BrowardHandicapper

Suspended players??? What? who? lol

Well, I'll be bold and give my two cents..... From what I understand Miramar made a switch at QB during Halftime of the American Heritage Plantation game. I heard that the original QB is a pocket passer and had struggled a bit during the previous American Heritage Delray game and after another week of further evaluation they brought in a very mobile, elusive Junior (JV starter last year) to fill his shoes. I am curious to see how Miramar/the new QB will react should they happen to go down 2 scores to St. Thomas. Perhaps he also has a great arm but we all know playing catch up on the ground is an uphill battle vs through the air ( particularly against St. Thomas) . Perhaps he passed and ran all over Plantation which is a great feat and deserving the starting the role vs. Plantation but every tackle he shook, juked and avoided is going to coming at him that split second faster which in my opinion might force a couple INTs.....those 18 yard gains last week now might be 4 yard gains. I simply am not sold a Junior with the experience of 1 and 1/2 games starting is ready to beat St. Thomas. Then again , I am the guy at home just sharing my opinion and this kid might be the next Geno Smith....Perhaps you also have to look at the revenge factor or does Miramar get into the Raiders heads and they start thinking this is still the one team in Broward that has our number??? If Miramar wins this game, I think you have special teams and their stout defense taking control. Both teams are top 3 teams in Broward right now and we will know more Sat. evening . Looking forward to see how this one turns out but I think St. Thomas has a little more yards through the air to put them over the hump and take this one in a low scoring affair: St. Thomas: 20 Miramar: 16

I think the advantage the national powerhouse such as DBP has over a team like St. Thomas Aquinas is easier recruiting. Not that St. Thomas doesn't do a great job pulling in talent but think about...from Palm Beach to Dade all of the teams that are putting out D1 talent. Whether it is grades or personal choice some of these more talented athletes now are staying local and going to public schools. If I would have told you in 2003 that the brand new school Monarch (pathetic at football at the time) was going to send two skilled position players to National Champion Alabama - you would tell me I was insane. Even a school like Boyd Anderson who can barely win in Broward county usually puts out a couple of D1 players every year. Why can't they win in Broward? Not sure if it is coaching or the competition is just that good... The point is in South Florida there now are at least 20 very good or better football teams that compete respectable against one another on most given matchups. Go up to NJ and you have Don Bosco Prep and that is it! I would go out on a limb and say the top 20 teams in South Florida could compete respectively against the top 5 in NJ (Of course your Booker T, Miami Central and Bosco appear to be on another level) Maybe St. Joseph or St. Peters Prep.....So essentially not a few but pretty much ALL of the major talent from not only NJ but NY and part of PA head to Don Bosco Prep. Just the best option for talented football players... They can easily sell a student athlete that is trying to get to the next level more easily because they are essentially the only major producers of talent up there. Take a large public school from NJ that goes undefeated up there (say 10-0) ...now put them in Broward or Dade county and you might have a 8-2 or 7-3 team. At the end of the day there surely are schools nationwide that can compete with the best in Florida but there is definitely more VERY GOOD teams in the whole state of Florida, Texas and California. Here is another interesting fact between PA, NJ, NY and ALL of New England you have populations almost triple the state of Florida. Florida easily produces more Division 1 talent every year, in fact I would guess South Florida alone with it's 7 million population might even produce more D1 players.....Big 10 schools are now actually buying offices and condos statewide in Florida to make recruiting more convenient for them ( they hate admitting to that but it's happening- why wouldn't you?). So to conclude I think the talent is just more spread out in Florida now in this entire football rich state.

I think Ely might be heading towards a 0-4 start....and from what I see Glades Central has a shot at running the table on out... My Prediction: Blanche Ely 13 Glades Central 30

Broward county speaking, in the shadow of the heralded St. Thomas / Miramar matchup you have Cypress Bay hosting Flanagan. Neither team has really been tested yet but on a smaller scale this will be an interesting matchup. Both of these teams are arguably top 10 teams in Broward County. Flanagan defeated Cypress Bay last year for the first time in their matchup history in a 35 - 13 fashion. Although Cypress Bay has not returned to their 2012 level of play (8A State Title run) they appear to be improved from a sub-par 2013 season. Traditionally Miramar and Cypress Bay have battled for the 12-8A District however Flanagan will attempt to prove last year's season was not a fluke and make a District Title run of their own. Any thoughts or predictions for this matchup?

True Dillard_High_Panthers .... Coconut Creek has surely not seen anything close to Dillard and what Dillard has faced however. I think a 35 point win might be a tad high. Coconut Creek has a Sophomore WR #7 Emmanuel Greene that may find the end zone a couple times....I know the Dillard defense is stout but it would be impressive if you hold this team to 7 points. Either way, strong football teams from Broward County are rebounding big off of big game losses....see Plantation, American Heritage, Miramar and even Deerfield Beach last week rallying for a big come from behind win over Ely! Perhaps it is St. Thomas and Dillard's turn to rebound as big as you predict....? I'll call it: Coconut Creek 19 Dillard 38

I'm going to need a couple more days to make my prediction in this one. But for now I will say that the stronger teams in Broward have rebounded very well off of big game losses this season. See Plantation, American Heritage and Miramar for example.

Plantation coming off a big game Loss @ Home to Dillard - Destroys @ Taravella American Heritage coming off a big game Loss ( Neutral field) to St. Thomas - Beats @Miramar Miramar comes off a tough big game Loss @ Home to American Heritage - Destroys @ Plantation St. Thomas coming off a big game Loss to DBP - ? Dillard coming off a big game Loss to IMG - ? Not sure how this trend will hold up but early on it appears a few of the better teams in Broward are rebounding strong off a tough losses in big games....just saying. Either way, looking forward to the matchup!

Just checking out Trinity who appears to be the #2 ranked team in Kentucky....they lost (14-21) @ the #1 ranked team in Tennessee (Ensworth) , tough loss to the #1 ranked from Indiana -Carmel (7-10 ). Beat Imhotep Charter out of Philly ranked #13 in PA (30-6) and won @ Colerain, OH (ranked 52 in OH) 27-17 . As for Cocoa they defeated Titusville 31-17 and Astronaut 49-14. I would think Trinity is the more prepared and seasoned team for this matchup. Talent wise I would think Trinity is at least on par with Cocoa and has the home field advantage. Which is typical since almost all Florida teams play on the road for national matchups... Routing for Cocoa but I'll take a guess and call this one (sorry to be the spoiler): Cocoa 20 Trinity 33

Yeah....tough one there STARaiders2014. Like you said, hopefully history repeats itself and better to take that tough loss early then late. I look forward to see if the Raiders can end the Miramar 3 game win streak vs them. Should be a great game!

You did say that Dillard_High_Panthers...Sometimes when these kids emotions run high for game after game, after game it catches up and nothing goes right. Sounds like the whole atmosphere caught them off guard including the home cooking. I'm sure if IMG were to play at Dillard High they would be out of their element as well and it would be a much closer game. Either way, 2-1 on the road for that stretch is solid!

Wow! Sounds good Joshua! Thanks again! Just a thought and not sure if it is possible, but perhaps next season you can have a further tiebreaker with total score of the biggest game of the week or something...

Agree STARaiders2014. Playing that tough schedule will just make them more ready for postseason! Not bad at all and not even a district game...Dillard_High_Panthers you should be happy with Dillard's start. I'm guessing you got that feeling of "that didn't just happen" -we've all been there. Don't sweat it man (I think you'll Dillard got beat by a better team but hopefully they turn it into a positive) . Dillard, will take care of business vs. Coco Creek and be back on track!

I here ya.... I don't recall Plantation getting beat that bad on their own field in a long time.....You might have to go back to St. Thomas 2007 to find something close to that. Miramar usually beat the best but sometimes beat themselves. From what I hear in the Am. Heritage Plant. game they let a Sophomore RB run rampant on them in like a 8 minute stretch....That stuff should not happen against that Defense. Not sure what happened , Coaching, formations, tired legs....whatever it was they better have it corrected for ST Aquinas. Personally , I still think Miramar might be better than Heritage Plantation ( I know that sounds stupid since Heritage beat them in their house) but they will need their QB situation straight and their RB healthy to have a shot at St. Thomas. Is their RB good to go? QB situation good?

True 09mrslick.... Miramar rebounded very, very strong at Plantation. Always better off making mistakes or getting humbled early/midseason rather than late in the season. IMG clearly backing up that #10 FL State ranking.

Not sure if this is accurate but I saw the game was called Final in the 2nd Quarter: IMG winning 48-0 ???

If IMG is truly the 10th best team in state with all due respect Dillard_High_Pathers they should a 10+ at home favorite in my opinion to Dillard . Not sure this will be a Double Digit victory as you predict but I think Dillard has seen better talent a competition thus far and can pull off the upset.... 32-30 Dillard!

You make a good point. Looking closer at Hallandale's schedule only 4 games stuck out to me (rest are cupcakes) - Coral Springs (Average) Coco Creek (Good) Dillard (Very Good) Boynton (Very Good). I think they lose at least 2 maybe 3 of those 4 games. Dillard should take them just based on what they have seen every week...

OK. I just found the poll that you are referring to ..... yeah man, everyone has their own way of power ratings (sometimes a close game to top team is more power rating points vs. blowing out a good team) and I am sure with time Dillard will find their way into that top 10 State 6A Poll.... I also noticed Flanagan and Monarch are not in the 8A Poll or the top 25 Poll . So between those two and Dillard, I would just consider them under the radar for now. Don't sweat it ...sometimes it is good to be underrated... Monarch will drop in talent after next week since they are losing Alabama WR Commit Calvin Ridley due to age rule but I still think they will make the 8A Playoffs in Broward.

Dillard_High_Panthers, I think most recent Broward Polls have them floating around 6 or 7 in Broward which for now seems about right. Who do you got on a neutral field right now ? Hallandale or Dillard? My top 10 in Broward right now are : 1. St. Thomas Aquinas (no questions asked) The rest in no specific order: Miramar Flanagan Heritage Monarch Dillard Hallandale Cardinal Gibbons Plantation Cypress Bay *Deerfield #11

Zoe Boy , I played Pick Em in Week 2 and it worked fine for me. Remember you have to be logged in to make picks. You have to wait till later in the week like Thursday or Friday for the link (this week will be Week 3 link) to show up. Just click on Pick Ems up top left and then go to click on Week 3. Once you make all your picks click on Submit button on bottom right and you should be good to go.

I agree STARaiders, this will be a great road test and it is great to see this matchup. I happen to respect DBP more than other national powerhouse schools because they traveled to South Florida (something most national powerhouses refuse to do...) . Kind of a rare situation here with STA - they play two games back to back (DBP and Miramar) with revenge on their mind. Any significant injuries with STA and is the Def. coordinator situation in check? I think you are about right with STA going on to a 14-21 point victory here. I made the spread 17 but agree if DBP takes care of the ball and plays possession we could see closer to a 10 point game. My prediction: St. Thomas Aquinas 31 Don Bosco Prep 15

Well, that's why they play 'em.... and another good call on Heritage - Dillard_High_Panthers. Not sure how much it may have played a role in Miramar holding on with a few 4th quarter first downs, but I believe their starting RB was out this game (got banged up last week) . At the end of the day Miramar could not stop Sophomore RB Kyshaun Bryan (#11) - 200 rushing yards and 3 rushing TDs against Miramar (Wow). I saw this kid growing up playing AYFL in Coral Springs and it was pretty obvious he was going to be a baller....Miramar still had a shot late in the last minute and got into the red zone but just could not convert. Nice win for American Heritage who I believe gets a well deserved breather vs. Chaminade Madonna next week. As for Miramar they will try to rebound and pull off a tough road game at Plantation next week followed by hosting ST. Aquinas the following. Tough 4 game stretch! Later in the year they have back to back @ Flanagan and hosting Cypress Bay who appears to have bounced back from a sub-par season.

Just checked out Dillard's schedule...Solid.

Damn Dillard High...They got IMG and then Coconut Creek and your preseason with St. Thomas....Jeez...tough schedule...