DarterBlue2

They know the game. But have not played competitively. It takes some transition time. Anyway, I still find it strange that this had to do with two international players.

Maybe, but it usually takes a year or two for kids from Haiti or Jamaica to pick up the game, by which time they should have normalized their status and been good to play.

You got me. It is still not likely, but I guess not impossible.

Damn! But aside from losing their unbeaten record, it does not have much effect since these were non district games. Even if Central beats them, they should still get an at large birth given their schedule strength. So it looks like these were two international students. How does that even make sense? Not much American football is played outside this country on a competitive basis.

It could not happen here. Thank God for that! Our system is flawed but not that bad.

I was at the game with Columbia Fan and did not notice anything unusual or disrespectful when the team came out. Strange indeed, but has no effect since they have wrapped up the district unless this extends into the playoffs.

Good for you, man!

For most unconnected folk, the way to riches in the USA is to save your money very early in life and use the savings and borrowings if you can get any, to start a business for yourself. Of course, to do that successfully, you have to have a good business idea and the management skills to make it work. Working for others may provide a middle class lifestyle at best, but it ain't going to get you rich!

Yes, those are probably the rich kids whose parents pay full tuition. The whole model is flawed in my opinion, but what do I know? Being poor, I guess I just don't understand the rich!

As long as expectations at Apopka were high and the game was scheduled on a Friday and not a Thursday, 350 or more would make the trip from Apopka. Why do I state this? Based on experience. This year, at least 400 made the trip from Apopka to Bartram Trail for that game. Columbia would be regarded at least as highly as BT by the Apopka fan base. Plus, in 2012, 2013 and 2014 when Apopka traveled to Jacksonville to play Fletcher and First Coast in the playoffs, conservatively at least 750 Apopka fans (probably more) showed for each of those three games. The point is that Apopka travels well when it faces good competition provided expectations are high for the team.

At 2,600 students, that's clearly 8A.

That's interesting and may have the effect of strengthening Region 1, 8A, especially if BT's program remain's strong.

Exactly. This should not really be a contest this year.

The turnover of coaching staff will often do that to a program, particularly when there are other school options close by.

1. In terms of raw talent, athlete to athlete, I think Columbia is two to three touchdowns better than Fletcher. However, on any given night, as Fletcher demonstrated, they could pull the upset, as they are a well coached team. 2. Regarding making it to the Panhandle a strange thing happened. I got to Tallahassee at approximately noon. Between the first and second exit there, a Tire Maintenance warning came on (I had used a rental car, as I got a decent weekend deal, and did not want to put that many miles on my vehicle). So I got off at the second exit found a gas station and proceeded to check the air pressure level in the tires. It was fine. However, not wanting to run the risk I called the rental car company. It turns out the local number I had did not help as they had closed at noon. So I had to search the Internet for a national number. As I had not taken out the roadside assistance option, I was told to take it to the nearest Firestone or Goodyear service branch, as they were no Tallahassee offices of the rental car company open past twelve on Saturday (they have arrangements with both Firestone and Goodyear). Well the nearest one was fifteen minutes away. When I got there, I had to wait over an hour and a half due to the number of customers ahead of me. Well when they finally checked the car out, the verdict was that some idiot had set the tire rotation and balance schedule for every 250 miles which is totally ridiculous. The mechanic reset it to 2,500 miles and told me everything else seemed okay. As neither the owners manual or any other service record had been left in the vehicle, he could not vouch that anything else needed to be done, but said the diagnostics on the vehicle did not identify any pressing issues and I should be fine driving the rest of the weekend. 3. The above debacle took three and a half hours from start to finish. So when I got out of the Firestone it was 3:30 pm. After thinking about it carefully, I decided to return to Orlando as Tally is still over an hour away from the hurricane damage, and I reasoned that if I continued the trip and stayed in Bay County for any length of time I would have to spend the night in either Tally or Lake City on the way back, as I would be returning to Central Florida too late. I decided not to incur another hotel charge. I plan on letting the rental car company know that they partially destroyed my weekend with their incompetence and hopefully get a partial rebate. I can say this, though. The roads into Bay County have been opened and there was quite a lot of traffic going up that way. I still plan of doing my small part to help out. Need to identify a charity I can trust to make a donation to them.

If Apopka's defense can play as well as it did against West Orange, I think Wekiva scores no more than 14. If Wekiva scores 14 or less, Apopka has a solid chance of winning this game. If Wekiva scores 28 or more, I don't think this Apopka team will be able to score enough points to win, particularly with the depletion of the team's offense due mostly to injuries. Anyone attending needs to get there early as Wekiva's small stadium will be standing room only for any late comers!

I have several comments. First, Columbia High Fan was an exceptional host. He is passionate about his Alma Mater's football program and gave me some neat memorabilia to take home. Second, this Columbia team is very talented. It has at least three very good wide receivers, a solid tailback and a QB that is an exceptional runner with a strong arm. At times he overthrew his receivers, but I believe he is a junior, so that can be worked on. The defense is solid (sort of the bend but don't break variety), but I was more impressed with the talent on offense. Third, while Columbia is right in that his team did look sloppy, at least some of this was due to great coaching on the part of Fetcher. Their staff had obviously looked at CHS's film very carefully and identified weakness that they exploited. Several of the fumbles were actual strips of the football and I believe this may have to do with properly securing the football after the catch. Fourth, having seen Columbia and Lakeland live and St. Thomas on film, my thoughts are as follows. If we go on raw talent alone, Columbia will beat Lakeland. However, Bill Castle, Lakeland's legendary coach, will exploit any weakness that show up on film. So, Columbia needs to work on its weaknesses. A repeat of last night, would probably result in a Columbia loss to the Dreadnaughts. Columbia playing its best game would have a shot at beating this year's St. Thomas, which is very good, but not one of the great Aquinas teams I have seen in the past. Fifth, I really hope Apopka and Columbia can work out a home and home. I know Apopka will have at least three slots to fill and I think this game would be good for both programs. Sixth, Columbia's QB is an exceptional athlete. In the right program he could excel as a dual threat QB. Other programs may want to convert him to a wide receiver or slot receiver. Still others may fancy him on the defensive side of the ball if he has mean streak. Regardless, he will make some college program very happy. Seventh, Lake City is bigger than I thought. Passing it on I-75, you would think you were passing a real small town. But it actually has quite a bit of bustle to it, and several chain restaurants, as well as at least one great, local Italian restaurant, are located there. The food at the Italian place was copious and for $18 I had Baked Ziti, a huge salad and a double portion of Garlic Bread. In the Orlando area I would have paid at least mid twenties for the meal I had there. Eighth, CHS has a large stadium that rivals DP, Cypress Creek and University in size. There was a large home crowd on hand as it was Homecoming. Fletcher also traveled pretty well considering the length of the trip. Ninth, this may be the best Fletcher team since the one that lost to Apopka in the third round in 2012. It would be a shame if it does not make the playoffs. Tenth, if Columbia makes it to Orlando for the state title game I would be happy to introduce Columbia Fan to the bunch of old geezers that usually meet up for the finals. The youngest of them is actually mid thirties but to a recent high school grad, even that age may seem pretty old. Would be happy to treat to dinner before the game (the 7A title is usually the night game).

Maybe Antonio Cromartie, Lincoln High and Florida State. Corner Back and Wide Receiver.

First Academy is always solid and is probably the most consistent small school in Orlando that participates in the post season. At least once in the past decade I thought they were just a couple of positions shy of making it to Orlando. That year they ran into Madison County which ended their season.

They may not make Round 2 either. I think that your biggest competition comes from: Treasure Coast, Osceola and Centennial. The other Region 2 playoff teams should not give VB much trouble this year.

Pretty much everything is wrong with this picture. Sports, like many other extracurricular activities, are important, very important. But they must take a backseat to the true purpose of a school which is to provide an education to the students that will enable them to be productive, thoughtful adults.

1. Dr. Phillips will lose in Round 1. VB will not play them. 2. Osceola would be the Round 3, not Round 4 opponent. The Round 4 opponent would be the Region 1 Champion, one of: Wekiva, Deland, Mandarin, Winter Park, Apopka, etc.

Because the teams they played in their district and optional games had better records and or made the playoffs last year. Therefore, they got more points from beating them and or losing to them than Dillard did. Edgewater and Dr. Phillips in Orlando are in a similar situation to Dillard in that both will probably be district champions but probably number 4 seeds. In the case of DP, that is warranted; but in the case of Edgewater not so. At the end of the day, Dillard's big problem is that it is in a region with a killer district and whether its the first or second round, you are destined to play one of the teams that mostly likely will win the State title.

It seems rough that Dillard has so few points with non district opponents like Gibbons, Booker T and Western. The problem is that both Gibbons and Booker T have lost several games and that has hurt Dillard. So as of now, you probably get Miami Central in the first round (assuming Carol City beats them). Mainland's losses have been to teams that have lost fewer games (and its wins have been against teams that have done well except for DP). Yeah, I feel your pain as Mainland being the higher seed probably gets Northwestern or Norland while you get Central.

As usual, very thorough analysis. While there are not many quality 3A schools here in the Orlando Metro, I always read your posts as they are very informative.