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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.

Good luck to all the players and coaches headed out there today in this oppressive heat. Let's pray for safety for all and that everyone players and coaches alike end this season as better men than they entered it. Good luck to everyone.

Good God, please don't tell me that Jesse and Columbia Fan are going to spend the next three pages of this thread arguing about whether Columbia and Madison are rivals! I don't know if I can take it.

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.

Well, an improbable season ended in disappointment last night, as Apopka was done in by: 1. Friday 13 (not really); 2. An average kicking game; 3. A gutsy decision by Columbus to go for two instead of taking the PAT and overtime. While it hurts to lose a game when your opponent's only lead comes with 8.2 seconds left on the clock, putting things into perspective, Apopka had a great season. After losing its best offensive weapon (Davis-Hamilton) early in the 2018 season, the Darter's looked forward to his return for his senior season. But it was not to be as he aggravated his injury in a non-football related accident in the spring (it is really a pity as this kid had a fine college career and perhaps pro, ahead of him). Going into the spring game, the offense was really bad without him, and in four quarters of football the team managed only 2 points on a safety. With the above as the backdrop, I was not expecting much from Apopka this year. And, for the first seven games of the regular season, despite the defense playing stellar football, it seemed likely that Apopka was headed for a first or second round exit in the playoffs as more injuries to offensive players (both skill and linemen) plagued the team. Well, in the second to last game of the regular season against Lake Mary for the district title, a turnaround could be sensed as Apopka won what was expected to be a tight game easily. The turnaround was due to two main factors: 1. Some of the injured players returning to health and the team; 2. Some shifts by the coaching staff moving guys from defense to offensive and finding some diamonds in the rough on the bench. In the end it was not enough for a fourth state title. Still, in perspective, it was a good season for the Darters. Congrats to Columbus on pulling out the win. The two teams were fairly evenly matched, but very different in their strengths and weakness. I feel there will be other Columbus/Apopka finals in the future and I look forward to the chance for redemption.

This may not have been Lakeland’s most vaunted team but they never gave up. The mountain was high but dammit not impossible to climb. Damn the naysayers, the hell with the critics. Always underestimated, never intimidated. DREADNAUGHT NATION!!!!!!!! L-TOWN, POLK COUNTY!!!!! Congratulations to the nationally ranked St Thomas Raiders on a great season.

I've learned over the years that every now and then you need to do something for somebody else. So, I decided to do this for Jesse. I've created this thread -- Jesse's own little safe place, if you will. As the title suggests, it's for people to come and share posts relating to Madison, but it's a place that Jesse can call his own. Obviously, the most important Madison (at least for Jesse) is the high school football team from Madison County, Florida, that, best I can tell, is the third best team in Florida, if not the country, behind only IMG and STA. But, because this thread is for "All Things Madison," people should also feel free to discuss Madison, Wisconsin (home of the University of Wisconsin), Madison Avenue (in New York City, home to many of the nation's advertising giants) and James Madison University (in Virginia). I'm afraid any discussion of James Madison himself (4th President of the United States) might cross over the line into the realm of politics, so we probably ought to keep those discussions off this thread. However, I see no reason why we can't include conversations about James' wife, Dolley Madison. And we can certainly discuss Dolly Madison Bakery products (I anticipate a rather 'healthy' debate over which are better: Zingers or Golden Creme Cakes). Jesse, as for you, here is my suggestion: when you run across a topic on this website that is related to high school football, but which really doesn't have anything to do with Madison, avoid the temptation to post in that thread and instead come back to this thread. So, for example, if someone started up a thread to discuss how Venice would match-up against Lakeland, there is no reason for you to say "They both trash. MadCo would put running clock on both of them." Come to this thread and post: "Who care about Venice and Lakeland. They both trash. MadCo would put running clock on both of them." We all understand that once you've been triggered, you have to say something; it's simply a matter of you saying it in the right place. And this is that right place. Just don't be disappointed if you find yourself alone in this room a good bit of the time. Like most of time. Maybe even all the time. Perhaps that will give you a little insight as to how much other people care about MadCo football. And, just to get the debate going, I'll go with Zingers.

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.

1st of all... this isn’t “cow country” lol. 2nd Fort Hill is a small School with former large school traditions. FH is 4 time defending champions winning 62 of their last 63 games. FH would have more D1 players if people didn’t have the same mind set about 1A football. Ty Johnson who is starting RB at UMD lead the nation last year in YPC came from FH. This was a great game. MCC’s QB has a bright future ahead of him. I feel it was MCC’s quick scores, and FH’s long slow drives were the difference maker. MCC’s defense was on the field most of the night, and by the 4th it showed. great effort by both teams. It was one of the best games I’ve witnessed at Greenway Ave Stadium

ESPN is showing South Florida love this season. Not only are they showing Miami Central-Bishop Gorman, but they also have Northwestern-Carol City along with AHP-Chaminade Madonna. http://espnmediazone.com/us/press-releases/2017/08/2017-geico-espn-high-school-football-showcase-college-footballs-next-generation/

Whoaa. Thought for a minute you were really looking for the ultimate test and had scheduled Madison.

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.

Last night the Edgewater Eagles gave their all on the field and came up just short of beating nationally ranked, recruiting mill, St. Thomas Aquinas. Up in Georgia, Marietta upset that other Valdosta team to win their state title, too. As he has disparaged other teams on this board, including, among others Miami Northwestern, NB has spent late summer and fall doing the same to Edgewater, insisting they were, in his words: "Fool's Gold." What I would like to see him do, given the fact that Edgewater all but won last night's game, is justify his position on Edgewater. IF he were a real man, he would fess up and admit he was wrong. But I doubt he is, so he will once again move the goal post and somehow insist that their performance against a team supposedly in contention for a mythical National Championship, does not qualify them as a good team. @nolebull813I await with bated breath your response to last night. I will add that crickets on your part will tell me as much as I need to know about you, as would you spinning some ridiculous justification for continuing to argue Edgewater is no good. I could go on, but you are not worth the time.

Went there years ago. No problem until this year. I have a close friend who is an Army Vet and served our country in Viet Nam. He is wheelchair bound. There were no accommodation's for him to see the games. None! That issue needs to be addressed for next year.

Need to schedule tougher!!!!! They are playing seasoned teams who seen it all. Them cupcakes get you fat and out of shape!!!!!

So is your mom but we don’t talk bad about her. Maybe Baker and Blountstown are what 1A teams should be and Madison should be 3A or 4A

State lost a fine coach to retirement today. Bill Kramer retired after 22 years as head coach at Naples High. Won a title in '01 (first in SW Florida) & '07, at a school that had two winning sessions in the previous 16 years. Sent lots of kids into better lives, many of which were able to play football at another level, with a few in the league still today. Put Christ first, and was humble enough to see his flaws. Great family man, who has been a tremendous mentor to many a coach.

As a Dr. Phillips football alum, I was hoping for a chance to make the trip back to Dr. Phillips so my kiddos could see where their pops played (now that they are a little older) and have a chance to coach against some of my former teammates and buddies. Instead, we will have our first meeting as a program with Osceola. The 1 memory that has been etched in my mind since 1999 about Osceola... This may be a little dramatized but this is how I remember it. In 1999 we at Dr. Phillips had a massive match up with defending 5a state champ Osceola and their superstar running back Willie Green. We knew he was a stud but figured we have seen similar backs in Alex Haynes from Evans. Fast forward to my first series against them. I great read on a screen to than running back and state record holder Willie Green. I came up full speed knowing that I was going to knock him silly... between my speed and strength and a perfect read on the play, I was primed for a highlight hit on the states best back. As he turned and saw me coming, he yelled "RED LIGHT"...time stopped. Willie's eyes got big and as I stood there frozen. He looked me deep in the eyes and said "please don't do this to yourself man." I felt bad but was wondering why he misspoke and said "to yourself" because I was about to lay him out. Willie looked at me and said, I am sorry. I was confused. I noticed him smile... he snapped his fingers and said GREEN LIGHT. I stood there confused but decided not to take his advice and went in shoulder first against the states leading running back. As I soared backwards through the air, I noticed how wonderful air was and how lucky we are to have it. As I hit the Earth, I couldn't help but notice Willie had a piece of gum stuck to the bottom of his cleats. As I tried to stop him and let him know, he seemed to really not like the idea of gum on his shoe because he used my stomach to try to get the gum off his shoe. I did not realize he and I were making a trade...he gave me his gum and in return took every ounce of air I thought I owned. I searched the ground for any air I could find as I watched the man they called "Smoke" zoom to the end zone for a touchdown. After the game he was very humble and apologized and asked me if I was able to find some air anywhere. I did. I am reminded of him and Osceola every time I look at my forever mark on the side of my stomach. This Friday I'd like to replace that memory with Steinbrenner's First Regional Title. GO WARRIORS!

Gotta love chains! I sent this to a die hard UCF fan last year after their loss to LSU. It shows how using the “chains” you can create a winning scenario and rarely lose an argument as long as both teams have at least one loss. This proves that using chains to find better teams, non scholarship Division 3 Alfred State Pioneers who won 1 game in 2018, could have beaten last year’s UCF squad. III Alfred St beat Anna Maria 30-28 III Anna Maria beat Castleton 31-24 III Castleton beat Fitchburg St 34-13 III Fitchburg St beat MA Dartmouth 32-29 III MA Dartmouth beat Plymouth St 21-16 III Plymouth St beat Framingham St 29-28 III Framingham St beat Endicott 34-13 III Endicott beat Hobart & Smith 27-24 III Hobart & Smith beat Shenandoah 56-48 III Shenandoah beat NC Wesleyan 59-21 III NC Wesleyan beat Thomas More 35-28 III Thomas More beat WI Platteville 35-28 III WI Platteville beat WI Stevens Pt 20-6 III WI Stevens Pt beat WI Oshkosh 27-21 III WI Oshkosh beat Lincoln MO 17-7 II Lincoln MO beat Lane 10-7 II Lane beat Miles 15-14 II Miles beat Albany GA 50-23 II Albany GA beat Catawba 35-21 II Catawba beat Tusculum 55-37 II Tusculum beat Carson-Newman 41-28 II Carson-Newman beat Wingate 31-14 II Wingate beat West Georgia 41-31 II West Georgia beat West Florida 27-7 II West Florida beat North Alabama 24-19 I - FCS North Alabama beat Jackson St 24-7 I - FCS Jackson St beat Florida A&M 18-16 I - FCS Florida A&M beat NC A&T 22-21 I - FCS NC A&T beat East Carolina 28-23 I - FBS East Carolina beat North Carolina 41-19 I - FBS North Carolina beat Pittsburgh 38-35 I - FBS Pittsburgh beat Virginia 23-13 I - FBS Virginia beat South Carolina 28-0 I - FBS South Carolina beat Missouri 37-35 I - FBS Missouri beat Florida 38-17 I - FBS Florida beat LSU 27-19 I - FBS LSU beat UCF 40-32

First welcome to Florida. Why would they be placed in Class 4A (681-1,114)? Is it based on student population from 4 years ago when Gateway Charter had a much larger enrollment? 2014: Gateway Charter (Fort Myers) - 710 2015: Gateway Charter (Fort Myers) - 734 2016: Gateway Charter (Fort Myers) - 646 2017: Gateway Charter (Fort Myers) - 552 So these districts/regions began in the Fall of 2015 and will end in the Spring of 2019, with new districts starting in Fall 2019. So if you look at their 2014 population, you can see that they would firmly be in Class 4A. The population cutoffs can be different in different sports. How often does the FHSAA re-evaluate district assignments? Do they do mid-cycle reviews say if a school increases or decreases say more than 20% of their total enrollment every 2 years? They redistrict ever 4 years now. They used to do it ever 2 years. They usually do some adjustments mid-cycle and they did this time, but again only if there are major changes or if schools want to move up. It was made more complicated this time around, due to football switching to the Power Point System and the elimination of districts in 1A-4A. Football to my understanding in class 1A-4A have no districts and use a point system? The point system is used for 1A-4A as they got rid of the districts to allow schools to have more flexibility in their schedule (so they can avoid playing some of the really good teams). The Power Point system is designed to make "every game count" instead of just the district games in choosing who enters the playoffs, which was a complaint that there was no excitement in Week 11 games because the playoffs had already been determined. The Power Point System also allowed there to be seeding in the playoffs and allowed to schedule to their competition. (Trying to avoid giving my opinion in order for you to form your own opinion). Classification 5A-8A still have districts (usually 3-7 teams) and the team with the best DISTRICT record is the district champion seeded as a top 4 seed in the region and receives at least one home playoff game. It also seems Gateway has a different slate of district members and classifications for each sport which is where it gets tricky for new fans such as myself. For example, Cardinal Mooney is in our district in baseball but not for any other sport. Cardinal Mooney doesn't have a softball team. As for the rest of the sports, there are lots of teams that have certain sports (basketball, but don't have a baseball or softball team or vice versa) as a result it changes the size of classifications and as a result the districts. Also, what sites are the most popular for talking HS sports? Obviously, this is a good site to start with.

Anybody got an unattached sister, daughter, ex wife/girlfriend, neighbor, or co-worker with a driver's license willing to travel to Lake City and entertain a nice young man who spends way to much time educating lost and confused souls still living in the past. A fund has been set up ( Tiger Greet and Heat ) to help facilitate a bonding of hearts, mind, and body for our north Florida friend who doesn't leave his computer keyboard nearly long enough to expand his possibilities for engagement.

Don't take it to heart Columbia. Most people on this forum think you do a great job. You are obviously a dedicated supporter of your team which is a very good thing and you do have a wealth of useful information to share. I just wish a couple of these people would be as dedicated about their team as they are about finding something to criticize regarding the support you give to your team. Yes, you may be a little over the top at times. However, it's never bothered me and don't see why it bothers some others. Please, keep posting as most of us read what you post.

I have made @ColumbiaHighFan2017class a moderator on here. I did this for several reasons. 1. He is on here more often than I am (I am going to better at that as I can) 2. @SportsNut25 agreed to the move. 3. Columbia can reach me most directly (beyond a DM on here) if anything is going wrong and I can make a decision. -- Josh

I was asked to post a few thoughts about the Kickoff Classic results from the past week. In general, I never recommend ranking teams off the Kickoff classic as it's impossible to know which teams are playing to win all 4 quarters or experiment with players in different positions; however, here are some thoughts I came across (Note, these are NOT rankings, just thoughts). 1) Chaminade-Madonna is the real deal and deserving of a top 10 team in all of Florida and I would wager a top 50 team in America. On paper, Chaminade-Madonna lost to Deerfield 17-7, but when it was starters vs starters the final was 7-3 Chaminade. If the Chaminade-Miami Central game isn't on your radar for Thursday night at Traz Powell, you need to follow the results. 2) Calvary Christian (Clearwater) probably isn't ready for prime time yet. The Warriors boasted by several huge transfers were expected to be an offensive powerhouse under Todd Yoder's Warrior program- that maybe still the case, but going against a veteran Berkeley Prep team on the road proved to much for Calvary. If not for a long drive to end the game against the Berkeley backups the final would of been 20-10 and it wouldn't have been that close as Berkeley Prep dominated most of the game. We'll find out this week if Calvary Christian is a contender or pretender as they play Admiral Farragut a highly talented 2A power that has the athletes to match Champagnat. 3) Melbourne Central Catholic knocking of Cardinal Gibbons reaffirms that the Hustlers under coach Sizemore have morphed into a power house. The talk from the South Florida area is that Cardinal Gibbons is one of the top teams in that area; however, the Hustlers hit the road and picked up a 35-33 win. I predicted the Hustlers finished 9-1 at the start of the season, but that was before they scheduled Buford, GA. MCC travels to Buford this week and while Florida is pulling for MCC, this is probably a battle the Hustlers will come up short in- still, this is the first of 2 out-of-state games the Hustlers are playing. 4) Ocala Trinity Catholic is going to be good this year. Yes, the Celtics lost 14-3 to Bucholz, but I think in terms of 3A this is going to be an above average year of OTC who is looking to return to their glory days. Knocking off CCC/Berkeley or Tampa Catholic is asking to much of the Celtics, but OTC doesn't play them in the regular season. I think it's realistic to expect OTC to battle for a playoff spot in the top 4. 5) Clearwater Central Catholic proved Josh and FloridaHSfootball correct by ranking them in the top 3 in 3A. (I had them #4, but moved them to #3). No football program in current 3A has been a more consistent winner over the past 20 years. CCC knocked off the #1 ranked team in Pasco County and held one of the most potent offenses in the state to 6 points in the first half of their KO Classic. CCC travels to Berkeley Prep this week. 6) Tampa Catholic. Outside of Chaminade-Madonna, I don't think you'll find a collective group of wide receivers better than Tampa Catholic's in 3A, the speed, power and coaching has the Crusaders offense likely to put up huge numbers. QB Jacob Dean and RB Jalen Bussey are going to have huge seasons. The big question regarding Tampa Catholic as it has been in years past- can they win the big game when it counts? 7) St. Petersburg Catholic won! Okay, this really isn't a storyline and I assure you we're still in for a long season, but come- let me have my moment. The Barons under 1st year head coach Jay Davis knocked off Bradenton Christian 25-13. I actually think SPC will win 3 or 4 games this year which is a HUGE improvement if we do. 8) Oxbridge and American Heritage are both going to be powers in 3A this year as well. MCC is the favorite to win 3A North but Oxbridge isn't to far behind. I do think Oxbridge is missing a few pieces to win a state championship, but we'll know more after this week. American Heriage Delray is another program that's quickly gaining attention in the shadow of Chaminade in Region 4.

When the fact I see Leon on this list, I know this list is totally suspect. Leon has proven nothing to be Top 25. New coach and they are instantly Top 25? Seriously, I want to know who put this list together. SMH. Also Northwestern over Carol City? Where in the heck is Dr. Phillips? Chaminade? Feels like the list was thrown together to have a Top 25. Can't wait until we drop our Top 10 rankings for each class...yes Top 10 all classes and there will be a Top 25 which you got to be ranked in the Top 10 to get to. Thinking the SSAC will get a Top 10 as well, but they won't be eligible for the Top 25. We will do our homework and will have some discussion with writers around the state.

I played baseball vs Pensacola Christian and football vs Apalachicola. Also left off Century from the panhandle. 3 stories from my life vs these three teams. Football - we were getting on the bus to go play Apalachicola who believe it or not was ranked #1 in the state and we were 1-5 at the time. The Principal came on the bus and said I just want you guys to have fun and not get embarrassed. Well we went to Apalachicola and upset them. The coach at Apalachicola at the time was Coach Shaw Maddux. I would later in life coach with him at Osceola. Baseball - we were playing Panama City Christian. They had no fence and the school was in deep left field. I hit a ball probably the farthest I've ever hit one. I admired it forgetting they had no fence. It one hopped the school. I got thrown out at third. The coach was not happy with me. I have one about Century as well. My dad was the head coach in football in the early to mid 1980's and Century was a big rival. After a close heated game that Century lost some guys out of the stands came onto the field and started a huge brawl between the teams. Fans got involved and It got real ugly. One of the worst brawls I've ever seen. Now I was young at the time but there were lots of people left bloody after it. Also lost my last high school baseball game at Century. I think it was Buck Showalter (former MLB player and manager) field maybe not but he went to Century.

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.

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'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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

That man said he was home watching st pope or whatever that Maryland team name is mopping Central and said god was talking to him? Lmao!!!!!

Well...I guess since "Nobody" else will post the score like they "normally" do. I will...28-0 Central. We got a "CODE BLUE!"

After this week we will be at the halfway mark of the regular season. Pretty insane to think that it feels like we were talking about big week 1 and week 2 matchups. Week 5 has some doozy's on it though. Let's get to it! UPDATED CLASS 3A RANKINGS (Going into Week 5) #1) Chaminade-Madonna. Lions made short work of clearly overmatched Oakland Park Northeast running out to a 42-0 lead in the 2nd quarter. Lions didn't dress the entire team. C-M now gets ready to face their biggest test of the season so far- American Heritage Plantation. The Patriots have caught fire recently, this will clearly be one of the biggest matchups in South Florida. #2) Clearwater Central Catholic. Marauders dominated class 5A Tarpon Springs 47-6. In the game, CCC's passing attack continued to impress while the running game continued to produce without superstar Jerzhan Newton. CCC heads to St. Pete to take on an improving St. Pete Northeast team. #3) American Heritage Delray. If it wasn't apparent already, the Stallions are back. After completely dominating Monsignor Pace, the Stallions have announced their presence as a threat in class 3A. Stallions hit the road for a few weeks, but at this time it's hard seeing them hit any snags until a match-up with University School. Stallions also jumped from 101 to 57 in the Maxpreps Florida rankings, one of the biggest jumps for any team in Florida this week. #4) King's Academy. Lions rhomped Miami LaSalle last week racking up over 300 yards of offense (205 on the ground). Next up is a date with North Broward Prep. #5) Florida High. FSU School, coming off a loss, fell behind 10-0 to Chiles, but a strong second half helped the Seminoles eek out a win. Seminoles play Santa Fe next. Next up: Baldwin, Tampa Catholic, Cardinal Mooney, Orlando TFA, Benjamin. RANDOM THOUGHTS: Ocala Trinity Catholic looks really good. They're now 4-0 and could be heading into a late season contest with Orlando TFA undefeated. Ocala Trinity is fighting for a top 4 spot in the region right now. I would put OTC at #3 in the region right now. Tampa Catholic demolished Melbourne Central Catholic 41-0 in Melbourne. Tampa Catholic and Berkeley Prep both have bye weeks this week and then play each other on 9/28 at TC. Huge game for playoff positioning. Baldwin continues to impress at 4-0. Interesting game against Union County this week. Calvary Christian Academy knocked off Key West last week. Conchs are usually pretty good. CCA making noise in a loaded region 4. I think Sarasota Cardinal Mooney might go into their week 10 game against CCC undefeated. Lakeland Christian lost to Berkeley Prep last week 28-7, mostly due to the LCS QB breaking his leg the week before. LCS isn't out of the playoff hunt, but they'll need some big wins in the coming weeks. American Heritage Delray travels to Pensacola Catholic. Delray beach to Pensacola by bus.. I would need at least 10 bathroom breaks to make that drive. GAMES TO WATCH American Heritage- Plantation(3-1) at Hollywood Chaminade-Madonna (3-1) The Patriots are ranked #1 in class 5A, the Lions are ranked #1 in 3A according to the most recent sportswriter polls. AHP is also ranked #8 in Florida, while C-M is ranked #10 in Florida according to Maxpreps. Both teams are littered with major D-1 talent. Both teams are ranked in the top 100 teams in America. Both teams are defending state champions. Chaminade lost to Deerfield Beach, the #1 8A team 13-10 in week 1. In the game, the Lions fell behind early and a late rally came up short. American Heritage ran into a buzzsaw in Miami Carol City who is playing at another level right now. Pick: Chaminade has come up short against the states elite- either because of depth issues or injury. In this one, there is no excuse. The Lions are as close to 100% healthy right now as they will be for the remainder of the season, playing at home and had extra time to prepare for the Patriots due to playing last Thursday and not Friday. AH-P is going to be a tough out, but it's time for Chaminade to live up to the expectations of being an elite team and not a team stockpiled with talent that under achieves. I think they finally get it done: C-M 24, AHP- 21. Orlando First Academy (2-0) vs Calvary Christian (3-1) Orlando First Academy currently owns a 22 game regular season winning streak dating back 2016. The Royals stingy defense and Wing-T based offense has confused and bewildered opposing defenses. Calvary Christian (Clearwater) feels they're next in line to be a state power. They have coaching, players, tools and most importantly finances to be in the conversation. The program is lacking big wins though. Last year, the Royals defeated the Warriors 26-24 in Clearwater. Pick: Calvary Christian has run up the score on some pretty poor teams (Umatilla, Anclote), lost to Berkeley Prep and struggled against a good Zephrhills Christian team that was without its top 2 players. If Calvary can go to Orlando and snap TFA's streak, that would be a huge feather in the Warriors cap- but there is a reason TFA hasn't lost a regular season game in awhile. TFA 35, Calvary 21 OTHER GAMES I'M INTERESTED IN: Baldwin over Union County by 10 Cardinal Mooney over Lemon Bay by 21 MCC over Somerset Academy by 42 Ft. White over Bradford by 21 Ft. Meade over Lakeland Christian by 28 Ocala Trinity Catholic over Dunnellon by 17 Benjamin over Key West by 7 Kings' Academy over North Broward Prep by 20 COMING NEXT WEEK: I'm going to try and put together a nice mid-season post.

181pl, you are probably wasting your time with this individual. The week of the first playoff game he was bemoaning the fact that in the third round Viera would have to travel to Lakeland since they were, unfairly, not the number 1 seed in the region. He was totally overlooking both his first round opponent and Plant in doing so, by automatically assuming Viera would get to the third round. Now don't get me wrong, Viera is a very good team. But as you and I both know you don't overlook any playoff team, as on any given night ... Anyway, the point I am making is that whatever you say will be overlooked because Viera is a victim here and no facts, fake news or real news will negate that fact ... for in his mind, Viera was the best team in 7A and winning the state title was a mere formality ...