DarterBlue2

Careful now, he's an attorney. I can see the defamation lawsuit coming!

My own point of view is that Deerfield has squandered a lot of opportunities over the years. How can you knock off Miami Northwestern in the semis and then get blown out by Palm Beach Gardens? This is not to say that PBG was not a very good team, but at the very least DB should have given them competition in 2005.

That's not enough data to draw a conclusion as to whether Columbia County football is better. But it probably says that at the very least it can compete with Hillsborough County.

I agree. I can't think of one team standing in 8A or 7A with the possible exception of St. Thomas, that would have stood in the way of the 2010 DP team. For that matter with Central and Carol City eliminated, I would clearly favor that DP team against either Northwestern or Armwood in 6A.

I agree. I saw them literally destroy a decent Olympia team early in the season and remember being very glad that redistricting had separated them from Apopka's district. Down to their kicker was elite as he could hit fifty yard field goals!

That's because there is a prolific Columbia High School fan on the board who is passionate about his team.

I will maintain till the day i die that the 2010 DP team was the best it has had through 2018. Maybe someday there will be a better DP team, but that one was real hard to beat. When DP went up by 17, I thought they had the title in the bag. I actually lost a $50 bet that night.

Probably because he got little playing time till his senior year. Central had a lot of excess talent on its rosters back then. Amazing some of those kids stayed with the program.

Legalization of the good old weed may be the solution. Parents of kids can be offered some rural farm land for cultivation as an inducement to country living! Green Acres is tha place to be ... !

Very strong team. Only Rickards, Orange Park and Bolles, to a lesser extent, provided any competition.

04 and 05 were better for sure. The lack of a true QB in 06 makes me hesitant to declare 06 better than the current team.

Edgewater vs Lakeland was close for a half 21-14 with Edgewater showing some momentum at the end of the half and getting the ball to begin the third quarter. Then the second half started and Edgewater imploded. Second half mistakes and an inability to consistently and effectively run the ball against Lakeland were Edgewater's downfall. I get the impression that both the Edgewater vs Lee and versus Lakeland games misstated the extent to which each team were better than/worse than the other. So, believe it or not, Lee may have actually given Lakeland some difficulty. But we will never know. Despite the blowout, I am still glad I made the game, as the kid I know on the Edgewater team had a great game: he had a clutch reception for about 35 yards that set up their first score; a kickoff return for 47 yards that set up Edgewater's second score; and out jumped the Lakeland corner in the end zone to account for their final score. When I saw him against Bishop Moore earlier in the season, my feelings were that he had talent, but seemed somewhat reluctant to engage in contact. What I saw last night tells me he can go as far as he wants in the game of football.

Deerfield Beach has squandered more talent in the past 20 years than any other school I can think of in the State.

Any true fan of Apopka football is appreciative of what he has done with the program. Before RD, Apopka was a difficult Central Florida team to play. He upped the ante and made the program a state threat. Should Mr. Darlington depart, I wish him success in Alabama. He certainly gave me many memorable moments while he has coached the Blue Darters.

Except for the Riverview vs Mandarin game, I like your picks. I think the spread in the Riverview/Mandarin game will be reversed. I also agree that Lakeland is the favorite over Edgewater, mostly because of the home field advantage.

I saw Columbia both live and on film this year. The only Orlando area teams that I think matched them with talent were: Wekiva, Jones and Edgewater. Seminole, which under performed, may have matched them with talent, too. Aside from that, Bishop Moore would have given them a game based on heart. Columbia would have probably beaten all other area teams fairly comfortably on a neutral site. I have to agree that Columbia under performed this year based on the team it fielded. It should have played Edgewater in the Regional final, and in my opinion, would have had a slightly better than 50/50 chance in that game. My only concerns were that on offense you relied a bit too much on your QB, while on defense, the team had a tendency to give up big plays at times.

The truth hurts!

Adequate, but Lakeland will have its share of rushing yards

Wekiva may drop to 7A based on numbers. But they will probably petition to remain in 8A. Ocoee has 8A numbers as does Lake Nona. Evans is on the bubble between 8A and 7A,

I guess they took their directions from the Lee Generals!?

Venice gave up way too many points against a game Bloomingdale. Playing STA at their house with them bent on revenge, this game is going to get ugly quickly. St. Thomas by 25 or more.

Edgewater has a pretty balanced offense. Dual threat athlete at QB and several nice receivers. Solid offensive line that makes the running game tick. Defense is decent but will give up points to good teams. I don't know how much Lakeland has improved since the Apopka game and this may factor into next week. If they are still pretty similar to the team that beat the Darters, then I could see this game going either way. For the life of me, I am still trying to figure out how Edgewater lost to Hagerty.

I will be there next Friday. Having seen both Lakeland (at Apopka) and Edgewater (against Bishop Moore), I actually think this has the makings of a great game!

It's at Lakeland. Edgewater had to do the road the entire playoffs after being upset by Hagerty!

Lee was distracted, Edgewater was not. The much unheralded Edgewater (Bad Bird did like them), is the last Orlando area team standing, I think. While Edgewater may have won anyway, I don't believe they are 34 points better than Lee. Lee clearly felt they had won the lotto with the win over Columbia and were ripe for the loss. I passed Edgewater on business three times this week and each time the football team was at practice. They clearly too this game seriously. Bring on Lakeland. I think they can beat them!