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SO after a couple transfers of the top kids in their county the Lakeland dreadnaughts feel high & mighty. Them kids aint played a down yet together, but you wanna play central? they never traveled to dade a d wen a dade power came to them TWO YEARS straight it was ugly. you can talk crazy when you in 4a suburban i guess but dont get too loud. this aint 05 and we is not polk county or sta.

I know I know all of the schedules have not been completed let alone announced, but we got two months in a half until kick off so let’s discuss some of the anticipated games for 2022 that are finalized. Here’s a Few I can’t wait to see. Chaminade @ MIAMI Northwestern Chaminade @ Venice St. John’s DC @ Chaminade American Heritage Plantation @ Chaminade Dillard @ MIAMI Central Dillard @ Chaminade St THOMAS AQUINAS @ Dillard Dillard @ Tallahassee Lincoln (FAMU homecoming Weekend) Rock Creek Christian Academy MD @ Dillard Dematha Vs Cardinal Gibbons ST JOSEPH PA Vs STA

First off let's be clear I am not a fan of Lakeland, but Skyway promoting them as world beaters isn't the same as how this thread portrays them.....LAKELAND Calls out Dade. Also, all the transfers they have gotten hasn't convince me that we can't compete with them. However to address your question of when they can compete with SFL schools, they beat STA in the championship game in 2018, 33-20. As for dissing of other "North and Central FL" schools.... the following 2 years STA beat Edgewater those were competitive games. DP beat Atlantic in state championship in 2017, Mandarin beat Columbus in 2018, Columbus beat Apopka by 1 (21-20) in 2019, Seminole was state champ in 2020 and Venice in 2021. The year (2019) Columbus was state champ we lost to them 21-17 with an opportunity to win at the end and in 2020 we beat Palmetto in Miami to advance to the championship game against Seminole. I do agree that SFL is more loaded and has more quality teams, which is dictated by population, so I am not dissing them as they do have great teams. Lastly, I don't recall Dillard venturing out north against those few quality teams you seem to mock.

Wouldn't it have been easier to have just 'copied and pasted' the Chaminade and Dillard schedules?

On paper, it sure looks to be the best. But, they have to prove it on the field. They've been very prone to penalties for as long as anyone can remember. There's plenty that can go wrong, especially with so many new players, and the potential for some to be unhappy with the role they end up with. And, there is still some question as to whether Castle will really go through the entire season airing the ball out 20+ times a game. In 2017, Lakeland aired the ball out pretty well against eventual state champion Venice in the spring game, too. People thought Kevarris Thomas was going to be a legend. But, eventually, the offense went conservative, reverted back to a one-read passing game, and dried up the last few games of the season. If that happens again, and they revert to running the same offense they've had for years, I don't think the OL and backs are good enough to overcome the holding penalties and lack of a running threat at QB to score with ease. But that's the totally cynical view. The smart money is on this being the best team they've ever had, by far.

it would make some sense. But, I gather Clearwater is a program of ambition as well, and having a big name program come play them at their place is an awesome opportunity, and sure to be as close to a sellout as they could hope to have. Unless they think they'll be rebuilding and may be down 50-0 at halftime, it probably makes sense to keep the game.

As would I. I think this year’s Lakeland squad would compete with just about anyone in the country not named Mater Dei. Unbelievable what they have done with their program in the past few months. Could this be their best team ever? Maybe. All I know is one thing: i do not want to be a team that stands in their way.