Hwy17

Clewiston is Hendry county, along with LeBelle Well we play Fort Meade ever year and have since the 1920s. Its a big rivalry and usually the first game of the year. Hardee has won the last two, before that Fort Meade won 7 out of 8, and before that Hardee won 6 straight including beating them in 2004 when they were 1A state champs and also they were making it to state nearly every year back then. Another program has a strong track record with is Frostproof. Don't play them every year though.

Glades county is not Belle Glade. Glades county is Moore Haven. They do well for a small school and one of only two publics in class 2A.

2009 Plant vs Manatee

Wow, where do I begin? The last thing I want to do is discuss small town politics that the rest of you would find very strange which currently face Hardee county. Yes Hardee has a larger hispanic population and high poverty level. But there is also much wealth in the hands of a very few people. Also the Hispanic population here is mostly Mexican and Central American as opposed to Cuban or Puerto Rican as in areas like Miami or Orlando. Many of these families are migrant farm labor who come here in the late summer or early fall then leave in the spring. Its one reason HHS usually has the highest drop out rate in the state. Subtract the migrants and we are a class smaller than the class we play football in. But back to football: This discussion became an attack on my alma mater because I dare criticize how AHP became an overnight powerhouse when before they were just another "good" program. In my opinion they are an equivalent to an 8A program in 5A. By the way BrowardHandicapper, Hardee has wins over Immokalee and Dunbar before and no where did I ever insinuate that AHP or any other SF program was holding us back. I just don't think it is right that a program get a lot of players transferring in without having to move up a class. Defeats the purpose of classification. Also, and I have a lot of respect for Madison and Pahokee who we have never played before, but check Hardee's track record against other schools of that size and you will see we do just fine.

Oh how nice of you

I don't doubt that smaller schools can a do beat larger schools. Hell, Hardee even plays and wins over larger schools. That doesn't mean we should have to do it every week. And yes we have even beat teams that have won a state title in years we got knocked out of the playoffs. Example: 2004 over Fort Meade. Yes I get out and see Lakeland and Braden River on occasion. Hardee vs Dunbar game last year. Half time score was 17-7 Hardee leading. Midway through the 3rd I said to my son next to me, Dunbar is going to win. They are bringing an outside blitz and our coaches are not picking up on it. If you are referred to 4a Cocoa being able to put a pounding on Baker county, you are probably right. But then again Cocoa is like AHP, a stacked team hanging out in a smaller class. Hardee would do fine against Madison or Pahokee.

Nice pivot after blatantly attacking the school I support because of my opposing point of view. #1: The conversation from last year had to do with the rise of south Fl teams; i.e. AHP, STA and a couple of others as if its always been. #2. Winter Haven is a 7a school, so shouldn't they have more talent than Hardee? #3. Why is Hardee struggling winning in the playoffs? I think it has to do with coaching more than anything. Last two years they were ahead at half-time only to blow a lead. #4. Baker county deserved to play for a championship because they defeated the others in their half of the state. #5. What I have a problem with is a stacked team, the equivalent of an 8A school winning the 5a title every year. 5A is a mid-sized school class.

Actually you did in a similar discussion as this one about a year ago. You said to me "Haven't Dade-Broward always been dominant going back?" To which I replied, "I remember when small towns like Frostproof, Live Oak, Bartow, and Lake Butler were the top programs". And why do you feel the need to start attacking the school I support? I have never blamed anyone for holding them back. In fact they over-achieve if you ask me. Is it because I am critical of the open transfer policies that are now in place which allow certain programs in metro areas to hoard all the talent and while remaing in a smaller classification? Answer me this: If its not uncommon for Miami area schools to have a lot of FBS prospects on as you mentioned earlier, why are there any bad teams in Dade county? I believe it was last year a mediocre Winter Haven team played and beat a team team from Dade, down there. And we all know Winter Haven, although good, isn't loaded with top prospects.

What strong established sports tradition? OldschoolLion and myself already pointed out that pre-2013 AHP was just another "good" program. 5a, again this class was 3a, was made up of mostly mid-sized public schools and was a highly competitive class with no single dominant program. In fact, study your record books as OldschoolLion does. This notion that Dade & Broward have always produced the top teams is a myth.

I seem to recall the STA fans whinning a lot those years they'd get to state and lose to Lakeland.

Please explain to me how you account for all that on one team over night? How come AHP couldn't get past the second round in the prior years? How come, prior to 2013 this class had different public schools playing in the state championship and close match-ups.

Did Vero put up wins against those programs the year those programs won a state championship or something like that?

Its because they were just another "good" team playing other "good" teams.

Not only that OldSchoolLion; Mr. Steve Berry was the moderator over on the rivals board. He did an article on AHP right before the Hardee -AHP 3-rd round playoff game. In that article he stated that AHP had more than 20 players that either had received or being recruited with FBS offers and also a roster of more than 80 players. At the time, the top public schools in 5A were Hardee, South Sumter, Lake Wales, and Clay. We all had rosters between 40-50 players and between 3-6 players on our teams being recruited to play FBS college football. So how does that much talent end up concentrated onto one team? And in such a short time period?

5A, and going back to the old 3A, was a great class for mid-sized public schools. Look at the state championship match-ups prior to 2013. So what happened that made AHP he super-power in this class?

I remember things differently - As memory serves me, there was outrage against Lakeland when they were getting all the Polk county transfers and winning championships over STA . Bust up Lakeland, they cheat. I heard that a lot back then.

Doesn't Texas also separate public and private schools?

Maybe the small town & rural public schools should do what the small private schools did and form their own league. Its obvious to me that the FHSAA is not concerned with the issues we face.

That's a little too complex for me, but good to know that we aren't the only state with this issue. Here's how I would do it: Classes 1A-4A, max # of transfers in one year limit to 3 transfers or move up in class accordingly. 5A-6A, max # of transfers in one year limit to 4 transfers or move up; 7A-8A, max # of transfers limit to 5 transfers. No more than 5 transfers for any school.

Absolutely agree!

I disagree. Just because a really good small school can whip a really bad large school doesn't mean that small school belongs in the same class. Secondly, and I feel really strong about this, the transfer rules we have in place now compromises the purpose of why we have classes in the first place. IMO, there should be a cap on the number of transfers a school can take, or play up a class, and also have a maximum number of transfers regardless of class.

In the late 70's and early 80's, Hardee would play as an independent because FHSAA would class us as 3A with schools nearly double our enrollment. DeSoto, Sebring, Avon Park, Okeechobee, Palmetto and our other rivals were all 2A. Some years those schools would go independent as well and in 1983 Hardee decided to play in a district. One issue is that Hardee, always has one of the highest drop out rates in the state. This is due to being a farming county and a high migrant labor population that would up and leave in the spring. FHSAA makes us count them for population, then they leave. Subtract that number, we drop a class.

Hardee (Wauchula high) claims one from 1933

Why not go to open class for all based on enrollment size? No districts, just class and region and determine playoff teams by points.