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Western vs Miami Palmetto in 8A looks like a good on paper.

Yeah the coach for Fivay said that his AD said Playoffs or bust! Lmao! Garbage ass Fivay gets 7 wins and the AD thinks they are some elite team who is too good for a bowl. I was most surprised of Dunedin. They are independent so they had no chance at a bowl from the beginning. They could have rewarded their team who has never seen success.

Dear Lord I wouldn't want to be in that region. Any of these teams might be a favorite in 5A, 6A or 8A #1 Gulliver Prep ranked #19 in state by maxpreps #2 University ranked #28 in state by maxpreps #3 Cardinal Gibbons ranked #18 in state by maxpreps #4 Booker T ranked #14 in state by maxpreps #5 Carol City ranked #34 in state by maxpreps

Would Plant have made the playoffs this year under this system?

TBT may keep it competitive for a half, but I would expect Lakeland to pull away in the second half to set up the East Hillsborough County All-Star Team vs. Polk County All-Star Team show down in the Regional Finals.

A lot of people confuse the two. There are similarities but also big differences. With single wing, the line is unbalanced and there is no true quarterback. The ball can technically be snapped to anyone of three guys.

These could be amongst the more competitively matched teams. What do you think? 8A Deland @ Timber Creek 8A Spruce Creek @ Bartram Trail 8A Mandarin @ Seminole 8A Palm Coast @ Apopka 8A Newsome @ Steinbrenner 8A South Dade @ Western 7A Wekiva @ Fleming Island 7A Tampa Bay Tech @ Viera 7A Plantation @ Hialeah 6A Pensacola Washington @ Mainland 6A Columbia @ Ponte Vedra 5A N Marion @ Dunnellon 5A Eau Gallie @ Tampa Jesuit 4A Carol City @ Booker T Washington

As of now, each playoff team is 0-0. Many are full of hope, some justifiably, some not. During the course of the playoffs, there will be upsets, mistakes (both by the officials and players), and drama. In a few short weeks only 8 teams will be left standing. But as of today, all teams have a chance and no doubt there will be upsets along the way. Going into last year's playoffs, aside from a few insiders, who would have thought Mandarin would be have won a state title? Yes, most of the titles will be won by favored teams (or at least teams generally thought to be in contention), but a few will be surprises. It is this unpredictability that fuels the drama, leads to the excitement. Good luck to all the playoff teams in your quest for history! I will be in Daytona for all the large class games.

Yep. Which makes trying to predict any outcome of what a group of 15 to 17 year olds will do damn near impossible. Most people's picks tonight will end up in the same dumpster that their NCAA brackets end up after day one each year.

Umm there a bit small to be the pounceys with single numbers and low cut shirts they look like running backs instead of lineman

By the way, every school in 8A just decided to vote against this idea once they saw that STA, Lakeland and Armwood would all be moving up.

Wood 57-0 over Melbourne Jesuit 45-9 over Eau Galle Chamberlain 25-13 over Rockledge Tech 52-13 over Viera

Thought: take a page from the college playbook and give the teams who don't make the playoffs 3-4 days to lock in a bowl game, but then give them 2 or 3 weeks to actually play the game. This would allow coaches to work in younger players (including JV call-ups) as they start getting ready for next season. And, of course, seniors could decide that they don't want to put their "college likeness compensation" at risk by playing in the bowl games and could make the decision to sit it out the meaningless bowl game. By the way, would a team that had a losing record (but finished out of the 8th seed spot in the playoffs by .003 points) be eligible for a bowl game? Asking for a friend.

Oh hai guys and girls! In honor of the playoffs heating up, Brad and I decided to put together some information and look at round 2 of the 3A playoffs. We've posted stuff on twitter for general consumption, but wanted to go a bit deeper into things since we've been told (we know!) that conversation about small school football is hard to come by. We also wanted to put some points out there in response to other conversations from around the state. Random things we've been meaning to comment on! --> JaxTCA lost to Ocala Trinity 23-21 in round 1. We'll give OTC their due further down the page, but outside of the Pensacola Catholic loss in 2012, this has to be the most disappointing loss for JaxTCA in years. Let's be real, nobody wants to play JaxTCA, so they had to play one of the toughest schedules in recent memory. There was reason for hope when they defeated Raines in week 11, but the damage had already been done prior to the playoffs starting. JaxTCA entered the playoffs with more bodies on the sideline than on the field. We expected JaxTCA to roll through the playoffs, but it didn't happen. While we think the 2020 JaxTCA team has one of the highest talent and athletic windows in the state, it's also going to have to play another impossible schedule. --> We no longer live in a world where rankings can be based soley on records, but we also don't believe that just because a team plays a tough schedule they should be given a pass. Like a healthy diet, everything needs to be in moderation. We aren't suggesting 3A teams go play STA every week, but we aren't saying to load your schedule up with 4-6 teams who beat other 4-6 teams either. This has been a hot topic issue all year. --> We like the RPI system, but it needs tweaks to the OOWP. We have been in favor of combining 2A and 3A for years. Many 2A and 3A teams have natural rivalries and it doesn't change the geography of the state. Okay, now let's look Class 3A Round 2. Note, there are two predictions. Ours on top and the Maxpreps Prediction. We did NOT look at Maxprep's predictions prior to making our picks! Lakeland Christian (8-1) hosts Melbourne Central Catholic (4-6) LCS started the season off slow, but picked up momentum and has won 7 in a row. MCC has had a rough season this year, but did manage a victory at Frostproof. The Hustlers are balanced on offense and somewhat stout on defense. In their loses teams have had success running the ball. LCS has been rolling after a week 2 loss to Bishop Verot. LCS was always our pick to come out of region 2. MCC fights hard, but LCS gets the W. LCS by 14 MP: LCS by 9 Pensacola Catholic (10-0) vs Ocala Trinity Catholic (8-2) Rumors of OTC coming back to power were murmured in DM's, watercooler talk and noises in the night. After defeating JaxTCA the rumors have been verified, OTC is a legitimate football team again. Jamarian Samuel has been a superstar for OTC rushing for just over 2,200 yards and 23 TD's. We watched OTC vs Calvary Christian and even though OTC came up short on that night against a very good Calvary team, we knew they had potential to be great. Pensacola Catholic is having the season expected of them. They're 10-0 with a hefty senior class. They have a couple of good wins to their name, but no marquee wins. This is a hard nosed, tough football team that can harass quarterbacks. Catholic has one heck of a homefield advantage in this one. OTC has a 5.5 hour drive (One way), but if they can overcome the early emotion should pick up their second stellar win in a row. OTC by 7 MP: OTC by 1 Chaminade-Madonna (8-2) vs Somerset Academy (8-2) The 2x defending state champions start the playoffs against a good, but over matched opponent. Somerset isn't technically a bad football team in relationship to what their aspirations are, but Chaminade is simply better. The Lions won't need it this week, but they will need to continue to develop Brady Allen and Alexander Law at QB for next week. Also good news, the Lions are pretty much 100% healthy at this point outside of Willie Moise. Kudos to Somerset for a good 8-2 record, but this is the biggest mis-match in all of the small school games in Florida this week. Chaminade by 49. MP: Chaminade by 26 Miami Edison (6-5) vs Calvary Christian Academy (9-1) This game is a poster child for throwing out the records. Calvary is having a great season and did pull off quality wins over Benjamin and Miami Christian, but Miami Edison has played some of the best the state has to offer including Booker T, Northwestern, Carol City, Naples, Miami Central, Coral Gables. Edison has taken some losses, but they did manage to compete in some of those games and even pulled off a win over Carol City. Calvary has taken a few steps forward, but even with some lopsided losses we're going Miami Edison. Edison by 14. MP: Edison by 4. Benjamin School (8-3) at Bishop Verot (8-2) This should be a good game as the Bishop Verot Vikings are having a good season this year having defeated Lakeland Christian, Tampa Catholic and North Ft. Myers. They competed well, but came up short against American Heritage and always tough Uschool. Benjamin School hasn't been shabby themselves, their win over a good Cardinal Newman team last week was impressive and the Buccaneers have been consistent all season. We think Bishop Verot has to much speed for Benjamin School, but the Bucs will make this a game. Bishop Verot by 10 MP: BV by 10 FSU-DRS (9-1) vs Episcopal School of Jacksonville (10-1) On paper this game should favor FSU-DRS and Qb Willie Taggart Jr. FSU's only loss was to super tough Madison County, Episcopal School was blown out earlier in the year by Baldwin but avenged that loss last week 35-25. This is a high quality match-up, but we're going FSU-DRS in this one. FSU has played a significantly tougher schedule. We just think they have the passing attack to open this game. FSU-DRS by 20 MP: Episcopal by 20 Berkeley Prep (8-1) vs Clearwater Central Catholic (8-3) There are many individuals around the state who feel that this Berkeley Prep team can win class 3A this year. They have a devastating 3 pronged rushing attack lead by one of the better linemen in the state Zach Perkins, a stout passing game and a defense giving up less than 10 points per game lead by one of the top linebackers in the country, Jaylen Harrell. Dom Ciao, the HC at Berkeley is one of the best coaches in the business. They have home field advantage against the teams they need it against and they also have a 21-14 win over CCC. Of course, that win was in week 1. To say CCC has gotten better since their early season losses to Tampa Jesuit, Berkeley and Brentwood is an understatement. They are 8-1 since starting 0-2. They do hold wins over Clearwater, Uschool, Sebring and a rout of Tampa Catholic. CCC has clearly played a tougher schedule at this point. We pegged Berkeley facing Calvary Christian in the regional finals playing a classic and surviving. Part of this is because we also felt Berkeley and Calvary were far and away better than the rest of the region. CCC put a running clock on Calvary in the third quarter. Berkeley is better than Calvary, but they aren't playing better than CCC right now. Still, Berkeley has had 2 weeks to prep for this match-up and that will be the difference. Berkeley by 10 MP: Berkeley by 3 And because we have friends at Tampa Catholic! 4A! Tampa Catholic (6-5) at American Heritage (5-5) Tampa Catholic started off the season on fire at 2-0 and winning by a combined 78-14, then they faced 0-2 CCC who finally got healthy and was run off the field. That can be forgiven. TC then caught fire and won the next two games 125-0. They then lost to Berkeley Prep in a game they were down 21-16 with the ball under 2 minutes, but couldn't convert. Then they lost Winter Haven, then they lost to Bishop Verot and for the 20th consecutive year lost to Tampa Jesuit. The point? TC is very good at running the score up on bad teams, but not so good at scoring against good teams. American Heritage is a good team that could be very good if not for being bit by the injury bug. TC doesn't really have a signature win, but they have levels of competitiveness against good teams. Outside of the CCC game, they were at least in every other game until the 4th quarter. My understanding is that AHD is finally healthy which doesn't bode well for TC. This is a shame because on paper, TC should be one of the top teams in the state but clearly something is holding them back. AHD by 14 MP: AHD by 4

Thoughts and observations: 1. Sloppy game, Apopka must have given up 200 yards of penalties including a ton of motion penalties, which in similar circumstances have not been called by other crews. I don't think those and several others were deserved. 2. FPC has a good sophomore QB. If he can grow three inches or more, he will play at the next level. 3. The lead changed hands several times, but Apopka scored the final 21 points to win 42-25. 4. Game had several big plays by both teams, juxtaposed with the overall sloppy play which was no doubt influenced by the weather conditions. 5. Unless Apopka improves and cuts down on the mistakes, it is going to be very hard for them to beat Bartram Trail at their house. 6. The better team won, but FPC did expose some chinks in APK's defense that the Central Florida teams they faced did not. 7. The number of penalties called by the officials severely interfered with the rhythm of the game. 8. TV, despite playing hurt, nailed all his PATs tonight.

These could be amongst the more competitive games. What do you think? 8A Apopka vs Bartram Trail 8A Vero Beach vs Treasure Coast 7A Edgewater vs Lincoln 7A Fleming Island vs Niceville 6A Columbia vs Lee 6A Central vs Naples 5A Vanguard vs North Marion 4A Gulliver Prep vs Booker T Washington 4A Cardinal Gibbons vs University 3A Berkeley Prep vs Clearwater Central Catholic

Exactly how many times did you attend Edgewater games this season? They beat Jones, Wekiva, Winter Park, and Bishop Moore this season. Edgewater, Seminole (Sanford), and Jones are very good Central Florida teams that should be playing in semi-finals in a few weeks. Final four in your division is not a fluke; it takes a good team to get that far.

I'm already the 2019 champ so I'm good with that. You can be the 2019 co champ and we can both get a trophy. Before we know it we will have 8 champs with 2 people playing in each pick em

I don’t do the daisy chains. Lincoln isn’t fools gold because they aren’t portrayed as a top team like Edgewater. Edgewater got blown out by the only quality team on the schedule. I don’t count Jones because Jones had almost half their starters out. Edgewater is being put on a pedestal for doing nothing. They haven’t won anything, and have no equity built to give them the benefit of the doubt. I wouldn’t bet on Lincoln ever due to their inconsistent play, but if they beat Edgewater I wouldn’t bat an eye, and would never consider it remotely close to an upset

I’m going with Lincoln. Edgewater has one good win against a depleted Jones team. They are fools gold. The kind of chain that leaves a green ring around your neck.

I will take Fort Myers over Dillard if I get 38 points.

The old wing T days...lol

Daytona Beach to Pensacola or vice versa is over 6 hours, sorry there are limits on how far people are willing to travel for a 1st round game. Now games, where it is 30 minutes the excuse doesn't fly.

I believe I got 12 of the 14 picks correct. The only 2 that I misssed on were my homer picks, Viera and Eau Gallie.

Biggest upset of the night!

Just let MaxPreps handle it.

lol well you didn't argue about 6A and 8A so I was 2/3 rds correct

If this coach is indeed Hurlie Brown, the school that he coaches at is Merritt Island. Hurlie Brown also played in the CFL.

Hurlie Brown

Bosa brothers? Both played at STA right?

I’m surprised he lasted this long. It’s state or bust at Glades Central (unrealistic expectations), and the Muck Bowl (Pahokee) loss didn’t help. This kinda mirrors FSU and Taggert. FSU was 6-6 in Jimbo’s last season and had to make up a D2 game to be bowl eligible. Fans think we’re the 90s Noles (which we aren’t) and the Miami loss was unacceptable.

I think it's hard to beat the Pounceys

A couple of nominations (depending on how you're defining the word "Brothers" ): John and Scott Brantley - Ocala Forrest Shaquem and Shaquele Griffin - Lakewood Pouncey twins - Lakeland

It's coming... having to verify a few of the South Florida playoff game times and locations.

Let's be honest, as much as I talk about promotion/relegation, it is a pipe dream, because admins/ADs/coaches are scared. Look at the push back from non-football sports for the radical realignment the FHSAA wanted to do. The reality is that if promotion/relegation is going to happen, it will happen slowly. Having said that, the FHSAA can do some simple things to fix things. 1) Go back to 4 teams for 1A-4A who make the playoffs, instead of 6. or 2) Shrink 2A-4A down by 1 classification, with the goal of 60 teams (15 teams per region) if they are going to keep 6 teams. Ideally: 1A: Keep the Same 2A: Expand to 60 teams (~15 teams per region) 3A: Expand to 60 teams (~15 teams per region) 4A-7A: Equally Split (~80 teams per) The reality is that we should shrink by one more class to get closer to 96 teams per class and 16 districts, but shrinking by 2 classes would be very radical. ______ Use the average of the RPI/LaxIndex/Pinkos (whatever system) over 2 years (preferably after the playoffs are done) to continue to allow teams to "earn" points as they progress. Lowest 10 teams drop a classification, top 10 teams move up a classification. It would take 10 years for a 3A team to make it to 7A, slow changes are important if you are going to sell this idea. Brand new public schools start at 3A (no matter their size) and have to work their way up while they gather some stability in their program. Assuming we just used this year's RPI for 5A-8A. 8A Drops to 7A: Alonso (Tampa, FL) Oak Ridge (Orlando, FL) Haines City (FL) Leonard (Greenacres, FL) Cypress Creek (Orlando, FL) West Broward (Pembroke Pines, FL) Piper (Sunrise, FL) University (Orlando, FL) Windermere (FL) Spanish River (Boca Raton, FL) 7A Rises to 8A: St. Thomas Aquinas (Fort Lauderdale, FL) Armwood (Seffner, FL) Lakeland (FL) Edgewater (Orlando, FL) Palm Beach Lakes (West Palm Beach, FL) Niceville (FL) Fleming Island (Orange Park, FL) Bloomingdale (Valrico, FL) Viera (FL) Tampa Bay Tech (Tampa, FL) 7A Drops to 6A: Olympic Heights (Boca Raton, FL) Homestead (FL) Strawberry Crest (Dover, FL) American (Hialeah, FL) Everglades (Miramar, FL) North Port (FL) West Boca Raton (Boca Raton, FL) Miami Beach (FL) Leto (Tampa, FL) Mater Academy Charter (Hialeah Gardens, FL) 6A Rises to 7A: Palmetto (FL) Naples (FL) Port Charlotte (FL) Escambia (Pensacola, FL) Lake Gibson (Lakeland, FL) Gaither (Tampa, FL) Dillard (Fort Lauderdale, FL) Clearwater (FL) Largo (FL) Fort Myers (FL) 6A Drops to 5A Port St. Lucie (FL) Northeast (Oakland Park, FL) Deltona (FL) Okeechobee (FL) Freedom (Tampa, FL) Spoto (Riverview, FL) Hollywood Hills (Hollywood, FL) Pine Ridge (Deltona, FL) Gateway (Kissimmee, FL) Brandon (FL) 5A Rises to 6A Rockledge (FL) American Heritage (Plantation, FL) Northwestern (Miami, FL) Jones (Orlando, FL) Eau Gallie (Melbourne, FL) Wakulla (Crawfordville, FL) Lake Wales (FL) Dunnellon (FL) Citrus (Inverness, FL) 5A Drops to 4A Estero (FL) Lake Weir (Ocala, FL) Stanton (Jacksonville, FL) Ridgeview (Orange Park, FL) Tarpon Springs (FL) Booker (Sarasota, FL) Cape Coral (FL) Belleview (FL) Gibbs (St. Petersburg, FL) Gulf (New Port Richey, FL) In quickly looking at this, I know there are some problems. Palm Beach Lakes could be the newest fad of a team and probably doesn't have long term to stay at 8A, oh well. How many of the teams that are dropping are we thinking that they just had a bad year vs them being a constant homecoming/senior night opponent? The goal of the FHSAA has to be to create an equitable playing field. Size is a good indicator of the talent that should be available at a school, but obviously, it is not the only indicator. So let's use size, but also use wins and losses, Strength of Schedule, and other factors. Teams want to face equal level teams. Nobody on this board thinks Trinity Christian (Jax) or Chaminade-Madonna playing at 3A is good for them or 3A. For those fearful of big teams moving down, look at a team like Stanton (Jax), they could move 2A and barely be competitive, but at least they would have a chance rather than staying at 5A.

If Dillard keeps winning it does not matter. Sometimes it is better to be underrated rather than hyped.

My money is on Escambia representing the north. Not because they are a superteam or have the second coming of Emmitt Smith. But more because I-10 is a loooooong road and that drive from Jax to P-Cola will suck the life out of you. They are the top seed in the north and everyone has to go there. Travel will definitely be a factor.

8A – Predictions Didn't do score predictions but added region 3 & 4 to the fun. Round 1 Region 1 Seminole vs Mandarin DeLand vs Timber Creek Apopka vs Flagler Palm Coast Bartram Trail vs Spruce Creek Region 2 Sarasota Riverview vs Lake Nona Steinbrenner vs Newsome Osceola vs Riverview Riverview Dr. Phillips vs Lennard Region 3 Vero vs Boca Raton Treasure coast vs Santaluces Deerfield Beach vs Palm Beach Gardens Palm Beach Central vs Centennial Region 4 Palmetto vs Taravella Western vs South Dade Stoneman Douglas vs Miami Columbus vs Coral Gables Round 2 Region 1 Seminole vs DeLand Apopka vs Bartram Trail Region 2 Sarasota Riverview vs Newsome Osceola vs Dr. Phillips Region 3 Vero vs Treasure coast Deerfield Beach vs Palm Beach Central Region 4 Palmetto vs Western Stoneman Douglas vs Columbus Round 3 Region 1 Seminole vs Apopka Region 2 Sarasota Riverview vs Osceola Region 3 Treasure coast vs Deerfield Beach Region 4 Palmetto vs Columbus Final Four Seminole vs Osceola Deerfield Beach vs Palmetto State Osceola vs Palmetto

It's all about D'West lol

Well it gets dark by 5:50 now and by 6:30 it’s pitch black soooo “shrugs shoulders” lol

Bret Perriman

If we being honest the idea of having seeding is we will likely see most blowouts early as the teams that don't belong get weeded out and help us get better games later in the playoffs But we shall see how it goes, I saw quite a bit of very good 2nd round matchups this week

What I noticed from Brevard since Wilk got to Cocoa was one one other than Cocoa was remotely good. From 2008 or so. And they weren’t really that good nationally or at the top of the state. Just good for their area. They were playing in the bush league classes when they were winning state. Playing slappies. Then the flood gates opened and Brevard became the Wild West. With Mays at Viera, Cocoa and Stacy at Mel CC, they poached all the talent possible from Titusville, Melbourne, Astronaut, Holy Trinity etc etc. And they still couldn’t field elite teams at the state level. They routinely got clubbed by the better teams. Even with Brevard County all star teams they still couldn’t compete on a national level or at the top of the state. Brevard has some decent individual talent, but if everyone played in their zone you would have a lot of mediocrity all over, and no one even close to sniff a title. Brevard is just overrated and just because they have a lot of forum posters on message boards those won’t change one iota

Massive speed & size advantage for Columbia. Should be a blowout

St. Aug has a good chance. Lee is so unpredictable. Never know which team is going to show up.

How do the fans/alumni feel about the rockets going into the post season is all the turmoil gone away now

Ya feeel me lol it will b at Dillard to lol get a chance to show u how the 954 get down especially a game of that magnitude

Mandarin final 3 games of regular season last year. 34-33 win over spruce. 39-34 win over flagler palmcoast. Loss. 27-20 to fletcher. Would u say that is about the same thing as this year? Do u not think we hit our stride last year? Can't be concerned with blowouts. Have to be concerned with learning how to win when things are not going perfect imo. Especially when u have an inexperienced team.

If there is 512 teams just classify them in 5 classes by enrollment. That’s 102 teams per class. You have 16 districts. 102/16 equals 6.4 meaning each district would have 6-7 teams per district. Champs and runner ups advance. Positives would be relief on scheduling and travel.

That's what happens when you have a region that 2/3 of teams make the playoffs Been saying for 2 years the small classes need to go to a North and South vs having 4 regions Just not enough teams to justify 4 regions and no Districts