just curious, he won a state championship last year. They beat Hawthorne to win. Just to remind everyone. How did the mighty Cowboys of Madison do when they faced Hawthorne?

Hey, just wanted everyone on here to know, that my brother Coach George Zaleuke who coaches at Vero Beach and posts on here as @Ric Flairpassed away Friday night due to complications from covid. He coached in this area for over 35 years at all levels and at all three Indian River county high schools. He was super proud to be a part of the Vero Beach program, and he enjoyed the football discussions on here as well. Hopefully I can confirm for him that despite him not being out there, Vero Beach did in fact line up correctly Friday night…

Thanks for the plug Darter. Well, I certainly hope everything is well with Joe Pinkos. He is an icon who's tremendous forecasting accuracy and results ability is amazing. And I believe he does it "manually!" As Darter states, I do rankings and game forecasts for all the schools. I've been doing this for Florida high schools since 1999. Joe has been around a lot longer than that. And we all look forward to his picks every single week, including myself (Yes, I like to compare). If you want to look at my weekly forecasts, they are on my site. Accuracy of the computer lags behind Joe for a few weeks and usually runs in the mid 70's until about week 4 when the 80% range is achieved. Another site that ranks every high school team in the nation and forecasts every high school game in the nation is run by Kenneth Massey. Get back soon Joe.

Damn, I f*@%3d that one up, LOL.

I keep forgetting Lee changed their name. I'm like damn, who in the hell is this Riverside team?

Obviously Venice is extremely good and they are priming themselves for a championship type season as they scheduled Edgewater, then Cocoa to follow up their opener. Will know alot early.

Some of this is true; some is not. Allow me to provide some context (WARNING: Long Post alert): Prior to the 2019 season, Plant had a 14-year span (from 2005 to 2018) in which they won four state championships, never won less than 9 games (and won ten or more games 12 times), and went 58-0 in district games. Yep, 58 wins and zero losses. 2019 broke several streaks, including their district winning streak, their playoff streak and their season winning record streak. They finished the season 4-6. Plant's six losses came against their first six opponents: (1) Armwood, who finished the season 12-2 (only losses were a 2OT loss to North Gwinnett (GA) and a 4th round playoff loss to Edgewater); (2) Gaither, who also finished 12-2 (only losses were to Armwood in the regular season and a 4th round playoff loss on the road against Escambia); (3) Steinbrenner, another team that finished 12-2 (4th round playoff loss to Apopka); (4) Bloomingdale, who finished 9-3 (only losses were to Lakeland and Armwood, once in the regular season and again in the playoffs); (5)Tampa Bay Tech, who finished 8-4 (with losses to Armwood, Gaither, Bloomingdale and Lakeland in the playoffs); and (6) Gonzaga (MD) (nationally ranked at the time, but finished their season 8-3). If you take away the out-of-state schools and losses to each other, this group of teams had a combined record of 53-6 in 2019. Plant finished the 2019 season with four straight wins, including three district wins, to finish second in the district. In those four wins, Plant outscored their opponents by a combined 164-20. In any one of the prior 15 plus years (when Plant won their district), their runner-up district status would have gained them a playoff spot. However, 2019 was the first year that the FHSAA relied on a power rankings point system to determine the four non-district winner playoff spots and Plant lost out on the final playoff spot by the narrowest of margins when Steinbrenner lost their season finale to Chamberlain 26-20 (thus, slightly lowering Plant's "opponents record"). To my knowledge, they were the only team in the state not to win a state championship, but nevertheless finish their season with four straight wins. In all likelihood, they wouldn't have made a lot of noise in the playoffs, but they did have some momentum and had figured out how to play to their strengths. They would not have been an easy win for any team at that point. Head coach Robert Weiner did serve a three-game suspension in the middle of the 2019 season for an alleged FHSAA rules violation. He was accused with providing benefits to a player when he asked his director of operations to see if she could help a kid who was new to the football program, but nevertheless registered at Plant, find a place to spend the night when it became apparent late one afternoon that the kid was otherwise not going to have anywhere to sleep that night. Ultimately, through the FHSAA appeals process, the "conviction" was overturned, the fine was rescinded and Coach Weiner's clean record was restored. However, unlike professional sports (where you can continue to play or manage while an appeal is pending), Coach Weiner was forced to serve his 3-game suspension before the appeal could be heard. When your head coach is also your offensive coordinator/QB coach and play-caller, this can be a problem. In short, Plant lost to six quality opponents, but finished the year strong, just missing out on the final playoff spot in the region. PinellasFB is correct that Plant's offensive line was not on par with previous seasons, in part because of early-season injuries and lack of depth. After the season ended, Coach Weiner accepted a college coaching job with the University of Toledo. Plant's QB signed with Georgia Tech (but has since transferred to Toledo). The Plant administration went through a laborious process to find a new head coach. In an effort to do everything the right way, and perhaps not understanding the new wild, wild west of high school football, the school took its time accepting applications, interviewing prospective candidates, narrowing down the field, etc. They eventually settled on a man who had played and coached at the college level and who had previously been the Plant JV coach. In hindsight, it was not the right hire. However, in both Plant's defense and the coach's defense, no one could have anticipated the chain of events that would transpire for this person, professionally and personally. In the meantime, after Coach Weiner announced his departure and before the new coach could be named, a number of Plant's top players, unsure of what the future would bring, decided to do the 'Hallendale Bail,' two years before Hallendale did it. Some did it on their own; others were, to use polite terms, 'encouraged' by 'representatives of other school's athletic interests' to transfer. Area coaches smelled blood in the water and used every opportunity and resource they could to reach out to top Plant players and their parents. Before the school year ended, Plant lost at least eight players who had played significant time in the 2019 season and/or who were expected to contribute significantly the following season, including two top receivers, the expected QB1 and the expected QB2, a starting RB/LB, a starting DB and two OL/DL starters. At the time, four of them had D1 offers and another has since picked up at least one D1 offer. 2020 was a disastrous year for Plant. First year without their old head coach, first year with a new coach who was not on campus, Covid restrictions, no returning varsity QB (and very little chance for anyone to earn the spot with limited 7 on 7 games/tournaments), etc. There were a number of additional factors that led to the downfall, but a lack of incoming new talent over the past couple of years definitely was a major contributor. Plant finished 2-6 last season, but did make the playoffs (yeah, only because every team 'made the playoffs.' ). Once again, Plant has a new head coach: former assistant coach Hank Brown. Coach Brown will surround himself with others that have been around the program in hopes of restoring its glory days. It won't surprise me if Plant has a better record this year than last, but in large part, that will be because of the way that Hillsborough County does its scheduling. For non-district games, Plant won't be playing the 'top tier' teams like Armwood, Gaither, Steinbrenner and Bloomingdale. But, they'll still have a number of tough games and will be lucky to finish the season with a .500 record. In short, Plant's success cycle likely is over, at least for a while. So, in short answer to the original question, Plant will not be a factor this season (or anytime soon) in the playoffs. It's possible they could make the playoffs and it's possible they could win their first playoff game, but that's as far as I see them going unless and until more talent shows up. Oh, and here's the catch: Plant is an A-rated school that has been over-capacity for years. So, unlike some of the other 'football-oriented schools' in the county (or across the state), a kid cannot choose to attend Plant unless they live in the Plant district. That will make it even harder to regain their status as one of the top programs in the county, if not the state. But, it was a helluva run while it lasted.

I'm going on 81. When I went to school for the most part everybody was well educated equally. The schools were disciplined and the parents backed the schools 100%. The teachers were qualified and dedicated. They usually stayed at one school their entire career. If any student failed a subject they were mocked by the other students until they came up to par. It was an embarrassment to get a failing mark in any subject. These days, not only are the schools not teaching effectively there is absolutely no discipline and the parents, if you can find them, could care less. I know first hand that most minority students are not being educated in the public school systems. I'm sorry to say this but they are not being taught any of the basic subjects so that they can effectively matriculate in society. The reasoning behind doing poorly in high school and college, if they are lucky enough to get in, is that they are not being forced to learn in elementary schools. Without strong elementary learning there is little chance of success in high school and further on. I feel so damn bad and am angry as can be that the school system is failing many students to include a great deal of minority students. This is probably why I am so adamant that students concentrate on academics instead of primarily football. Academics is the only real key to success. The more academics the better the success. And, I am including skilled trades as academics.

And I'm guessing the schedule was finalized even before half of the Hallandale defense transferred over to Central.

Madison county is right down the road.

Madison County will win 1A. Jesse told me.

Madison County may have asked the FHSAA to wait a few more weeks so they could move a few more students over to the neighboring charter school and keep their student population under the dividing line between 1A and 2A.

Hope everyone on this board has a happy, safe, and Merry Christmas. As we come to the end of this challenging year, there is one day where we can all come together as families and enjoy company, gifts, good food, and a little bit of wine. God Bless.

Also easy to be a fan of Madison with 800 students playing vs teams with 200 students.

Lets Take a Moment To Remember an Amazing man Jesse Jesse passed away December 4th at 6405 SE 210 Terrace, Hawthorne, FL 32640 at the young age of 28 months due to a tragic hornet sting causing a severe reaction which later developed into motor aphasia. His funeral service will be held at 403 Stadium Dr, Tallahassee, FL 32304 12/17 @ 7p followed by an internment at 2649 US-90, Madison, FL 32340. Jesse was born not too long ago on May 24, 2019 amongst this forum. He gained a reputation from all of us being the "Madison Boy" and had a successful career in instigating and generating traction with his posts and reply's. One of his most memorable moments in the community was his quip on "Donut high school", next to all of the times he said that Madison was on it's way to becoming a national powerhouse and blowing out IMG. He will be missed deeply by his friends, family, and all who knew him. May his content count rest peacefully at 523.

The last 3-4 minutes of that game will go down in history, unreal. I'm short on time, so can't go into great detail. But, let's just cover the last two plays: Bloomingdale, down 33-30, has a single-digit number of seconds remaining. QB scrambles, hits a big pass down to the ~4 yard-line with a second left. B-dale lines up to kick the game tying FG. Tech jumps offsides. Ball goes to the 2. B-Dale suddenly shifts into a swinging gate-type formation. Direct snaps it to an upback, who plunges over for the walk-off, game-winning TD! Wow!

It ain't in Madison County, that's for sure.

Orlando City Soccer Stadium is the ideal location for state championship games: centrally located in the middle of the state, easy access by two major highways; plenty of parking. lots of hotels and other entertainment and dining venues to give people other things to do while waiting to attend games, and it's a new stadium with a capacity of about 20,000: not too big for HS championship games.