SPCjessica2004

This is an interesting match-up as I assume this was all last second, so the teams haven't scouted each other.

Sounds great! Looking forward to the preview!

Great football game, got to watch it live via stream online.  Props to both teams. Oxbridge made a few more big plays than Carol City, but Carol City really shot themselves in the foot by talking to much after plays. Oxbridge is very much legit though- good one this week, but that game at West Orange is looking amazing!

Great football game, got to watch it live via stream online.  Props to both teams. Oxbridge made a few more big plays than Carol City, but Carol City really shot themselves in the foot by talking to much after plays. Oxbridge is very much legit though- good one this week, but that game at West Orange is looking amazing!

Very good pick up for FPC

NMB usually does not win more than 4-5 games a year of late- in fact they only won 2 last year.  But the deceiving thing about their record is they usually play a pretty solid schedule.  They went 5-7 in 2014 with a hard schedule but lost to Columbus in the 8A playoffs soundly.   2010 they were pretty good ( I believe 8-4ish)  and got blasted in the second round to Cypress Bay.   The Chargers from 2000 - 2010 had a very nice stretch.  I believe they made the playoffs most of those years with 2007 being their strongest when they went 12-1 and were a game away from states but fell to Deerfield Beach in a very close game.  In short, kind of erratic the last few years but they can get sneaky good really quick.  Definitely a team Chaminade-Madonna will take serious and you can bet CM Head Coach Dameon Jones is well aware of that.

hey jessica we never officaly met on here but seen quite a few of your post and i must say i'm impressed with your knowledge of the game and HS at that and your intelect is spot on look forward to chatting with you more.
 
as far as NMB for the past few years they always have been a slight below AVG team who beat who they were suppose to most of the times but couldnt really compete with the big boys. but after getting some transfers in added with a already solid roster they have the potential to shock a lot of people in miami.

TCA has all the key players in the right places. Time is all they need. 2 more games and they will be unstoppable. I did notice that a few of the O-line needed a little more conditioning but are very solid and the conditioning will come with game time. Legend was throwing some lasers when given enough time and is a better QB than most teams have. #88 is just a plain ole freak. He has that football magic coaches love.
 
TCA will be okay.
 
For some reason I always think CCC is north? SOoo, It looks like Oxbridge will have to earn it after all...

Columbia,
 
I can't speak for the other classes; however, I honestly see 3 teams capable of hanging with JaxTCA in 3A this year.  In no order, Oxbridge, Chaminade and CCC.  All 3 teams play in the South. I've already mentioned the gauntlet that Chaminade faces starting week 10. Oxbridge and Chaminade will most likely play in round 2 with the winner traveling to Clearwater in round 3.
 
All 3 teams feature top players not only in Florida but America, all 3 teams feature really strong coaching and all 3 teams have deep, Division-1 talent filled rosters. I think between the 3 teams there's over 60 players with at least 1 Division 1 offer. That's why when I read about "whose the best team in the South of 3A" it's the wrong question to ask, because when that question is asked, it's implied that all teams are 100% healthy, the game is being played on a neutral field and everything is peachy.
 
The truth is, you have to take into account wear and tear, injury, off field issues, where the game is played and time of year the game is played. From a talent perspective, Chaminade is the most talented, but they have, by far, the toughest road to Orlando as they scheduled IMG for week 11 before playing American Heritage/Oxbridge.  
 
Oxbridge has a extremely talented offensive and defensive line, but their offense is a work in progress and we have to see how they handle losing their top CB starting week 4. Oxbridge has the toughest schedule over the entire season, as they play some slobber knockers. Their road to the finals is tough, but might of gotten a touch easier if American Heritage Delray is down this year. All indications are that they are.
 
CCC is a mix of both Oxbridge and Chaminade. but with more playoff experience than either Oxbridge or Chaminade. They also have the luxury of playing Oxbridge or Chaminade at home in the state-semi's as this year since Region 3 hosts. Their schedule is, by far, the most lax of the 3- but it still features Tampa Catholic and Ocala Trinity. They also returned over 90% of their roster from their 12-1 season last year, including superstar CJ Cotman, all 4 Newton brothers, Rashaad Stewart and have an amazingly talented linebacker duo in Deandre Fitz-Henley and Tyler McDonald.  Amari Burney, their star Jr, was just ranked the #1 athlete in Florida for 2018 by Scout. As talented and experienced as the Marauders are, time is not on their side. CCC has a history of major injuries at key times. Heck, their week 1 game against Berkeley Prep saw 3/4th's of the defensive line and their starting and backup safety out and that was BEFORE the game started in week 1! 
 
So, to answer your question- I think Chaminade has the tools to beat JaxTCA but not the experience. Oxbridge has the manpower to beat JaxTCA, but needs fix some parts on offense. CCC has the team to beat JaxTCA, but needs a lot of luck in the health department and probably a few doctors. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

I freely admit, I don't know much about North Miami Beach- but, I do know a bit about Chaminade and they're stacked. What's the 411 on NMB?

So, the AP Poll was released. Here it is:
 
CLASS 3A
1. Jacksonville Trinity Christian (10), 0-1, 142, 1
2. Clearwater Central Catholic (4), 1-0, 134, 3
3. Tampa Catholic, 0-0, 90, 4
4. Oxbridge Academy (1), 1-0, 76, NR
5. Chaminade-Madonna, 0-0, 60, 5
Others receiving votes: Lakeland Christian 52, Delray American Heritage 46
---------
I have no problem with JaxTCA remaining at #1. As I mentioned yesterday and earlier today- I spoke with some AP Pollsters, a few said they would drop JaxTCA, most said they'd give them the benefit of the doubt. CCC comes in at #2, which is the lowest they should be ranked right now (If you put JaxTCA at 1).  I disagree with Tampa Catholic being at #3, I think Oxbridge should be at #3 and Tampa Catholic should be at #4. Oxbridge has a quality win over a good Flanagan team whereas Tampa Catholic didn't play.  Chaminade rounds out the top 5 at #5- which is because they haven't played an official game yet either. 

In the ORV section: LCS comes and American Heritage Delray.  I'm okay with AHD receiving votes, I don't think anybody should go from #2 to out of the poll completely; however, that was a bad loss to Naples. Lakeland Christian is a solid program and has a good team; however, I do feel that Berkeley Prep will edge them for a playoff spot. Berkeley Prep is a very solid team this year with an offensive line that averages 270+ at 6'2 and a very strong QB in Tampa Bay Bucs head coaches son, Davis Koetter. 

When you look at the vote count itself, JaxTCA and CCC are neck and neck at 1 and 2 as only 8 total votes separate them, but then there's a healthy drop from 134 for CCC at 2 to 90 for Tampa Catholic at 3. When we turn our attention to 1st place votes we have JaxTCA with a strong showing at 10 votes, CCC with 4 and Oxbridge rounding out the top at 1.  

Overall, comparing my top 5 with the AP Poll's top 5 has the same teams, just in a slightly different order.  The reality is- this is good message board talk, but some of the teams on the list have yet to play a regular season game (Chaminade and Tampa Catholic).  

Jessica, great insight.
TCA still the team to beat, but facing skilled and talented potential spoilers up north.  Will watch for whoever's on a hot roll and healthy at playoff time.
Down south I feel a need to see if CM has team chemistry to match the talent, plus the new coach, ...  and agree the jury's out on Oxbridge offense overall, plus questionable depth.   Not familiar with CCC.   3A may be a real dogfight this year, 'specially early playoff games.
Off 3A topic,  8A Palm beach lakes could be the newbies to catch down south, lotta athletes and high morale. 

After careful consideration including discussion with one of my panel members, I made the call to suspend the next release of the rankings until after Week 4.
 
Here is why:
 
SOS is pretty much in the trash can for a ton of teams. The sample size effectively too small. What also hurts and now why it bothers me even more with national rankings is that states like Louisana and New Jersey kickoff the season this week. Until those teams start playing games it is hurting teams here who we know have great schedules. 
 
An example of one team's SOS going to the trash can quickly - St. Thomas Aquinas. Yes, I know they lost, but Boyd Anderson on a bye week this week and then Fort Lauderdale not getting their game in hurt badly. It's not representative for Aquinas schedule and their opponents and mostly the schedule. Aquinas Tanked from Top 10 to 325 ...when I saw that, the red flags went off. I knew this is not right and realized then the sample size is just too small. 
 
I feel like that running the rankings like that would just damage everything I worked to build up in the preseason which proved to be a strong showing and more accepted than what the AP Poll did. 
 
So this explains it.
 
LINK: http://floridahsfootball.com/2016/08/30/floridahsfootball-com-suspends-next-release-team-hybrid-rankings-week-4/
 

I understand that but not always will the team that supposed to win will win, if TCA has a off night and a team like say Ocala trinity has the night of their lives they have a shot, I wouldn't bet money on it but not impossible

I was on the wagon Oxbridge last year until three of the wheels fell of. I feel like they could push their way through the south bracket right to the Championship game with Trinity Jax this year. AH DelRay seems to have lost something in the last 2 seasons. It will never be a cake walk in 3A south but they have the ponies. Same for Trinity, they will have some good competition in the north from teams like CCC.
 
Cocoa vs The Bishop. Judson had a good game against a highly ranked defense. He put up 175 or so in the air and then another 85 on the ground. Bishop Gorman's being quoted as having the #1 defense in the nation. We will just have to wait and see what Cocoa can do with their ground game before Wilks will ask Judson to start throwing. There is potential for some passing with a few added transfers that can catch the ball as seen last week against Trinity.
 
I'm not fool enough to believe Cocoa will take a lead and hold and push Bishop around like they did Trinity when they will be flying 2300 miles to play one of the best teams in America in the desert. I'm just hoping for another good game where the boys can come home and still feel respected. Who would have thought they were going to beat the highly publicized Trinity team last week? 
 
Cocoa's job is to play the best game they can and maybe they make it a great game. Hey, to be the best, you have to play the best.
 
I know at least one South Florida team that will be cheering for Cocoa...  

I'm not that impressed with AHD and seem to be overrated team but with that schedule we will soon see if they are contenders or pretenders

Solid post again Jessica. I was wondering where you were.

Broward,

I think what I wrote and what it came off as were 2 different things. I'm actually giving Oxbridge kudos. I felt you made a great point last week regarding the Oxbridge/Flanagan game when you mentioned that Oxbridge was being setup to fail because if they won then that means Flanagan is down and if Flanagan won that means the turmoil around Oxbridge was really having a negative effect on the team. My point was that regardless of the situation regarding at Flanagan, it was still a big win for Oxbridge. Others have mentioned that Flanagan may turnout to be a .500 team; however, I don't rank teams based on hype and I don't penalize team for losses that haven't occurred (If that were the case, we would crown all state champions based on hype alone). 

I'm the first one to admit, I did NOT rank Oxbridge preseason; however, I felt the strength of that win, coupled with American Heritage losing gets them in the top 5. Since Chaminade and Tampa Catholic didn't play, I didn't feel it was right to promote them based on not playing a game, but I didn't think it was fair to punish them either- hence, I moved Oxbridge to 3 as I felt they needed a big jump.


Catscratch,

Nobody's being hard on JaxTCA- least of all me. You don't win 3x state championships in a row, lose a close game to a really good Cocoa  team and then get thrown to the side of the road. JaxTCA is most likely still the class of 3A. Like I mentioned above, I really debated with my husband and brother about dropping them. Looking at JaxTCA's schedule there will be plenty of time to jump back to #1; however, I'm pretty solid with my rankings going into week 2. 

In essence, I don't have a vote and my poll is purely personal opinion; however, I'm curious how the state votes this week. I've spoken to some pollsters who refuse to drop JaxTCA, others are dropping them to #2.  





 

Broward,

I think what I wrote and what it came off as were 2 different things. I'm actually giving Oxbridge kudos. I felt you made a great point last week regarding the Oxbridge/Flanagan game when you mentioned that Oxbridge was being setup to fail because if they won then that means Flanagan is down and if Flanagan won that means the turmoil around Oxbridge was really having a negative effect on the team. My point was that regardless of the situation regarding at Flanagan, it was still a big win for Oxbridge. Others have mentioned that Flanagan may turnout to be a .500 team; however, I don't rank teams based on hype and I don't penalize team for losses that haven't occurred (If that were the case, we would crown all state champions based on hype alone). 

I'm the first one to admit, I did NOT rank Oxbridge preseason; however, I felt the strength of that win, coupled with American Heritage losing gets them in the top 5. Since Chaminade and Tampa Catholic didn't play, I didn't feel it was right to promote them based on not playing a game, but I didn't think it was fair to punish them either- hence, I moved Oxbridge to 3 as I felt they needed a big jump.


Catscratch,

Nobody's being hard on JaxTCA- least of all me. You don't win 3x state championships in a row, lose a close game to a really good Cocoa  team and then get thrown to the side of the road. JaxTCA is most likely still the class of 3A. Like I mentioned above, I really debated with my husband and brother about dropping them. Looking at JaxTCA's schedule there will be plenty of time to jump back to #1; however, I'm pretty solid with my rankings going into week 2. 

In essence, I don't have a vote and my poll is purely personal opinion; however, I'm curious how the state votes this week. I've spoken to some pollsters who refuse to drop JaxTCA, others are dropping them to #2.  





 

Good points all around. I agree that this isn't JaxTCA's best team in recent memory- but they'll get better as the year progresses. James brings up a great point- who, in 3A north can go to JaxTCA and win on Black Friday?  Maybe Tampa Catholic- but, the Crusaders defense isn't exactly lights out; however, they do have the firepower to make it interesting if JaxTCA plays sloppy. Ocala Trinity could be in the conversation as well.  After that, I'm not sold on anybody. I also agree with James- JaxTCA will go unchallenged in round 1 and 2 of the playoffs.



 

I didn't say that TCA played their JV against Lee but against NM they did in the 2nd half. It would take Tampa Catholic or Trinity Catholic to go their and beat them in the semis because the first 2 rounds of the playoffs for Trinity Christian is basically a joke

Great post as always Jessica. 
Just want to say Flanagan is going through some turmoil and will be lucky to break .500 this season, and Cocoa's defense is much improved with the transfers that came in. 4 hard running backs sharing the position this season is going to make it hard to stop Cocoa's clock eating game of pound and grind it out. Don't be to hard on TCA just yet.

I was at the Oxbridge/Flanagan game. Oxbridge did indeed win that game fair and square.  The game was lightning shortened with about a minute to go and Oxbridge had the ball on the Flanagan 1 yard line (the game was over).  In fact Flanagan, their coaches lined up and even the PA announcer verbally congratulated Oxbridge on a good game and wished them luck the rest of the season.  
No one has to believe it but Flanagan did lose 30+ Seniors last year- that is a fact.
 
Feel free to count them:   http://www.hudl.com/team/v2/6834/flanagan-high-school-boys-varsity-football/team  
 
Select 2015-2016 from the drop down menu.
 
 
 
The other media poll that Oxbridge Academy is not really ranked in is the Palm Beach Post who has Oxbridge Academy at #8 in Palm Beach County. 

CCC not gonna get it done...it's gonna be Trinity all year. Only hope is a south fla team...bottom line!

Week 1 is officially in the books. Here's my top 5 going into week 2- I'm also including some of my notes/thoughts.

1) Clearwater Central Catholic- Marauders knocked off a good Tampa Berkeley Prep team on Thursday which was televised as the game of the week on Brighthouse. There had been quite a bit of hype in this one as Berkeley Prep is CCC's 2nd biggest rival and features some major D-1 studs such as Nicholas Petite-Frere, Sandro Maxwell, Zach Mathis and Tampa Bay Bucs head coach's son, QB Davis Koetter. CCC was without the assistance of 4 defensive starters (Jerquan Newton, Jerjuan Newton, Nick Joseph and Dane Salterelli)- 3 of the 4 players listed start on the defensive line.

CCC's offense fired on all cylinders as Amari Burney and CJ Cotman dominated the game while South Dakota State commit QB Jakob Parks throw for just under 250 yards and 3 TD's. CCC scores 2 TD's on their first 3 plays. The Marauders defense in the 2nd quarter was despondent at best as Berkeley Prep drove the ball up and down the field; however, the offense never faulted and the defense came to life in the 2nd half. I'm willing to give CCC the benefit of the doubt that the 2nd quarter defensive issues were due to defensive starters listed above being out, after all Jerquan Newton is the heart and vocal leader of the defense.  The Marauders host Indian Rocks Christian this week who knocked off SSFC champion Lakeland Santa Fe Catholic 47-6 last week.

2) Jacksonville Trinity Christian- The 3 time defending state champions in class 3A lost a tough one to highly ranked Cocoa in OT down in Cocoa. The immediate reaction to this game was less than favorable for JaxTCA; however, I think that's more due to the expectations of the program than the game itself. The defense did look questionable and the offense probably needs quite a bit more time to gel. People are quick to forget that JaxTCA is essentially rebuilding their entire offense from last year. JaxTCA may be down for a day, but they will be back.

Overall, I debated keeping JaxTCA at #1, but felt that dropping them 1 spot is fair. TCA heads to Jacksonville Ribault this week who last week lost 9-6 to Miami Norland.

3) Oxbridge Academy-  I did not have Oxbridge Academy ranked in my preseason poll based on the turmoil of the program; however, after beating Flanagan 7-6 I felt the resume is strong enough to get them into the top 3 right now. I can't put Oxbridge any higher right now because I just don't believe that they are better than the two teams ranked above them; however, a win over Miami Carol City this week will get me thinking long and hard to re-evaluate things. The talk after the win was that the game was lightening shortened and that Flanagan graduated 30+ seniors. I don't buy ANY of that- Oxbridge won fair and square with the game that was played. Oxbridge plays Miami Carol City this week- which is one of the most interesting games of the week in 3A.

4) Tampa Catholic- The Crusaders didn't have a game last Friday. As a general rule, I try not to drop or promote teams during their bye week. In the Kickoff Classic game, the Crusaders were down 14-13 to Tampa Gaither. I say down and not lost as the game was called just before halftime due to bad weather. This week the Crusaders host AFA before their much anticipated matchup in New Jersey against Bergen Catholic. Most media sites have Tampa Catholic ranked the #2 small school in the Tampa Bay area. The Crusaders are also listed at #12 in the Maxpreps Small School national rankings.

5) Chaminade-Madonna- The Lions didn't have a game last Friday. The Lions are sitting in a great position going into their season as they host North Miami Beach. CMHS is in an interesting position- they played hard against Deerfield Beach in the KoC; but then Deerfield Beach is upset by Hallendale. My opinion? The upcoming game against Cardinal Gibbons is going to be a great on and will tell us where the Lions are as a program.

Biggest Shock of the Week:

No question. American Heritage Delray losing to Naples 50-17. Naples is a historically tough program under longtime head coach Bill Kramer, but this wasn't expected to be one of their better years as they were hit hard due to graduation; because of that, I don't think anybody saw Naples hanging 50 on the Stallions. It doesn't get any easier for the Stallions as they travel to Washington, DC to play St. John's- they follow that up with a game against explosive Glades Central. I'm not going to say the Stallions are in trouble for the playoffs, but until late in the season I'm not seeing any easy games.

Best game of Week 2:

I spoiled this already, but in 3A- for me, it's Oxbridge vs Miami Carol City. Oxbridge is highly ranked in the state via almost every media site (except the AP Poll, which I expect to change this week). Carol City has been fighting tough, but come up short to some powerhouse programs IMG Academy and Coral Gables. A win this week and Oxbridge is going to be on the tips of a lot of peoples tounge. A loss wouldn't be devestating for the Thunderwolves as they will get another crack at a state power when they travel to Orlando West Orange in a few weeks.