SPCjessica2004

The Class 3A State Championship game is going to be between Chaminade-Madonna and King's Academy football. I alluded to this in earlier posts, but there was a growing contingent of fans from the south that warned me about King's Academy. The warning turned into a roar when King's defeated Orlando First Academy. I stuck with Florida High as my pick to represent the north and they ended up losing by a point. King's Academy deserves a lot of respect for the way they've gotten to Orlando, this is a fun team to watch and their fans are clearly VERY passionate about their Lions. Many of them can spout out QB Justin Wake's numbers, or tell me how their defense makes amazing plays in the 4th quarter. Chaminade-Madonna is rolling right now. This is the second year in a row they've only surrendered 3 points in the south half the bracket. The Lions defense is one of the best in the state and they are chomping at the bit to repeat as 3A champions. THE PICK: Look, let's be real. This isn't a dig at King's Academy but the state finals should have been between CCC and Chaminade. Those are clearly the two best teams in 3A. Chaminade was always going to win that game, but CCC at least kept the game competitive for all 4 quarters. King's Academy deserves their moment in the sun, they've earned it and I will watch the game, but this will be the least competitive game in the state championship weekend. Chaminade 42, King's Academy 3

According to the FHSAA website we will have preliminary classifications/districts by December 21st. The website below says the process has just begun. The interesting part is that any school that fits the criteria to play in 1A (Rural) have been notified already. I'm curious how many schools that are currently in 2A and above elect to move to 1A. https://www.fhsaa.org/news/2018/1128

This is actually rather controversial; however, the FHSAA I believe only looks at 9-12. For years teams that only have 9-12 have said teams that can have 8th graders on varsity creates an unfair advantage. I'm pretty sure schools can have as many 7th, 8th graders on varsity as they want and they do not count toward the population cap.

The FHSAA is pretty predictable based on their 1/3 and 2/3 rule. They basically look at the complete 2018 student population report and then look at only teams that are eligible for the state series. The biggest 2/3 (66% of schools) are placed in classes 5A-8A. The remaining 1/3 (33%) are placed in 1A-4A. 5A-8A are then assigned districts, 1A-4A are on their own. We will not know where Dillard ends up since we do not have their reported 2018 student population is. Even if we did we do not know the individual class cutoffs. I am not sure there will be a lot of teams moving out of the state series to go independent, but I do think some smaller schools will end up in 1A. BigBendPreps reported on a podcast earlier this year that some of the more rural public schools in the smaller classifications are going to elect to move to 1A. Dillard's Fall 2017 report shows them at 1823. Obviously, they are in 6A which currently has a cutoff of 1,593-1,938. Unless there is a dramatic amount of teams entering or exiting the state series or wild fluctuations in student population I think it's pretty reasonable to conclude that Dillard would remain in 6A, but again it all comes down to what the school reports as their Fall 2018 enrollment.

This is 100% on point! For every Chaminade-Madonna, STA, JaxTCA there are 10 other private schools trying to figure out how to field enough players to practice let alone play a game. I think the call to separate private and public is aimed squarely at the traditionally highly successful private schools. C I seriously doubt that public schools would care if most non successful private schools were in their district or region.

While 3A isn't a particularly deep classification in the number of teams, the top 5-6 teams regularly compete with the states best. This Friday represents the state semi-finals aka the final 4. These teams have had tremendous seasons this year and while it's cliche to say they "deserve" to be here, they are clearly rolling at the right time. One common theme I've seen on social media this past week is that any team that's practicing on Thanksgiving is a pretty good team, these are the teams practicing a week after Thanksgiving. The following 4 teams are champions already (regional) now it's time to see who represents the north and the south for the state finals. Class 3A Northern Championship Game Florida High (8-3) vs West Palm Beach King's Academy (11-1) Maxpreps Florida Ranking: Florida High #78, King's Academy #79 Two VERY evenly matched teams will meet up in Tallahassee this upcoming Friday for the right to play for a state championship. Florida High finished the regular season at 6-3. In the playoffs they defeated Pensacola Catholic and Taylor County. The Seminoles have racked up 1336 yards passing and 1648 yards rushing this year. The Seminoles Willie Taggart jr. and Raymond Woodie have been as advertised since transferring in prior to the season but the Seminoles already had a strong class returning in the form of corner Cordell Clay and Javan Morgan. King's Academy is the very definition of a fairy tale come to life. They knocked off arch rival Benjamin School to close the regular season on a miraculus 2 point conversion and then lightening struck again last week against Orlando First Academy on a 66 yard TD with under 20 seconds remaining to win the game. The Lions of King's Academy are prolific on offense as Sr. QB Justin Wake has thrown for 1928 yards while team (lead by Rb Presley Arnold) has racked up 2200 yards rushing. The Pick: Many people in South Florida jumped on the Lions bandwagon halfway through the season and have become a trendy pick to represent the north in 3A. I can see why, this is an exciting team that's very easy to root for. Florida High, for lack of a better phrase, was the popular pick to represent the north preseason. Florida High lost some luster midseason due to losses to Wakulla, Godby and Madison County. Those are 3 really good teams. Due to the fact that the computer polls all have these teams ranked right next to each other it requires us to look at other factors. One factor that jumps out is that Tallahassee is about 450 miles from West Palm Beach. That's a heck of a homefield advantage for Florida High NOT to make that trip. The other factor is strength of schedule. King's Academy has played some good competition and won some tight contests, but Florida High has played some traditional power houses and competed well. I just think that Florida High is more prepared for this game and it will show on the field. Florida High 35, King's Academy 21 Class 3A Southern Championship Game Chaminade-Madonna (10-2) vs Clearwater Central Catholic (12-0) Maxpreps Florida Ranking: Chaminade #25, Clearwater Central Catholic #21 To say the Lions of Chaminade started the season as vast, overwhelming favorites to repeat as state champions is an understatement. The English language does not convey how big of a favorite this team is. Last year, Chaminade-Madonna destroyed CCC 49-3 in a game that was over at half-time. The 2018 version of Chaminade has outperformed the 2017 state championship team by every concernable metric aside from running back. The Lions also closed the talent gap between them and the other south Florida powers. In 2017 the Lions were smashed by Miami Central and American Heritage Plantation. This year, they only lost by 3 to Deerfield beach and Heritage-Plantation had to hold on for dear life to survive Chaminade. CCC is an excellent football team, but they're very young with only 7 seniors on a 34 player varsity roster. By comparison Chaminade has 27 seniors, which is almost the same size of the entire Marauder roster. Yes, they have a star studded senior class (JerJuan Newton, Rory Hicks, Brett Seither, Kennedy Roberts, Casey Levy), but that underclass is brimming with talent. The Marauders are also very wise to build an infrastructure to keep their momentum going. They just opened a 5 million dollar football only facility and school itself is receiving a 15-20 million dollar renovation. The Pick: I'm being completely honest here and this isn't a knock on CCC. I have no idea how CCC can compete with Chaminade even as good as they are. While I wouldn't go so far as to say there isn't a CCC player that would see the field at Chaminade, there isn't one position that CCC is better than Chaminade at. Chaminade is bigger, faster, stronger, better coached and now they're angry. Chaminade received a wake-up call last week against American Heritage Delray in a 14-3 win. I seriously doubt they'll get flagged for 20 penalties this week, and I do not think they'll play with CCC. I expect a firm, decisive win against a clearly overwhelmed opponent. Chaminade: 45, CCC 0

SFL Spy, Whoever the OC is at Chaminade is a total prick. I was reading his twitter. I'm really growing sour on Chaminade's coaching overall because I think the players are really good, but their whole "larger than life" show is growing stale. He claims to be a motivator, but he comes off as a guy that if he wasn't part of a school that abuses the McKay and Step-Up scholarships to no end would be struggling to find work. I'm not trying to sour mouth the program but I openly question their coaching professionalism. A lot of the stuff they're letting onto social media paints them in an ugly light. Something tells me that the people responsible for turning Chaminade back into a power would be a little more respectful.

Agreed. While the fans want fewer classes, the desire doesn't seem to be the same for the AD's and schools themselves.

My goodness! I didn't read that quote. My mind read it as "We knew it wasn't going to be an easy game", but yes he is quoted as saying it would be easy. I understand this is Miami style football and showmanship is part of the game, but in this case the game was over. Sad!

This is very, very true! I'm writing this one off as a perfect storm. Chaminade maybe didn't bring their A game (coaches and players) and AHD had a point to prove. In addition, I'm sure there was extra emotion involved with Dunmore leaving AHD to go to Chaminade. From those at the game I was told that something seemed off with Chaminade but nobody could pin point any individual/one thing.

Accountability time! My Game of the Week was King's vs Orlando First Academy. I had King's by 3. King's ended up winning by 1. What a wild finish worthy of a regional championship game! King's was down by 6 with 22 seconds left. According to the Palm Beach post King's needed 66 yards to keep their season alive. They got it and then converted the extra point to go up by 1. I've seen bits and pieces of the game, but not the whole thing yet. King's Academy has been a resilient passionate team and it's infectious. It's hard not to root for them. First Academy doesn't really have anything to be ashamed of. They had a terrific season and literally came 22 seconds away from a regional championship. Most importantly though! Let this be further proof that magic 8 balls are only as good as the question you ask it. Jess 1, Magic 8 ball 0 I had Florida High over Taylor County by 14. Florida High won by 8. Taylor County deserves a lot of respect for getting to the regional final this year. Florida High is a very quality football team that is playing with a lot of confidence, but Taylor County gave the Seminoles a game behind the prowess of Da’Corian Bellamy, but in the end the Seminoles special teams was just a bit to much for the Bulldogs to overcome. Some really good highlights on BigBendPreps of this one. I had CCC over Berkeley Prep by 21. CCC won by 28 Berkeley Prep is a quality football team, high quality. They have terrific coaches, numerous football players likely to play at the next level but it was always going to come down to Joshua Youngblood having the game of his life to have a chance to win this one and for his part- he did. CCC looked like two completely different teams in this one. In the first half, their defense was non existent, the offense was confused and there didn’t appear to be any energy. In the 2nd half, CCC exploded for 300 yards offense, 28 points and the defense racked up 5 sacks on Youngblood ultimately knocking him out of the game with about 9 minutes left in the 4th, but the game was already out of reach at that point. I had Chaminade over American Heritage Delray by 45, they won by 11. I think tremendous respect should be given to the Stallions defense for really frustrating the Lions offense for the better part of the night. That was an amazing game plan by the defensive staff. The Stallions were in this one for all 48 minutes, but the Stallions simply couldn’t move the ball through the air enough to pull the upset, still the groundwork has been laid for the Stallions going into 2019. As for Chaminade, this is the wakeup call they needed. All 3 remaining teams in 3A have quarterbacks that can throw, although I don’t think any of the remaining teams have the defense of the Stallions either.

Oldschool, This Thanksgiving, we are thankful for YOU and the stats and history you provide to this forum! We also wanted to take a moment and completely agree with you on a statement you made. I understand the concept of not awarding participating trophies, but we also think the teams that are consistently hitting a wall in the third round deserve significant respect just for getting to that point. In the world we live of constant transfers, social media it's hard to maintain that success and make these types of deep runs into the playoffs.

How awesome would that be for that young man and his family? Those are the stories I'd love to read about. Local stories about the teams and their communities. Good information Darter!

Darter, You are not joking! That young man is indeed the real deal. Earlier this year I think he was overlooked due to the strength of schedule but he's continuing his performance against better and better competition. I don't think King's Academy has seen a running back like Frazier. If First Academy wins, I'll be consulting with the magic 8 ball again!

Jeepers! It's the third round of the playoffs. First off! Congratulations to all of the teams that have made it to the final 8. I think these are indeed the top 8 teams in 3A and there should be some really good football games this week. GAME OF THE WEEK Orlando First Academy at West Palm Beach King's Academy This has the makings of a classic match-up. King's Academy has gathered steam from a large population that it's the Lions and not the Seminoles of Florida High that will be in Orlando representing the north. That might be true but first the Lions have to deal with First Academy. First Academy defeated Father Lopez last week 40-20 behind a big game from running back Rolous Frazier with 4 TD's. King's Academy knocked out Holy Trinity behind a stout defensive performance from Jeremiah and Isaac Scroggins. THE PICK: This is a tough pick for the simple fact that I think King's Academy is a very good program but First Academy's offense is lethal. While shopping with my son we went down the toy isle and he picked up a magic 8 ball. I asked if King's Academy will win on Friday. The response? My sources say no. Funny thing about magic 8 balls, I never believed them. King's Academy by 3 Taylor County at Florida High Taylor County continues to impress and continues a strong playoff performance this week when they take on the Seminoles of Florida High. Florida High knocked off a young but rapidly improving Pensacola Catholic team last week. Taylor County gave St. Joseph's Academy their first loss. This is actually a rare public vs public regional championship game in 3A. While Florida High is officially classified as a "lab" school, they are also considered public. THE PICK: Both teams have played similar levels of competition and both have some big time players. This is another game that could swing either way. De'Corian Bellamy is having a terrific post season for Taylor County. He's the heart of the machine. Florida High has multiple big name athletes and that will be the difference in this one. Florida High by 14 American Heritage Delray at Chaminade-Madonna The Stallions of American Heritage are a small school powerhouse that has fallen on difficult times in the past 2 seasons. This year the program has made a strong push back into the spotlight thanks to a very stingy defense and the running ability of Dallis Small. Chaminade-Madonna completely trounced over matched Palmer Trinity last week. Trinity made the playoffs for the first time in their schools history. THE PICK: While I do not think the Stallions offense will do much against one of the top defenses in Florida, I do think the Stallions defense can frustrate Chaminade for a quarter which would be a win in itself. Outside of their 2 losses Chaminade has completely dominated the first quarter on offense against everybody else. Due to the Stallions being unable to move the ball on offense Chaminade will likely play the field position game the first few series. Once the Stallions defense is worn down this one will get ugly. Chaminade Madonna by 45 Tampa Berkeley Prep at Clearwater Central Catholic This is a rematch from earlier in the season that CCC won 35-14. Berkeley Prep defeated Calvary Christian 21-13 while CCC defeated Tampa Catholic 30-3 last week. THE PICK: Joshua Youngblood is one of the most prolific/entertaining athletes to watch in Florida. If you haven't seen him play you need to do yourself a favor and watch his senior regular season highlight tape. It gets more and more impressive each week he adds plays. He reminds me of former Berkeley Buc Nelson Agholor. Berekley Prep as a team beyond Youngblood is a capable team and would still be a playoff team, but not a particularly potent offensive team. I'm saying this because I expect CCC to limit Youngblood forcing somebody else to step up and beat them. The question is, who can Berkeley turn to? My guess is that there isn't anybody but boy oh boy will Youngblood give us a game to go out on! CCC by 21

Columbia, If I was ranking only the 4 remaining teams in 3A north I would go: 1) Florida High 2) King's Academy 3) First Academy 4) Taylor County Taylor County is doing very well for themselves and are are definitely in the conversation in north 3A. They defeated a very good Baldwin team and then beat previously undefeated St. Joseph's Academy. The issue is that Florida High or King's is a step up from the teams they've played. First Academy is a wild card. They run an excellent rendition of the Wing-T along with a long time coaching staff. I'm still rolling with Florida High but they will be tested.

181pl, These are all great points and a big THANK YOU for bringing it up. Look at the flat out D-1 star power that TC lost in transfers alone going into 2018: Charlie Dean QB Kiael Kelly QB Ahmarean Brown WR/DB Joe Hodge WR/DB Tyus Gibson OL/DL Qunicy Hipps Jr LB As awesome as those players are I thought when Coach Gregory and Coach Fenton left it set the program back more than us as outsiders realized at the time. Coach McIntyre was handed a talented team but it had some glaring holes through no fault of his own. TC has 2 things to consider going forward. 1 is that they're almost guaranteed to move to 4A next year which will present issues to them playoff wise. The current cutoff for 3A is 680. 4A starts at 681. TC will be reporting a 2018 student population of about 730 (I'm told between 725-735) which is down from their 763 student population of 2017. I expect the announced 3A/4A cutoff for 2019/2020 to be 711, give or take 5 in either direction. Historically the FHSAA lets Tampa Catholic move down in class via travel hardship petition to play in 3A, but with districts no longer used in 1-4A TC could only move down based on a hardship appeal. Considering TC regularly plays teams hundreds of miles away I don't see any hardship. I'm thinking they'll end up in 4A Region 3 with Cocoa, Lake Highland, LaBelle, Avon Park. Bishop Verot would replace TC in Class 3A Region 3 as they are well below the likely new cutoff of 730ish (only reporting 696 for 2018 I believe). The other is a bigger issue. Keeping players. TC has a good young base to build around but there are rumors that a few of their players are looking at other schools in the area as you're reading this message board post. TC can't sustain itself swapping transfers in for transfers out. Hopefully the younger players opt to stay and build the program going forward. Tampa Catholic will be a hot button topic during the off season.

Accountability Time! I'm hard on myself when I pick wrong games, but I'm not above bragging when I do well! I'm happy to say I went 8 for 8 last week, hurray! Let's look at it: Chaminade vs Palmer Trinity: I had Chaminade by 50+ and they won by 62. This was completely expected. Palmer Trinity would struggle against the vast majority of 3A teams, so playing the best team in 3A was always going to be too much to ask. Trinity did finish with a double digit win season though, so there's that. Benjamin vs American Heritage: I picked the Stallions by 14, but they won by 4. Many feel that AHD winning was an upset, but I never believed that. It would have been an upset had Benjamin won. Heritage has taken some lumps the past few years so the fact they're back in a regional final is good for the programs future. Berkeley defeated Calvary Christian: I had Berkeley by 7, they won by 8. It sounds like Calvary started off hot but once the Bucs slowed the pace down and started their ball control offense the Warriors simply couldn't keep up. Calvary had a very good season and bring back quite a bit next year. Berkeley Prep is a mainstay in 3A though, they've had some good post season runs over the past 10 years. Taylor County defeated St. Joseph Academy: I had Taylor County by 28 they won by 26. Taylor County won big in this one and that shouldn't surprise anybody. St. Joseph Academy, similar to Palmer Trinity would get defeated by the bulk of 3A teams. Taylor County has done a great job turning their season around. Much better than the record indicated. Florida High defeated Pensacola Catholic: I had FSU High by 3, they won by 4. This was my personal 3A game of the week and it lived up to the hype. Catholic traded blows for the Seminoles but wore down late due to fatigue. With what Catholic has coming back next year the focus should be on accumulating points to get home games. Catholic will be a threat in years to come. King's Academy defeated Holy Trinity: I had King's by 18, they won by 9. Good win for King's Academy. I figured Nate Hooks would get his Tigers to hang with King's and they did, but King's simply had more depth which allowed them to hold on. First Academy defeated Father Lopez: I had First Academy by 8 they won by 20. What started as a competitive game turned into a 3 TD win for 1st Academy. Once that Wing-T wore down the Green Wave defense it was going to have to turn into a shootout. Father Lopez had a good season though. The playoff win over MCC represents a step forward for the team. CCC defeated TC: I picked CCC to win 42-21, the final ended up being 30-3. I communicated with some Tampa Catholic individuals who admitted this morning they purposely kicked a field goal with the game out of control to avoid being shutout. CCC racked up around 400 yards offense and held TC to under 90.

Lakeland Gator, Thank you! :-) Tampa Catholic is very proud of their offensive line play and take tremendous pride in anybody asking how big/tough they are. The two key cogs on their offensive line are the Sandlin brothers. Both are 6'6. The one brother is 312, the other is 298. Aaron Smith, who transferred from Anclote is 6'4 286. The center is the smallest player at 6'3 277. They then rotate some young guys in the 6'1 280 range. It's my understanding that the bulk of their offensive line are not kids from Tampa, but the outskirts (Plant City, Anclote). As for the LCS/TC game ending, I'm of the opinion (and my brother, father and husband are all in agreement) that the officials missed 2 blatant calls that swayed the favor toward Tampa Catholic. They both came in the 4th quarter. TC was up 10-7 and driving the ball when they attempted a pass, the pass was picked off and returned about 80 yards for TD by LCS. The official called a questionable penalty on LCS that negated the return. The second was flat out wrong on on the officials part. With the game 10-10 and TC driving with under 2 minutes left, TC fumbled the snap and it was cleanly recovered by LCS but the officials awarded the ball back to TC. Now, the officials are human but on the film that was sent to me it was clear LCS recovered the ball. I would imagine that had that been properly called the game would have gone to overtime. I was not at the game, but I've spoken to TC fans who were also perplexed by the call.

So I didn't post game previews/predictions last week due to some family stuff that was going on. It's all better now, so here's some stuff we dug up for the 2nd round of the 3A playoffs. Here we goooooo!! Chaminade Madonna (8-2) vs Palmer Trinity (10-2) First, I want to give a legitimate and heartfelt congratulations to Palmer Trinity and coach Mark Reese for a very good 10-2 season which saw them win a playoff game. The issue is they go from knocking out their rival Westminster Christian to..hmm.. playing the Miami Hurricanes. Chaminade-Madonna is 100% healthy and coming off 2 weeks of rest. There will be more time to talk about Chaminade in the coming weeks, but this is likely to be the most lopsided score in all of the FHSAA football playoffs for this week. Chaminade has quietly remarked they want to be the first team to win a state championship while not giving up a single point. The Pick: Chaminade by 50+ American Heritage Delray (8-3) at Benjamin School (9-1) This has the chance to be a dandy! American Heritage has made strong strides in returning to the powerhouse status of team in Stallions past. The Stallions scored some good early season wins over 8A Belen Jesuit and Monsignor Pace, but stumbled in the middle part of their schedule against Uschool, Bishop Verot, Glades Central. The offense has been hit or miss, but the defense has been stellar for the most part. Last week the Stallions upended a good Calvary Christian Academy football team 42-14. Benjamin School has really come on in recent years. The 2018 version is one play away from being 10-0. Overall, the Buccaneers were able to finish just above the Stallions to grad a bye week and prepare for the playoffs. The Bucs have 3 rushers with 400 or more yards, and a Qb who has thrown for just shy of 1500. Expect star athlete Kaiir Elam to have a solid game in this one. The Pick: The strength of schedule argument has merit here. Benjamin's opponents combined records are 56-47 AHD's 65-50, but AHD has played some powerhouses. If AHD can get the passing game on track- a tricky thing to do with Elam and company on the other side of the field, they should win this one by a fair amount. Heritage Delray 28, Benjamin School 14 Pensacola Catholic (6-5) at Florida High (6-3) If I could attend any game this week this would probably be my first choice. These teams are very evenly matched, they've both played competitive schedules and I think both have a lot of talent and are well coached. Now that I'm done giving cookie cutter responses, here's how I see it going down. The Crusaders star RB Ja'kobi Jackson was strong last week against a good Ft. White team as the Crusaders ran for 391 yards. Florida High presents significant challenges for the Crusaders on defense, particularly the combination of Willie Taggart Jr and Bryson Hill at QB. The Seminoles are pretty well balanced and while they are young in the secondary should have an advantage in the trenches. The Pick: Florida High was my preseason pick to get to Orlando and I'm sticking with it, but this is going to be a very difficult hill for the Seminoles to climb. Florida High 34, Pensacola Catholic 31 Calvary Christian (7-4) at Tampa Berkeley Prep (6-3) This is a Class 3A-Region 3 rematch from week 2 of the regular season. Berkeley Prep won that game 14-7. Fast forward to the 2nd round of the playoffs and the teams meet in Tampa again. In the first game, Berkeley Prep QB Josh Youngblood was moved to RB as he broke his throwing hand after their week 1 loss to CCC. Youngblood is now back and the offense has been prolific again. Calvary Christian has caught fire the past 2 weeks. They defeated Lake Highland Prep in Orlando and then defeated Sarasota Cardinal Mooney in Sarasota. Calvary has a very talented QB/RB/WR combination that has given defenses fits this year. The Pick: This is a really good QB battle between two of the better QB's you will find. The difference this time is that Calvary is pretty beat up along their lines thus my thinking is that for Calvary to advance to their second straight regional final they will need to win a high scoring game. Berkeley Prep is known for their ball control offense and likely doesn't want to get into a shootout with Calvary. I think Berkeley Prep gets the job done in a close contest that goes back and forth throughout the game. Berkeley prep 17, Calvary Christian 10 Tampa Catholic (8-3) at Clearwater Central Catholic (10-0) Another rematch in Class 3A-Region 3. CCC won in week 3 34-14 in Tampa. Tampa Catholic knocked off Lakeland Christian last week 13-10 in a game that finished under controversy as many LCS fans feel that there was a fumble late in the game that should have been awarded to LCS. I've seen the film and I actually agree. I don't know if LCS would have won the game, but it would have likely forced overtime at worst- still, this is a pretty good Tampa Catholic team that has 3 top notch running backs in Jaylen Bussey, Andrew Ellis and Caleb Tate. DJ Taylor has also stepped up his game in recent weeks. TC's offensive line averages out to 6'4, 292lbs which is the biggest average offensive line in 3A. CCC appears to finally be healthy for the first time this season which is an interesting statement to make for a 10-0 team. The health issue was exaggerated in week 9 in a road game against Tampa Jesuit as CCC had multiple players ejected. Due to injury, CCC has started a combination of 7 freshmen and sophomores most of the season. If Jerzhan Newton is healthy that changes to entire make-up of the Marauder offense especially with the punch the Marauder WR's are packing. CCC should also be welcoming back some of their key upperclassmen now that they're healthy, but it probably speaks well for the programs depth that the younger plays stepped in and didn't miss a beat. The Pick: This is a rivalry game first and foremost so tensions are already going to be pretty high. TC will give CCC their A+ game and throw the kitchen sink at CCC, but the Marauders love playing TC at home more than anybody else in the state. CCC 42, TC 21 Father Lopez(9-3) vs The First Academy (8-1) Father Lopez is back in the playoffs for the first time since 2013 and knocked off Melbourne Central Catholic 23-21 in round 1. Orlando First Academy had a bye week last week. The Royals of First Academy have the talent to get to the state semi-finals, bolstered by their wing-t attack and lead by 4 running backs with 200 or more yards the Royals are a potent offensive team. Father Lopez has had a strong season this year and played competitive teams from bigger classifications with success. QB TJ Lockley and RB Wayne Matthews have been potent for the Green Wave this season. THE PICK: Like many other games, these teams are evenly matched but Orlando First Academy should get a W here. First Academy 28, Father Lopez 20 Taylor County (6-5) vs St. Joseph Academy (9-0) This is the very definition of throw the records out. On paper the Flashes of St. Joseph appear to be a dominant team, the reality is they haven’t played a team of Taylor County’s caliber often preferring to play 2A or teams who do not participate in the FHSAA playoff system. The Flashes do deserve respect since they still needed to win the games on their schedule. Taylor County might be 6-5, but they’ve played a competitive schedule with Ft. White, CAI, Wakulla, Dixie County, Suwannee and Baldwin. Da’corian Bellamy is in the running for 3A player of the year and the Bulldogs are peaking at the right time. THE PICK: Chalk one up for a good public school program: Taylor County 42, St. Joseph Academy 14 Melbourne Holy Trinity (6-4) vs King’s Academy (9-1) King’s Academy finished the season 9-1 and was rewarded with a bye week. Holy Trinity it the road and pulled off an upset win over a good Cardinal Newman football team. Holy Trinity might not have a huge football roster, but they are talented. Larry Hill the do-everything running back and QB Dru Nickson lead a potent offense on the road for the second week. King’s Academy is still elated for knocking off rival Benjamin school 2 weeks ago. King’s is a balanced offensive team with QB Justin Wake leading the way with 1600 yards passing and 500 rushing. THE PICK: Melbourne Holy Trinity has done a lot with a little, but King’s simply has more this week. King’s Academy 32, Holy Trinity 14

Ironically, the very subject of this thread was addressed in a news article today by the Tampa Bay Times. Good read! http://www.tampabay.com/sports/high-schools/2018/11/13/why-do-state-football-titles-elude-pinellas-county/

My issue with CCC is that they're finally healthy. This is a blessing and a curse. CCC played the bulk of the season without 6 starters according to the Tampa Bay Times some of them are big time players. Jerzhan Newton, Brandon Kennedy, Isiah Edwards, Kayson Romallee, Giancarlo Margarejo are the 5 I know off but the paper reported 6. CCC went 10-0 with some very young players playing key roles. How do you take their spot away for guys who haven't played all year? Jerzhan Newton is a dramatic game changer. I was also under the impression he was out for the season. CCC folks insisted he was coming back but it seemed like there was a new excuse every game he didn't play. Now the paper is reporting he's healthy but nobody from CCC is saying he'll play and rumor is he's still in a walking boot. I don't know what to believe. My husband said it best. Going into the playoffs you should know what your team is capable of CCC doesn't know what this combination of players are capable of since they haven't played together yet this year.

I always felt that if a Pinellas 2A team could put together a run they could win. AFA's biggest challenge will be Seffner Christian and University Christian in the finals.

Clearwater had a great season in 2015 and 2016 and showed promise in 2017 and even in 2018. In relationship to the rest of that county public schools, that's about as good as it gets. I'm not sure what happened in 2018 that the team underachieved. By all merits the QB is really good and there was a solid offensive and defensive line, right? Clearwater was able to keep their kids from transferring which is an automatic win in the world we live in today for a public school. Just sad to see an otherwise good team like Clearwater out in the first round. Hopefully it turns around!

Taylor County is a public school still alive in 3A. Florida High (FSU School) is a Lab school which means it's public, but you have to go through an application process.