Hwy17

Limit seating to 1/4th capacity to permit social distancing. Keep the band and cheerleaders out of the bleachers and on the track.

Butter too.

Which is why I think schools should all play independent conferences this year and have a bowl game. Start the season near the end of September and go 11 weeks to first of December. See my post below for an ideal of what it could look like.

Hillsborough and Pinellas, sure. Pasco, Hernando, Citrus, no. Too far north.

Define West Central Florida. I don't think of the area North of Tampa as West Central Florida.

Sounds to me like the FHSAA is expecting a significant number of schools are planning on playing independent.

If I'm not mistaken, Braden River made the playoffs in just their 2nd year of varsity play. The district was Hardee, Desoto, Braden River and Bayshore. I recall coach Price, Hardee's coach at the time, staying Braden River is destined to be an instant powerhouse.

The best time on that board was 98-2005 when you had posters like Blue2, Chap, Oracle, playmaker52, Noleguy (aka 20), TarponChuck, LoneWolf, and a lot more.

It looks like Braden River. Desoto and Braden River played twice that year, district game and 2nd round of the playoffs.

I like hearing about coaches like this. It's not always about winning championships.

Charles Persson, Jupiter HS

It's what we get for allowing outsourcing of our manufacturing base coupled with an educational system that for some reason frowns on vocational and technical trades.

Just from my point of view, the one person I know who has Covid19 is a health care worker. The nursing home she works in had an outbreak, and while they did a good job of keeping it contained for a couple of months, a patient who had been testing negative suddenly came up positive and now many more have it as a result. From all likelihood another worker there most likely didn't follow proper safety precautions. Hardee county didn't have it's first confirmed case until about a month or so after the outbreak. The first confirmed case was a non-resident who returned from traveling abroad. The 2nd confirmed case appears to be a member of the same household. Then Hardee county suddenly got a large spike in numbers. While unconfirmed, I have heard that many are from migrant labor camps where people are housed in close quarters. All that said, I know of no one who has contracted Covid19 from simply living their normal day to day life. I myself only wear a mask when and where I absolutely have to. I may live in Hardee county but I work over in Manatee and Sarasota, both of which have higher numbers than Hardee. I haven't gotten sick, and neither have any of my family. I do know this, policy making boards (FYI I serve on the city council in Wauchula), are often presented a "set of facts" that don't necessarily give the whole story. God forbid you question the so called experts. Their first objective is to bury any information to the contrary of what they want and discredit any information that may raise objection. And decisions made by policy boards "for the greater good", are usually done from the standpoint of CYA from a lawsuit.

Yep and a lot of really good teams played independent too.

I'm in agree with BadBird's point of view. Either close everything or open back up. It appears that we will have a college football season. It will be modified, but still a season. I don't see why we can't do the same. I'm only 46 and can remember when high school football season didn't start until late September and ran until Thanksgiving. The playoffs were 3 weeks. In fact many coaches opposed having a 5 week playoff when it was first proposed. Bowl games were highly regarded up until the 90s.

From the looks of it, there won't be a playoff this year. Beats nothing.

So we know Escambia was one of the two schools!

Even if you don't win your conference, you have the opportunity to play a bowl game if you win 6. I could see each conference putting 3 teams in a bowl. Also, we don't have to have conference champ play conference champ. Create a committee to assign bowl games. Similar to college football.

This is in reference to Coach Lee of Auburndale and Vinnie Portell, sports editor of the Venice Gondolier tweet on twitter today It was mentioned today about forming independent conferences of teams in the Polk/Heartland and also the suncoast area. Here's what I think: Total number of public high schools in each county: Polk - 16 Lee - 15 Manatee - 7 Collier - 7 Sarasota - 5 Highlands - 3 Charlotte - 3 Hendry - 2 Hardee, DeSoto, Glades (Moorehaven), & Okeechobee - 1 Total - 62 public schools I'll call this the West Florida Alliance. Break them down into 6 conferences as follows (names given have some historical significance) Orange Blossom Conference - 10 teams: Lemon Bay, Clewiston, Moorehaven, Lake Placid, Avon Park, Frostproof, Fort Meade, Tenoroc, Mulberry, Discovery Academy. Heartland Conference - 10 teams: Lebelle, DeSoto, Hardee, Sebring, Okeechobee, Lake Wales, Lake Region, Booker, Bayshore, Southeast Peace River Conference - 10 teams: Charlotte, Port Charlotte, North Port, Palmetto, Lakewood Ranch, Braden River, Parrish Community, Auburndale, Winter Haven, Lake Gibson Ridge Conference - 10 teams: Manatee, Venice, Sarasota, Riverview, Lakeland, Kathleen, Jenkins, Bartow, Haines City, Ridge Community - Playing round robin, this gives 10 games. For a 10th game, play one opponent from one of the other conferences Southwest Conference - 11 teams: Immokalee, Naples, Fort Myers, North Fort Myers, Dunbar, South Fort Myers, Riverdale, East Lee, Lehigh, Cypress Lake, Gateway Coral Coast - 11 teams: Cape Coral, Mariner, Island Coast, Ida Baker, Estero, Bonita Springs, Barron Collier, Golden Gate, Lely, Palmetto Ridge, Gulf Coast - Playing round robin, this gives 10 games! I believe these conferences would be competitive from top to bottom and have teams that are similar in size as well as past performance. At season's end, organize bowl games for teams that won 6 or more games. These conferences are regional but within easy travel distance and also preserves many long standing rivalries. Also, for fun, I think this would make for a good conference for area private schools: West Coast League - 10 teams: Naples First Baptist, Bishop Verot, Cardinal Mooney, Berkley Prep, Tampa Catholic, Jesuit, Lakeland Christian, Clearwater Central Catholic, Cleawater International, American Collegiate. Also, start the season 3 week of September to run through the second week of December with the bowl games. I know this is a lot to swallow, and involves a lot of moving parts. Feedback please!!!

Sounds to me like the notion of some counties doing their own thing means whatever FHSAA decides is basically mute so might as well let those who want to proceed as normal go ahead.

Was it Emmitt Smith?

First of all we must keep in mind that the FHSAA goes back to 1920 and was created by the schools, not the state legislature. The state legislature recognition of the FHSAA came much later. Secondly, the above mentioned notion of public schools forming independent conferences is no different than how private schools, who are also FHSAA members, formed and independent league(s) and conduct their own post season. How can the FHSAA afford such an accommodation to one group of its members and then deny such to another? Lastly, when, where, or how, did public schools give up their authority by joining FHSAA? Florida statute 163.02 allows for local governments, school boards included, to form inter-local agreements with other local governments or agencies to meet a specific need. I would argue that local school boards still have this authority. But again, I am not legal scholar.

The way I read the statute, the state legislature recognizes the FHSAA as the governing authority on school activities but there is no requirement for a public school to join. What I suggest is do like the SSAC does, a league that is also within the FHSAA.

Exactly! Given the such short notice I think the schools need to be thinking along these lines as a backup plan.

I could see where some of the metro counties may decide to cancel fall sports, while the private schools in those counties along with the remaining counties will want to proceed with fall sports. In turn this forces the FHSAA to cancel the state playoffs. So what's left for the rest of us to do? In my opinion, scrap your current schedule and follow the example set by the small private schools and form a conference.