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Before people start bashing this matchup because this years' Green Wave are very young and have no chance of winning this game, I would like to take a moment to explain how this game came about. Tonight is Sam Sirianni Night in Fort Myers. It is a local celebration of our long- time coach, Sam Sr. He led the Greenies for 33 seasons, including 5 decades, before his passing in '02. His son Sammy Jr. took over and is still the HC at this time. Coach Smith and Sam Sr were very close friends for many years. Coach Smith contacted us numerous times over the summer about coming over to be a part of our night to honor our former coach. With that said, Sam Jr. finally accepted, knowing full well that this year's team would not be able to give the Raiders much of a game. It's a celebration of our '92 team that lost at STA in the state semi's for the second year in a row. In an effort not to make this post too long and boring, I just wanted to point out that even in this day and age, once in a while friendships and respect can still mean more than wins and losses at the high school level. After getting to know Coach Smith and many of the Aquinas fans over the years, I have the utmost respect for the program and those close to it. I have an open invitation to Aquinas games and have seen many of their games from the sideline over the years. I knew of the school when it was Central Catholic High. Had many friends who attended STA who were nationally ranked tennis players as was I. Jeanne and Chris Evert to name a few. So that should explain how this game came about and if I didn't explain this very well, please just reply and I will try to do better.

Actually the Raiders played at FM two times. The first was many years ago when both teams finished the regular season 9-1 but missed the playoffs. Aquinas won a close game and their only complaint was the cold McDonalds hamburgers that we provided them after the game. The next time we played was the "91 state semi game which was scoreless late in the 3rd quarter when STA scorched us for 17 points. Our best effort was in "02 when we were tied at 7 after the first half but got worn down and lost 21-7

When Los is one of the most competent posters on that board is shows how far it's fallen but that's what the Prep Gridiron board is now

Wave, someone on the national board asked the same question why STA was playing at Fort Meyers instead of a current powerhouse. Not surprisingly an old nemesis, of many an unprepared fan, 'CANES, with a new handle/name, explained it much like you have. Good story, good history, and a few really good men. Hope the weather if accommodating.

Haven't been up in years. Back in the day "The Set " was were it was at. I think I'm dating myself.

Commodores may have a very good team, just don't think Keem posted this as a compliment.

Very heartwarming story and by the way, good luck tonite.

Unfortunately I won't be in Tally for homecoming this year. @Dan in Daytona better not show up or he may be shooed out of town, LOL!!

I'm not going to the game, but I am thinking of driving up to Tallahassee and hanging out by the fountain Saturday night.

Eau Gallie flexing their muscle against another team they shouldn't be playing. Beating Kissimmee Liberty 55 to 0

Anybody going to the game ? I got tickets today this will be my first time going lol

Halftime Score Booker T. Washington 28 Miami Edison 14

End of 1st Q: Columbus dismantling Killian 31-0. Not a top game of the week anymore, but was when the schedule was set last year. Killian has really lost a step this season. That said, the Explorers look solid on all sides tonight including special teams through one quarter. Columbus up ugly 31-0. Update: Columbus goes up 44-0 at the half. 2s and 3s come in mid third. Final 44-13 Explorers look dominant and confident. Next week will be a big test against #17 Tampa Jesuit.

I think what is hurting them currently is actually the extra year of eligibility granted to all players in 2020 due to covid. Until those guys all finally graduate, there are just not enough scholarships available and classes will be small.

I’m gonna keep tabs on the new teams that are playing 11 man varsity football for the first time this year. Week 1 was a tough one with all the rookie teams going a combined 0-5-1 Somerset Prep Lost to Somerset Silver Palms 14-8 Beachside Lost to Toccoi Creek 36-19 BridgePrep Lost to Palmer Trinity 51-0 Riverside Christian Tied Georgia Christian 12-12 Impact Christian Lost to Harvest Community 20-6 Tradition Prep Lost to American Heritage-Delray 49-8 Destin and Roar Prep were off

Neither a compliment nor a dig at Eau Gallie. They're doing what they should be doing. Their competition just hasn't really been competitive yet.

Yeah. it was a slugger, Edison aint easy these days as btw isn’t as dominate as they used to be. regardless good win tornadoes.

Excellent. George & Sam had a great relationship. The Green Wave made numerous trips to Ft Laud, in the playoffs. Don’t think Aquinas ever played them in Ft Myers. Nice story.

28-20 final? Appears that BTW got shut out the second half. That's surprising (especially after they put up 28 in the first half).

Dores looking good again.

Some other Thursday night action. Port St Lucie knock’s off the defending Colorado State Champion Chatfield High 28-17 at Austin Tyndall Sports Complex. The national computer rankings had PSL ranked 246th in FL and Chatfield ranked 26th in Colorado

Another game most are sleeping on is happening tonight 7pm. Edison with they new 4star qb plays Booker t as BTW is on their revenge tour. I like this one to be a battle as last year was the first time edison beat btw in history.

I only know about Beachside. They took kids from Bartram Trail (I edited this for clarification) and Nease so they’re in a tough position as well as being in a county that doesn’t allow much movement amongst students. Great area

Lakewood from St Pete is playing PBC, Homestead, Delray Atlantic and Southridge? That’s freaking random as hell

There is no logic. According to MaxPreps, their Top 25 national football rankings are a projection based on who MaxPreps staff writers believe will finish the year as the No. 1-ranked team in the country. This is based on judgement, and there is human thought behind the rankings. Their staff looks at past results, game film, talent, strength of schedule, and other factors when determining the rankings. State computer rankings are just that, computer rankings utilizing “the huge number of game results stored in the MaxPreps database”, presumably incorporated into a super-secret computer algorithm stored in a sealed vault at MaxPreps’ headquarters in El Dorado Hills, California. Yes, the same algorithms the FHSAA has entrusted for the selection of at-large teams and playoff seeding. Fortunately, we have been assured that this will “work itself out” by the end of the season.

From those 2 convincing wins you would think AHP would be in the top 5 and their challenging schedule will give them a chance to prove it going forward. But it goes to show you how inconsistent Maxpreps can be when Central (top 5 team) beats the #1 team IMG and only goes to #2 in the STATE rankings behind CMD #1 . Yet the same Maxpreps from that same showing moves Central to the #4 spot NATIONALLY and CMD to #12. Hard to understand that logic.

It may balance itself out in the future as the portal limits the number of times you can use it to transfer, so the practice may diminish. Yes, for some schools it may balance itself out though not for all. But currently, it is definitely affecting the number of scholarships available to HS kids. It is not a zero-sum game.

I think I had mentioned him earlier in this thread as he also seemed to be highly recruited and then the offers started disappearing where in previous years that would not have been the case.

So it's just like musical chairs. Taking the Covid-plus years out of the equation, there are just as many chairs as there used to be for just as many kids as there have always been. The only difference is that D1 coaches, knowing the value of a scholarship and how much it can hurt a program when a few recruits don't pan out, are more inclined to take a chance on a portal kid who already has a year or two of development under his belt. That, in turn, should create more opportunities at the schools where kids are leaving from. It's just going to end up looking like a big funnel, with the top D1 schools at the narrow end, scooping up the top portal players. I don't really like the portal, but it's probably here to stay. But I think a lot of the problem has to do with the backlog created by giving kids an extra season or two because of Covid. Because of that, fewer kids have moved through the system on a regular schedule, which created fewer open spots. The high school kids in the last couple of graduating classes have suffered because of this decision. In theory, that problem should resolve itself in the next year or two. Then, the game of musical chairs will continue with an equal number of kids leaving college football and coming into college football every year. The kids in the portal will just give the top teams more options, but if those kids are leaving smaller/lesser programs for the chance to play with a top team, that should create more openings at the big end of the funnel. Just my two cents.

D1 schools have 85 scholarships available and the number goes down for D2, etc. They are giving a percentage that used to go to HS kids to college kids in the portal as they have a competitive advantage with film vs college competition. Case in point, one of the top ranked QB's in our state from Cocoa is having trouble getting a D1 offer when he had several prior and those schools backed off; same for our kid Mascoe who also had several offers that backed off and he committed to Campbell University. There is an actual interview of the Wydmer kid with Brian Smith (SI recruiting analyst) discussing this very issue. Not sure what you are missing, maybe it's me.

The portal is hurting the fringe of star/mid-major kids. Bama A&M only took 10 high school kids. FSU took like 32 high school kids the last 2 cycles combined