DarterBlue2
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Posts posted by DarterBlue2
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6 minutes ago, “PANTHER NATION(CODE BLUE) said:
Oh wow really ? U kno more about those teams then me but off eye test it seemed Lakeland was far better this year and as of right now who do u see as the top threat to sta and who do u see as a huge thread or possible fav against Deerfield
Wekiva's defense will take it a far distance. It could be a DB/Wekiva final but there is a lot of football to be played. If this Lakeland team represents the North end of the bracket against STA, it will be a blowout in favor of STA. Don't get me wrong, this is still a solid Lakeland team. However, it is not elite. I standby my though that last year's Lakeland team looked superior.
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8 minutes ago, “PANTHER NATION(CODE BLUE) said:
LAKELAND PUT IT ON APOPKA 37-21 (can we have a Lakeland vs sta Finals??)
No. Believe it or not, it is not clear to me that Lakeland would beat Bartram Trail. See my thoughts and observations on the game. Lakeland in my opinion was better last year, at least on offense. Apopka lost because of injuries and self inflicted wounds.
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The final score was 37-20 in favor of Lakeland. But it does not tell the whole tale; in fact the score was not even close to reflecting the relative merits of the two teams.
Issues I see with this Apopka team:
1. You could almost say it is star crossed. Three other key pieces of the puzzle sustained injuries: 2 Eric Wright; 88, Jaylin Carter; and, 95 Curtis Williams. Add to that the fact that 58 Antonio Meriweather did not play due to injury sustained before the game and Jecoryan Davis-Hamilton being out for the season off his injury last week, and it's not a pretty picture.
2. Special teams - our kicker is accurate with respect to PATs. However, the snapper is inconsistent; and our kicker lacks range, particularly on kickoffs. In fact Lakeland took their first kickoff received to the house and thereafter the team resorted to more or less squib kicking/almost akin to onside kicking the ball on kickoffs. It is hard to beat teams of equal stature if they are consistently starting near midfield. If TV cannot develop his range, and if there is no one else that can do the kickoffs, then he should probably look to kick the ball out of bounds inside the 35, at least against teams that are competitive with Apopka. Our punter has a problem too. For while he has a good leg and range, being an offensive lineman he is slow and unless the snap is near perfect he can be blocked because of this. In fact this accounted for Lakeland's second touchdown where they extended the lead.
3. The defense - I am not going to give them a hard time. For they were constantly put into bad field position both due to miscues by the offense and our kicking issues. In fact aside from one big play, a run of over 70 yards for a touchdown on second or third and 20 (I forget which), I thought they did a reasonably good job.
4. The offense - Without Davis-Hamilton, and missing a key offensive lineman, we had trouble sustaining our running game which is our bread and butter. However, although we did not throw the ball much, the passing game came up with three critical plays to both extend drives and flip the field position. Sometimes out of adversity talents are discovered. We shall see.
Obviously I am not a happy camper and I may come over as being overly critical. But I deeply love Apopka football and to some degree I am typing this from an emotional perspective. We get Dr. Philips next week and should consider ourselves fortunate in that while they still have a lot of talent, it is young talent that is perhaps a year away from being at its best. Thus, even with our injuries we have a shot.
With all of the above said, this team still has a shot. Certainly the talent is there. But we need guys to step up and assume leadership and can afford no more injuries if Apopka is to have a shot.
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5 hours ago, Wavebb said:
Riverdale and Golden Gate are for real as in capable of winning a couple playoff games. Cypress Lake and Mariner are not. If Immokalee gets their qb healthy, no telling how far they can go. Dunbar with numerous D1 players is a mess up to this point. Should know a lot more after tomorrow's game.
Is the former Apopka coach/player still at Riverdale?
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5 hours ago, badbird said:
Big loss for Apopka. They tend to do rise to the occasion when they lose a player.
Very unfortunate. Davis-Hamilton is a very good footballer with a lot of potential. Personally, if healthy, I could easily see him doing very well at the next level.
Wishes for a speedy and full recovery.
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7 hours ago, ColumbiaHighFan2017class said:
I do see wekiva vs apopka game on there as is apopka vs bartram trail
That's unfortunate. They are missing a really good game. Probably one of the most interesting on Apopka's schedule.
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1 minute ago, ColumbiaHighFan2017class said:
You have a link to that NFHS stream?
Normally it goes on demand in a week or 2 and i can watch it for free later?
Try this: https://www.nfhsnetwork.com/
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Just now, ColumbiaHighFan2017class said:
You have a link to that NFHS stream?
Normally it goes on demand in a week or 2 and i can watch it for free later?
I will look it up.
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17 minutes ago, ColumbiaHighFan2017class said:
Do you know anyone streaming it? Even if just through periscope
If so i definitely want to see this one during breaks at columbia vs buchholz game
Not for free. There is an internet radio broadcast. And I think the National High School Network is streaming it. But that costs money. If it were at Lakeland, you could get a free stream.
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Apopka hosts Lakeland. No Blue Darter fan could pass on this one. I only hope Friday evening is as nice as tonight.
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22 minutes ago, Hwy17 said:
Warren Sapp
Sapp played tight end in high school and was also the punter. He went over to defense at UM.
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1 minute ago, “PANTHER NATION(CODE BLUE) said:
#1 carol city
#2 St Thomas
#3 Central
#4Deerfield
#5American heritage
#6COLOMBUS
#7Southridge
#8northwestern
#9Chaminade
#10booker t
#11palmetto
#12u school
#13south dade
#14jackson
#15plantation
#16gibbons
#17Miramar
#18 pace
#19creek
#20 Taravella
dropped out western and piper
SO FOR THE MOST PART I HAVE NO PROBLEM WITH THIS LIST BUT THIS BOTTOM HALF TARAVELLA AND CREEK OVER DILLARD REALLY!!! Lol we would smoke BOTH IN MY OPINION!!
Then western who was ranked number 17 last week got dropped out and the team who beats them doesn’t even make it in!! Not even #20!!! Lol I’m not even saying oh put us top 10 or 5 lol but dang but it’s cool we haven’t proved anything yet got to keep Making statements #PAWSUP!!
@ColumbiaHighFan2017class @OldSchoolLion @DB4 @954gator What are y’all thoughts ?
I believe Dillard would beat the bottom three teams on the Herald list. That's at as minimum. But you gotta prove it on the field.
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1 minute ago, “PANTHER NATION(CODE BLUE) said:
Is their any schools that stream live home games faithful ? Or on the radio doesn’t matter what part of Florida this website use to stream the game of the week every week like ughhh lol
Lakeland streams all their home games live. I believe Manatee does too, but not certain.
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1 hour ago, ColumbiaHighFan2017class said:
I'll definitely keep a eye on those 3 moving forward and will adjust based on how they appear moving forward
Btw darter do you know yet on which game you plan on coming up here for, if not it cool i was just curious if you decided on the game yet
Yes. The first one of the two. The mid October game against Fletcher. I am looking forward to making the trip.
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11 minutes ago, OldSchoolLion said:
Concerning Cocoa, I watched the stream of their previous game and did not see the Cocoa defense I have come to expect. And with implementation of a new offensive team, I think they are going to be very vulnerable this year.
I am inclined to agree. I like the new head coach. But it may take him a couple years to put his stamp on the program. Rockledge, being nearby, has and will probably continue to be a beneficiary of the changing times at Cocoa.
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Decent effort. I do have a few issues. I will mention three. I think Cocoa is rated too high. Their loss to Treasure Coast was shocking. If TC loses this week, I that will confirm my thoughts. I also think Cardinal Gibbons is probably too high. Too blowout losses in two weeks. Yes, I know the competition was good. But the manner of defeat was bad. Finally, Dwyer did no inspire confidence in its loss to Atlantic. Again, it was not the loss, it was their lack of fight.
There are a few others. But those are the three most glaring.
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5 hours ago, 954gator said:
Could we see a Wekiva vs DFB game? Atlantic maybe. Wish Carol City, Central were in with 8A
Yes, but there are obstacles to that. Apopka is still smarting from last year's loss to Wekiva and intend to extract revenge. This year's game is going to be very interesting. Yes, Wekiva has the D but Apopka's offense is more explosive. And our D will be effective against their offense from a match-up standpoint. In any event, it is more likely than not that Wekiva and Apopka will square off twice in order to get to the state semis and beyond. And in the semis Vero Beach or Osceola loom large.
And from the South bracket, I think you may be overlooking Columbus which scored a very impressive win against the Northwestern Bulls this week.
At this early stage of the season, 8A is looking like it may be the most competitive division which may, for the first time in a few seasons, have several elite or near elite teams in it.
For the record, I am very glad Carol City and Central are not in 8A. The darn division is going to be tough enough to win as it is. What are you wishing for, some kind of super class? If so, we may as well add St. Thomas to the mix, too! :)!!
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2 minutes ago, OldSchoolLion said:
Quick strike...long TD pass for North Gwinnett. Wekiva let their guard down. Wekiva has ball on 20 after kickoff.
Wekiva 14 North Gwinnett 7 1:23 left in half
This is kind of what I thought we might get. Wekiva may not have much playoff or travel experience, but they have a nasty defense and a veteran coaching staff to compensate. Win or lose, at least they have made a great first half of it. Pipe is correct. Wekiva makes offenses look pedestrian.
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9 minutes ago, OldSchoolLion said:
Wekiva only scored 17 versus Jones last week . Will 17 be enough to beat North Gwinnett? I don't think so. Something must be in the air in Georgia, because our big guns are struggling on offense....Deerfield Beach, American Heritage, Chaminade-Madonna, and Dr Phillips last week.
Wekiva will struggle against any team with a solid defense. It's not that their offense is bad, it is not. But it's not championship caliber either. The strength of Wekiva is their defense. If their defense does not get put in terrible field position situations several times during the game, it has a chance of holding most strong high school offenses to two scores or less. The key against North Gwennett, is for them not to bet put behind the eight ball too often. If they can accomplish this, they have a shot at winning a close game. If they cannot, the NG is an easy winner.
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5 minutes ago, ColumbiaHighFan2017class said:
To be fair I'm basing my opinion off Bartram Trail on how they looked when i saw them
They must have gotten better since Spring bc their offense looked pretty bad in that game (or maybe our defense was just better than i expected at the time)
Bartram probably wins their District, I'm looking forward to seeing buchholz this week so i have a idea if buchholz has any chance with BT
If Bartram Trail is that good then i look forward to facing them in playoffs
If Columbia and BT meet in the playoffs, I expect it to be a shoot out. I think Columbia has the better defense (judging solely from the IMG game), so I would still favor Columbia.
But BT is not a team to sleep on. They are big, but well conditioned and not fat, and it's clear their coaching staff know what they are doing.
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First off, Bartram Trail is a nice place to watch a game; and Bad Bird was right. Their field, though grass, is in tip top shape.
Looking at the score, you would think that this game was at least as much about defense as offense, as the final score 33-28 in favor of Apopka was not an especially high scoring game. It was not, for the two team combined for probably over 1,100 yards of total offense. I know that Apopka had around 650, and while I did not keep careful track of BT's yards, they had to be well over 400.
Batram Trail's offense has not dropped off one bit. It is at least as good as it was last year. In fact, I would argue that their running game, which compliments their passing game, is improved from last year. It is not often that a back gets over 100 yards rushing against Apopka, but their Georgia Tech commit, no 22, kept gnashing us all night.
BT's weakness is their defense. They just were not able to stop Apopka's rushing attack.
Apopka needs to reduce its penalty output significantly. Last night we must have had over 180 penalty yards. I know that some of these were questionable, but the point is the penalties need to be reduced.
My favorite Apopka offensive weapon, Jecoryan Davis-Hamilton was injured late in the game. From a distance, the injury looked significant. I don't know how long he will be out, but he is going to miss a few games (I believe). I wish the kid a speedy recovery. He is a joy to watch carrying, catching or throwing the ball and as long as he has the desire and does not suffer career threatening injury, his future in football is bright.
While Apopka had trouble with BT's offense most of the night, they made a few critical stops where it mattered, not least of which on BT's final possession, when they went 4 and out and gave us the ball deep in their own half. We drove well inside their five from there but took a knee to run out the clock with 21 seconds left on the clock. Personally given how the night had progressed, I would have punched it in. But that's me, a hood kid from Kingston, Jamaica who spent many of his early adult years in NY, NY. Perhaps I lack the sensibilities of polite society.
Again, from a distance, I don't think coach was very pleased with the performance. But I am more sanguine. BT is as good if not better than last year (don't let Columbia fan fool you), and it was a quality win over a quality team at their place.
Despite the final score, I would rate Apopka to be at least two scores better than BT.
- OldSchoolLion and peezy28
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1 minute ago, “PANTHER NATION(CODE BLUE) said:
Funny thing is a few of those years after that lost sta went on to win the title in 7a ...Deerfield on the other hand ..,smh again there is no hate for Deerfield but that top 50 nationally ranked position is bogus as hell.
Exactly. You beat a state champion in a division that's just as tough and probably tougher. And you can't make a run yourself?
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I agree with tech that this is a stupid rule. What they could do is say: once you move up from JV you can't move back down. But to punish a team because its kicker kicked JV a day or two earlier seems stupid to me.
SHOCKERS TONIGHT!!!
in The Huddle
Posted
Off the top of my head, it was either Viera or Plant.