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Please understand this is just my outside opinion. I was at the game. Saw everything. Osceola should have won that game easy if in my opinion there weren't a few play calling mistakes. The first one was a big momentum shift. Osceola had 2nd and 1 very close to the endzone, (dont recall the exact yard, but inside the 15 for sure) They passed the ball! The run is what got them there and they were moving the ball well on the ground. The pass was way off target and was picked off and started Lakeland's comeback. Had Osceola scored, which it looked very likely they would have been up 14-0 (assuming extra point). Lakeland would have been in panic mode to try and make up 2 scores in a very short time. The second one was the "trick play". 4th and 4 in the red zone with the game on the line! Do what got you there! rely on your runners! Wouldnt have been 4th and 4 had they not attempted a pass earlier in the series. Understand, it is easy to be a armchair coach. (I am somewhat qualified though) I am not criticizing the coaches or play calls. Just giving my opinion. Same thing goes for "prevent defense" all that does is prevent you from winning. Stick to what got you there and your teams strengths. Also Congratulations to EP for Osceola county coach of the year. Well done!

QB had a bad game. 2nd and 1 play was the momentum changer for sure. He had a guy open in the flats but decided to throw across his body to no one, well no one in white. State semi's on the road and you turn it over 3-4 times you usually won't win especially playing against Bill Castle, who by the way passed Corky Rogers as the all time winningest coach in Florida last week. Congrats to Coach EP on a great year but this was expected out of Osceola. Coach Beek you should have been the county coach of the year. I hope to see Poinciana back in a district soon and on the rise.

The thing I've noticed with Central with being their last two playoff games I've attended is they have a lead but seems to let their foot off the gas. Don't get me wrong Central will beat America Heritage, but they got to play all quarters and stop with all the penalties as well

If you wanted to watch 2 tremendous defensive teams you needed to be in Lakeland tonight. Not sure what their mindset was as maybe they thought the first game was a fluke and they would just blow us out as they had the other 11 teams on their schedule but nothing could be further from the truth. They continually hurt themselves (trash talking, etc.) drawing 5 Unsportsmanlike Penalties during the game. We actually ran the ball against them better than I thought we would and though I don't know the stats may have outgained them overall. Final score was 14-7 with them mounting one drive the entire game which was an impressive 16-17 play 89 yard drive for their first TD in the 3rd quarter tying the game. Their second score was a 60 yard TD run by Tyler Williams which ended up being the margin of victory. Outside that, we kept their running attack in check all night. I believe we had 3 or 4 time consuming drives of our own getting into the red zone twice and coming up empty on interceptions. Each of those picks it appeared that our QB and WR weren't on the same page as both times it was thrown directly to the defender with the WR nowhere in the area. We just shot ourselves in the foot on a couple of plays which could have changed the outcome. My hats off to our tremendous group of seniors that have given us 3 years of outstanding teams with hopes of a state title, but it just wasn't to be. Good luck to Lakeland in the finals.

Nulli, double foul, penalty for piling on, and unsportsmen like conduct......30 yards.

I appreciate the vote of confidence on county coach of the year, but overcoming the stigma of poinciana is hard to do! Should be, county coaching staff of the year. Couldnt do what i do without a great staff! We do hope to have a similar season next year. If we are able to continue in this direction. It is my plan to enter district play on the next 2 year cycle.

Even "IF" that were true, Lee County leads Polk in population and density. However to your point, there's no way Seminole should've been included and Lee/Polk left out. @DisabledAccount got that correct.

To quote Roberto Duran, " No mas, no mas."

I will state this year's Columbia team (even in last year's classification/bracket) probably still is a final four team. Having said that, this team wasn't complete or consistent. They depended entirely too much on their defense to make scoring opportunities rather than their offense to be able to march down the field methodically. All 3 of their playoff wins were relatively low scoring games by the offense, even in the regular season Columbia's district wins against easy opponents didn't come easy. They didn't dominate. They didn't put that running clock up early (other than Ridgeview). The team once again asked the defense to bail them out, keep them in the game, and find opportunities to score as the offense failed to be able to do anything consistent. Honestly, the result didn't surprise at all (maybe the margin). If you are going to be a state championship team, you need to do one thing great and other things good. Columbia played great defense (until last night), but their offense was anything but good.

Gotta play 4 quarters to beat the Pats! No senseless penalties and no turnovers. AHP makes a living off their opponents' mistakes!

Bucholz, Bradford, Bolles were pretty good and lost close games. Pine Forest not coming out of that region sent the entire area into the toilet. I've played in, coached, and witnessed alot of HS football over the last 40+ years. For Columbia to have athletes like they have and look like a pop warner coached team is exactly what I said in my original post, "a bad reflection on the region".

So, no disrespect to Lee County (well, OK, maybe just a little), but why did it matter to them whether they were in Metro or Suburban? Was it really going to make a difference?

I think so ( Cable TV ? ). Sorry to say can't make the trip south...Buc Forever.

Cali has a lot of championship games but when compared to Florida, their ratio is a hell of a lot better. The Sunshine state needs to do better. Too many damn classes.

I listened to that mindless dribble all season but especially last week and laughed as I knew he had no idea what was coming his way. Instead of going back and forth, I created this thread and kept silent.

How did Columbia deserve to be the favorite on SOS? The Tigers played 3, well 4 decent teams "IF" you include Deland and went 1-3. That's a pitiful 25% result no matter how you slice it. SOS means nothing if you don't perform and had the Tigers emerged victorious in those games, there's a great chance they'd be in the title game right now. After Columbia's "loss" to TCA, they defeated: Orange Park (2-8) Middleburg (5-6) Gadsden County (2-8) Ridgeview (1-9) Playoffs Lincoln (5-5) before their loss Escambia (8-3) before their loss Choctaw (7-5) before their loss Columbia defeated 1 school with a winning record in DeLand prior to the playoffs and nothing about Columbia stood out as cause for concern against Lake Wales, hence the wager against the artist formerly known as ColumbiaHighFan2017 who blindly touted Columbia's all world schedule while degrading Lake Wales.

And that is a truly bad reflection on the schools in the North and Panhandle area that Columbia advanced out of that region. Columbia is a poorly coached team. It was shocking and embarrassing what Lake Wales did to them. The Highlanders are good, but that good? I guess we will see more in 2 weeks. Columbia OL/DL had a size advantage but looked slow and out of shape. How can a team lack conditioning in December? The group of us that scouted that game could not believe our eyes. We expected a close down to the wire contest. The other game in Polk was closer than expected and the game we should have attended.

The old, “You hurt my feelings, so I punch you” excuse. Hope FHSAA releases a statement to address many of these accusations. There are more lies than truth’s coming from Pahokee. Hawthorne remained focus and got a big win last night. On to the next game. Well I hope this doesn’t hurt your kids recruitment and positive things going forward. Pahokee had a great team and them young men fought to the end. #1 was the best athlete on the field. I see why they missed him last year. Hopefully our 55 is blocking for him at Rutgers. Enjoy

2022 State Championships Gene Cox Stadium, Dec. 8-10, 2022 (Classes 1M, 1R, 1S & 2S) DRV PNK Stadium, Dec.15-17, 2022 (Classes 2M, 3M, 4M, 3S & 4S)

You made this board a fun place to use for 4 years for some 20-year-old kid behind a screen that likes Venice football! I have to eat some crow now, though!

Actually it would have been Lee County that ended up in metro not Polk Ironically Lee County had 2 people voting in their favor and Seminole county has zero

Florida should honestly go to the old classes before it went to 8A. Those were the golden years IMO. They could even keep the seeding so top teams don't play in round 2 like they used to sometimes. I know that travel and costs become an issue, but dammit Fl is a football state maybe they could step it up?